Posted on 11/02/2011 7:28:42 PM PDT by narses
In celebration of Reformation Day I thought readers might like this photograph of the heirs of Luther:
That would be Lutheran bishop of Stockholm Eva Brunne on the left. Eva is in a 'registered and blessed' homosexual partnership. She and her 'partner' have a child conceived through artificial insemination.
Wasn't there another famous Eva Braun? I wonder if they are related...
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Greetings to the Lutherans - Missouri Synod who have rejected all this modern nonsense and take the gospel very seriously.
www.lcms.org
i don’t think Lutherans should be judged by their craziest, most heretical members any more than i would want Catholics to be judged by the priests abusing children and the bishops who enabled them.
i would prayerfully request you pull this thread, it will not lead to anything that glorifies our Lord.
Heretical? They are “blessed” and are in “communion” with their Synod. They represent the “modern” Lutheran.
Bishop Eva Brunne: Bishop of Stockholm, Church of Sweden (Lutheran)
The AP is reporting:
By Malin Rising (CP)
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Sweden’s Lutheran church said Monday it had ordained its first openly gay bishop, just two weeks after it gave priests the right to wed same-sex couples. Eva Brunne was ordained as bishop of Stockholm’s diocese in a ceremony on Sunday. She lives in a “registered partnership” with another woman, a civil union between gays used in Sweden before same-sex marriages were legalized this year. The couple also has a child. “It is very positive that our church is setting an example here and is choosing me as bishop based on my qualifications, when they also know that they can meet resistance elsewhere,” the 55-year-old Brunne told The Associated Press by phone. More here.
A lovely interview with her, can be found here . Our friends at Episcopal Cafe ran the story of her election back in late May, when the election happened.
Congratulations to Bishop Brunne, our hearts and prayers join with you and all those you love and serve.
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquillity the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were being cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(A big thanks to our friend Vincent on facebook , making sure we reported on this story.)
http://walkingwithintegrity.blogspot.com/2009/11/bishop-eva-brunne-bishop-of-stockholm.html
Look out. There's plenty of ammunition.
Their official newsletter brags about this “bishop”!
http://episcopalchurch.org/81808_116555_ENG_HTM.htm
SWEDEN: Lesbian priest ordained as Lutheran bishop of Stockholm
By Mary Frances Schjonberg, November 09, 2009
[Episcopal News Service] The (Lutheran) Church of Sweden on Nov. 8 ordained a female priest as Christianity’s first openly gay female bishop.
Eva Brunne, 55, was elected in late May to be bishop of the Diocese of Stockholm by a vote of 413-365 over Hans Ulfvebrand in the second round of voting. A first round of voting by clergy of the diocese and an equal number of elected lay people was held in April. There are 13 dioceses in the Church of Sweden.
Brunne was consecrated at Uppsala cathedral, just north of the Swedish capital, according to a posting on the diocese’s website.
Along with Brunne, another female priest, Tuulikki Koivunen Bylund, was ordained to take over as bishop of Härnösand in northern Sweden, according to a news report in The Local, an English-language news website. The Local reported that the ceremony marked the first time in the history of the Swedish church that two women had been consecrated as bishops at the same time.
Brunne and her partner, Gunilla Linden, who is also ordained, have a three-year-old son. Their relationship received a church blessing, Ecumenical News International (ENI) reported at the time of her election. Brunne is the first Church of Sweden bishop to live in a registered homosexual partnership, the Uppsala-headquartered church said.
Sweden has allowed same-gender civil unions since 1995 and on May 1 of this year began recognizing same-gender marriages after passing a gender-neutral marriage law. In late October, the Church of Sweden voted to allow its ministers to perform such marriages.
Three-quarters of Swedes are members of the Lutheran church, which was the country’s state church until 2000.
“It is very positive that our church is setting an example here and is choosing me as bishop based on my qualifications, when they also know that they can meet resistance elsewhere,” Brunne told The Associated Press by phone.
The AP reported that while Brunne’s consecration is a first, the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, a spokesman for the United Church of Christ, said that the UCC has several openly gay and lesbian “conference ministers.” That designation is similar to that of bishop.
In 2003, the Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
The Episcopal Church is about to enter into a dialogue with the Church of Sweden that could lead to a full communion agreement similar to the one the church has had with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America since January 2001. The July 8-17 meeting of the Episcopal Church’s General Convention called for that dialogue, via Resolution A076 .
The Church of Sweden is a member of the Porvoo Communion , which groups the British and Irish Anglican churches and the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches that entered into a full communion agreement in 1992 to “share a common life in mission and service.”
The churches involved are the Evangelical Lutheran churches of Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, and the Anglican churches of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The Lusitanian Church in Portugal and the Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain — both extra-provincial dioceses under the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury — also signed onto the agreement. The Evangelical Lutheran churches of Denmark and Latvia have observer status.
The name Porvoo comes from the town in Finland where a joint celebration of Holy Communion was held after the formal signing of the agreement in Järvenpää.
Earlier this month, media reports said that five Anglican bishops, including Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, had declined invitations to attend Brunne’s ordination. However, The Local rewrote an earlier article and reported that Swedish Archbishop Anders Wejryd, who ordained Brunne and Koivunen Bylund, disputed any claim of a boycott. Although Williams was invited, Wejryd said Williams, like other international guests, rarely attend such events.
Wejryd said at that time that the Church of England would be represented by the Rev. Karen Schmidt, bishop’s chaplain for the Diocese of Portsmouth, which has a relationship with the Stockholm diocese, according to The Local.
— The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.
i am turned off when Protestants post these type stories about Catholics, i just think we are better than this.
pray and think about it.
This is not a “peccadillo” , it is the official position of the “church” in question.
Fr L and Fr Z posted this. I am in good company.
OK...we’ll pretend that those “celibate” popes never had any kids or mistresses.
LOL, ancient history and NEVER the official position of the Church.
I reject this damning nonsense, but what do you expect when the Church becomes a mere formality without the life-giving Gospel?
I pity both these people and the people who fail to see Christ unites us in one fellowship, under one Head. We do not believe we are in error, based on the Gospel and the Law. Catholic and Lutheran are in this liferaft together. Stop trying to sink our half of it.
Right...the head of the church’s sexual sins, the vicar of Christ on earth, the authority over Catholicism is no reflection on the church and is to be excused. Got it.
the priests who abused children and the bishops who enabled them are still in communion with Rome, very few priests have been defrocked and no bishops or cardinals that i am aware of. they don’t represent the Catholic Faith and these people don’t represent the Lutheran Faith.
let’s judge each other by our best and not our worst.
Popes go to confession, they sin. No one has ever denied that. The heirs of Luther now have ordained as “bishop” lesbians. You may see the issue being equivalent but that simply reflects on you.
“...and these people don’t represent the Lutheran Faith.”
Bzzzt, wrong. They do, that is the point.
“... very few priests have been defrocked ...”
Eh? Nonsense.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/church-acts-to-defrock-all-paedophile-priests-20110508-1eebo.html
I don’t think there’s a big connect between LCMS and the Church of Sweden.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.