SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop
http://www.thelocal.se/23074/20091104/
November 4, 2009
Anglican bishops from England and Northern Ireland have rebuffed invitations to attend the ordination of the openly gay Eva Brunne to be the next Bishop of Stockholm.
Five bishops from various levels within the Anglican Church, including Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, have decided not to attend the November 8th ceremony, the Dagen newspaper reports.
"The Anglican Church has a moratorium right now concerning the ordination of bishops who live together with someone of the same sex," Alan Harper, a bishop from Armagh in Northern Ireland, told the newspaper.
Coming just three weeks after Sweden granted same-sex marriages the same legal status as those between heterosexual couples, Brunne's appointment in May 2009 to be the next bishop of the Church of Sweden' Stockholm Diocese raised eyebrows in Sweden and abroad.
As the Church of Sweden has taken a more welcoming stance toward homosexuality, exemplified most recently in the October 22nd decision to allow church weddings for gay couples, its relations with the Church of England have become increasingly strained.
Back in July, two UK bishops warned that allowing homosexuals to be married in Swedish churches would lead to "an impairment of the relationship" between the Church of England and the Church of Sweden.
Brunne, who lives with Church of Sweden pastor Gunilla Lindén, was first ordained as a pastor in 1978 in Lund in southern Sweden, before moving to Stockholm in 2006.
She is set to be ordained as a bishop in Uppsala in eastern Sweden alongside another female pastor, Tuulikki Koivunen Bylund, who will take over as Bishop of Härnösand in northern Sweden.
Swedish Archbishop Anders Wejryd, who will conduct the ordination of Brunne and Koivunen Bylund, disputed the claim that the Church of England was somehow boycotting the ceremony.
"That's not true at all," he told the Kyrkans Tidning newspaper.
"We send invitations to those with the highest rank. That's why the Archbishop of Canterbury received an invitation, but no one expected him to say yes."
He added that the Church of England would be represented by the Reverend Karen Schmidt, who serves as the Bishop's Chaplain for the Portsmouth Diocese, with which the Stockholm Diocese has a twinning relationship whereby church leaders from both diocese conduct reciprocal visits with one another.
"The bishop, David Bingley of Portsmouth, couldn't make it but will attend Eva Brunne's reception the following Sunday," Wejryd told the newspaper.
In addition to some bishops from the Churches of England and Ireland, the churches of Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the World Lutheran Federation have also elected to skip the ordination, although without providing any specific reason.
According to Wejryd, the international invitees who have declined to come include "many who generally never come".
On the other hand, representatives from the churches of South Africa, the Philippines, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Germany have indicated they plan to attend Sunday's ordination
END
| Poster | Thread |
|---|---|
| Cennydd | Posted: 2009/11/5 14:40 Updated: 2009/11/5 14:40 |
Home away from home   Joined: 2005/10/30 From: Los Banos, CA, Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin Posts: 6684 |
 Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishopI applaud this decision, but why is the Church of England sending anyone at all?
I don't get it! Cennydd |
| gillis | Posted: 2009/11/5 14:49 Updated: 2009/11/5 14:49 |
Not too shy to talk   Joined: 2009/8/21 From: The UP Posts: 25 |
Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop As organized Christianity cirlces the drain, these clowns wallow in the filfth of false religion, or a new paganized state cult whose Christian symbols are masks for nature worship. The church conquered Greco-Roman polytheism, now it is making a comeback. Finally, the statue of Zeus (and Freya) has been erected in the holy of holies. And they worship Him with all their heart.
Congratulations Sweden. Lutherans! Look up the Swedish Missions Province - +Arne Olsson,Bishop. (Missionprovinsen pa svenska!) |
| larsil | Posted: 2009/11/5 15:15 Updated: 2009/11/5 15:15 |
Home away from home  Joined: 2005/10/23 From: near Pittsburgh Posts: 166 |
Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop Why don't we send Fr. Earle Fox to attend the ordination? (He attended Bp. Robinson's... loudly.)
Go get 'em, Earle! ----L. |
| railbirdbc | Posted: 2009/11/5 15:34 Updated: 2009/11/5 15:34 |
Home away from home  Joined: 2007/6/6 From: Posts: 723 |
Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop This is the problem with "situation ethics;" they shift on you constantly. When a church allows a little fudge here and there, eventually leading to a whole collapse -- then how can it later on protest the even more radical actions of some other denomination that's gone whole hog on a compromise? It can't, because it has lost its moral authority to speak at all.
In other words, "it's the pan calling the kettle black." |
| voxpop | Posted: 2009/11/5 18:23 Updated: 2009/11/5 18:23 |
Home away from home  Joined: 2005/8/18 From: Gaul Posts: 212 |
Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop The Diocese of Portsmouth does not currently have a Bishop. There is no Bishop David Bingley. There is no Reverend Karen Schmidt.
Why is Wejryd telling such lies? |
| Bengibor | Posted: 2009/11/5 20:08 Updated: 2009/11/5 20:08 |
Just popping in  Joined: 2009/10/18 From: Posts: 20 |
Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop That's a good decision from the CofE. But wait guys, I am sure that Schoria will jump in to fill the gap or will send someone like VGR to represent the new TEC religion.
I was in Sweden last summer. In some places it's very popular to buy empty closed churches and turn them into homes. Actually I saw a big advert on 5 pages in some Swedish magazine on architecture which gave a pretty big list of churches for sale and advice 'how to turn a church into a home for family'. It was frightening. And it all started with the ordination of women in the late 50s. I wonder what is next to come. |
| chaps | Posted: 2009/11/5 20:52 Updated: 2009/11/5 20:52 |
Home away from home  Joined: 2007/2/11 From: Posts: 438 |
Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop voxpop,
Please get your facts straight before “telling such lies” (to quote your own accusation of Archbishop Anders Wejryd): “Following the retirement of Bishop Kenneth Stevenson in September 2009, we will use this page to provide information from our Commissary Bishop, The Rt Rev Ian Brackley. Bishop Ian is also the Suffragan Bishop of Dorking, in the Diocese of Guildford.” http://www.portsmouth.anglican.org/bishop/commissary_bishop/ “The Bishop’s Office at Bishopsgrove is staffed by The Revd Karen Schmidt (Bishop’s Chaplain).” http://www.portsmouth.anglican.org/bishop/bishopsgrove/ |
| voxpop | Posted: 2009/11/5 21:23 Updated: 2009/11/9 10:42 |
Home away from home Joined: 2005/8/18 From: Gaul Posts: 212 |
Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop There is NO "Bishop David Bingley" in the Church of England.
There is NO Bishop of Portsmouth at present - it is vacant. There is NO Karen Schmidt listed in Crockford's Clerical Directory for the Church of England. Whoever she is, she will not be representing the Church of England. |
| voxpop | Posted: 2009/11/6 17:31 Updated: 2009/11/9 10:42 |
Home away from home Joined: 2005/8/18 From: Gaul Posts: 212 |
Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop There is NO Bishop of Portsmouth.
A bishop in a neighbouring diocese is doing duties there in the absence of a Bishop of Portsmouth. He is NOT Bishop of Portsmouth. Whoever this Schmidt is, she is not listed as a cleric in the Church of England, and she cannot be described as "representing" it. The whole thing is a desperate attempt by the Swedes to invent a layer of respectability to cover the sacrilege they are about to commit. |
| chaps | Posted: 2009/11/8 1:24 Updated: 2009/11/9 13:48 |
Home away from home Joined: 2007/2/11 From: Posts: 438 |
Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop It’s unrealistic to expect Lutheran Swedes to distinguish between the Commissary Bishop of Portsmouth and the Bishop of Portsmouth. There’s no Bishop David Bingley, but The Revd David Brindley is the Dean of Portsmouth. The Archbishop isn’t responsible for these errors of the reporter who wrote the story.
It’s absurd to question the validity of someone’s orders/office based upon your inability to find an entry in an unofficial source like Crockford’s Clerical Directory when there’s an explicit statement on the Diocese’s own website that she’s the Bishop’s Chaplain, and the Church Times appointments of 22 May 2009 lists her as “formerly Vicar of [St John’s] Purbrook, to be Bishop’s Chaplain (Portsmouth).” Therefore, instead of calling Archbishop Anders Wejryd a liar, it would be more constructive to question (a) whether the Church of England should continue its present relationship with the Church of Sweden, (b) whether the Diocese of Portsmouth should continue its “twinning” relationship with the Diocese of Stockholm, and (c) whether the Diocese of Portsmouth should authorize the Bishop’s Chaplain to attend the ordination of a lesbian bishop in an official capacity. |
| fyffee | Posted: 2009/11/9 1:09 Updated: 2009/11/9 1:09 |
Just can't stay away  Joined: 2005/5/16 From: Carnarvon, Western Australia Posts: 101 |
Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop yes Bengibor - VGR (the Simple Country Bishop) must surely be due for another excursion outside of his diocese by now - it's been a while since he's had a trip hasn't it? And besides, there's a good chance there'll be plenty of media present to cover the event - how could he possibly resist?
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| voxpop | Posted: 2009/11/9 19:13 Updated: 2009/11/10 10:41 |
Home away from home Joined: 2005/8/18 From: Gaul Posts: 212 |
Re: SWEDEN: Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop Crockford's Clerical Directory is the official clergy list published by the Church of England.
The Diocese of Portsmouth is vacant, in interregnum, sede vacante. It is without a Bishop. The Dean of Portsmouth is someone else. That is why he is called Dean of Portsmouth, and his name is not David Bingley. People only represent the Church of England when they are invited by its officers to do so. For all I know the entire Mothers' Union in Portsmouth may have chartered a flight to Stockholm for the event, but they will only be representing themselves - not the Church of England. The same is true of the former Bishop's Chaplain and of the suffragan Bishop of Dorking. The story clearly indicates that the Church of England is not giving any kind of approval to this consecration. The Bishop of Dorking's own diocesan bishop was one of those who wrote recently to rebuke the Church of Sweden for its actions. |
