Swedish Bishop refuses ordination of priest with traditional marriage view

The bishops respond to a survey by the Swedish newspaper Syre. They indicate that they do not accept that people who oppose same-sex marriage become priests in the Church of Sweden, Varlden Idag reports.

Employability

Andreas Holmberg, a bishop in Stockholm, writes in an e-mail to Varlden Idag that he would not ordain a priest who is clear about not ordaining same-sex couples. "This is because, in practice, it would be very difficult for him to a get a priest's position in the Stockholm diocese", Holmberg explains his position to the newspaper. "As a bishop, I need to take responsibility for the employability of those who are ordained as priests."

It is highly unusual for an applicant not to want to marry same-sex couples, says bishop Mikael Mogren from Västerås to Syre. He points out that the topic of gay marriage is always discussed during the admission of a candidate. If someone remains at his traditional view of marriage and persists in not performing same-sex marriages, Mogren will not ordain him. "The answer is no."

Also, Sören Dalevi, a bishop in Karlstad diocese, says to Syre that all priests should "happily and of their own free will marry couples of different sexes as well as couples of the same sex." He stresses that this target is guiding in the admission of priest candidates. Earlier, he told Sveriges Radio that he is always very clear to new priests that his diocese performs gay marriages.

Boycott

Priest Lars Gårdfeldt, who pushes LGBT rights in the Church of Sweden, is delighted with the statement of the three bishops, Dagen writes. Gårdfeldt became well-known because, a while ago, he started a boycott of heterosexual marriages. Now, he decided to end his protest and marry heterosexual couples again, Dagen writes in another article.

The debate on ordination and possible decollarisation has been ongoing for a while already in the Church of Sweden. Less than a year ago, the bishop's meeting of the Church of Sweden declared in a statement that the church should be able to accommodate priests with different theological views on marriage, Varlden Idag writes.

Conversion therapy

However, the same-sex debate is not limited to the Church of Sweden only. Pentecostal churches in Sweden have been struggling with the same issues. Pastor Josef Barkenbom is suing the Pentecostal movement after he was dismissed as pastor from his congregation Solna Pingst at the beginning of December.

The reason given for his dismissal was “lack of work”, Dagen writes. Barkenbom had been sent away from his job for six months with 20 per cent of his salary after making a video inviting people to conversion therapy. The clip caused great upheaval, as some interpreted it as a therapy to change someone's homosexual inclinations.

Thus, some argue that the theological dispute is the real reason for Barkenbom's dismissal. Barkenbom himself justifies the court case he initiated by saying that "classical Christian faith is under attack from parts of the Free Church."