The Lead

Despite or because the Church of England is part of the Porvoo Communion, four Anglican and eight Nordic and Baltic churches, Rowan Williams has declined the invitation to attend the ordination of the openly gay woman Eva Brunne to be the next Bishop of Stockholm. The Church of Sweden is not a part of the Anglican Communion, several provinces of the latter are in full communion with it, by virtue of the Porvoo Agreement.

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.
...
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.
...
In addition to bishops from the Churches of England and Ireland, the churches of Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have also elected to skip the ordination, although without providing any specific reason. Representatives from the churches of South Africa, the Philippines, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Germany are among the international representatives who have accepted the Church of Sweden’s invitation to attend Sunday’s ceremony.

Read it all at Sweden's English language The Local.

H/T Jonathan Hagger.

No word on whether Williams is preparing a Lutheran Constitution or a Lutheran Ordinariate. Or whether he believes the Church of Sweden is tearing the fabric of the full communion of the Porvoo Churches.

Addendum, November 5. The story in The Local/Dagen has been rewritten. Here's the key passage. Make of it what you will:

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 (sic), David Bingley (sic) of Portsmouth [see comment below], couldn't make it but will attend Eva Brunne's reception the following Sunday," Wejryd told the newspaper.

Addendum 2, November 6.Church of Ireland Gazette:

The Gazette understands that none of the Anglican Porvoo Communion Churches (the Church of Ireland, the Church of England, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church in Wales) will be represented at the 8th November consecrations of two new Swedish bishops - Dean of Uppsala, the Very Revd Tuulikki Koivunen Bylund for the Diocese of Härnösand, and the Revd Eva Brunne for the Diocese of Stockholm.

Comments (11)

Does anyone know if any bishops from TEC were invited and are attending (or not)? I have also been curious about what (if any) relationship TEC has with the Church of Sweden. It seems like a relationship that would be worth pursuing.

Posted by Jeffrey L. Shy, M.D. | November 4, 2009 5:51 PM

Are we surprised? Once you have capitulated to threats and ultimatums you best stay capitulated.

Posted by Michael Russell | November 4, 2009 5:58 PM

Is this really news? Religion in Scandinavia is virtually dead, anyway; they could ordain a horse and 99% of the population wouldn't care one way or the other.

Posted by Brad Evans | November 4, 2009 6:17 PM

Is this really news? Religion in Scandinavia is virtually dead, anyway; they could ordain a horse and 99% of the population wouldn't care one way or the other...Brad Evans

The News is that the ABC of Canterbury has no trouble snubbing virtue and honesty (taken to the max) at Church but seem to deny/ignorne murdereous instigating at the Anglican Church of Uganda (and a few other outposts in the real of deceit)...unfortunately, Dr. Williams isn´t very good at recognizing basic RIGHT from WRONG...or LEFT from RIGHT even! Thankfully, unlike Uganda, Sweden isn´t a Military Dictatorship that MUST control their citizens or punish them by death.

Posted by Leonardo Ricardo | November 4, 2009 7:06 PM

Has Archbishop Williams been in immediate contact with Bishop Wright lately? That little curl in the middle of the forehead may be contagious....

Posted by Bill Moorhead | November 4, 2009 7:39 PM

And when he was good, he was very very good, but when he was bad he was horrid?

Posted by Bill Carroll | November 4, 2009 8:05 PM

So why aren't the TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada in on the Porvoo Communion? Or, for that matter, the Anglican Church of New Zealand? These Scandinavian Churches have the same religion as we do, though arriving via a Lutheran way. Indeed, I have found myself way more at home at church in Norway that I ever did at the local ELCA church. My point is, there wouldn't be required a whole slate of negotiations to cement this union, because whatever "negotiations" might ensue would end with everyone wondering why we didn't do this sooner. Just like the Greek Orthodox Church and the Russian OC are the same religion, so are the progressive Anglicans and the Scandinavian Churches. Why not have a relationship, on paper and in fact, that reflects this? Is the PB going to Sweden?

Posted by Clint Davis | November 4, 2009 11:15 PM

To my knowledge, no TEC bishop has been invited, including myself.
GC 2009 voted to go forward with full-communion discussions with the Church of Sweden. This was before the announcement about the new bishop-elect, incidentally. Historically but not formally we have recognized their orders.
We are not part of Porvoo because of reservations about the episcopacy as practiced in other Scandinavian churches, particularly the argument that pastors alone can ordain pastors if they are part of "an historic see."
Hope this helps a little.
Pierre Whalon
Bishop in charge
Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe

Posted by Pierre Whalon | November 5, 2009 4:03 AM

Interesting choices of whom the ABC chooses to hang out with. What harm has the new bishop of Stockholm done to him, or anyone else for that matter? But, no he cannot be seen in her presence. Meanwhile, he is preparing to tuck tail and go to Rome to fall at the feet of the pope who is busy setting up a parallel Anglican church, a direct threat to independent Anglicanism. I say, the ABC has friends and enemies confused. Or maybe he is just confused period. Ron Caldwell

Posted by Alabamian | November 5, 2009 9:20 AM

This amendment to the story contains what seems to be a misprint: the reference should surely be to the DEAN of Portsmouth, David BRINDLEY. The bishopric of Portsmouth is currently vacant, following the retirement of Kenneth Stevenson in September.

Posted by Simon Sarmiento | November 6, 2009 3:31 AM

Ron, you're right, why is Cantuar falling all over himself for the Pope, with whom he is not and probably never will be in communion, but refuses to be present for the new Bishop of Stockholm's consecration, with whom he is most definitely in communion?

Who is pulling his strings? What the h*ll is going on across the pond? He is the Archbishop of Canterbury, he needs to start acting like one. Why isn't he? Who's really running his show? Who is he afraid of, and why? We may never know.

Posted by Clint Davis | November 7, 2009 1:21 AM

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