Apostle of the North

Anskar, Apostle of the North

3 February -- Lesser Festival -- Missionary -- White

A native of Picardy, Anskar was a monk of Corbie near Amiens who, after the conversion of the King of Denmark to Christianity, went to Schleswig and attempted to start a Christian school there. He was expelled by the locals but went on to Sweden, where he is reputed to have built the first Christian church. In 832 he was consecrated Bishop of Hamburg and sixteen years later became Archbishop of Bremen. He returned to Denmark to convert the King of Jutland. He preached widely throughout Scandinavia and was much-loved for his work with the poor and in mitigating the slave trade. He is the patron saint of Denmark. He died in the year 865.

Northern rites: the impact of women bishops

As the General Synod considers the next step in accepting women in the episcopate,Edward Dutton looks at the experience of the Nordic Churches

It has been 15 years since the ordination of the first women priests in the Church of England. Last week it was suggested that it is likely to be at least another five until women can be considered for a bishopric.

It took the Lutheran Church of Norway 30 years from the ordination of the first woman priest to the appointment of its first bishop. Now, though, Norway has the highest per centage of women bishops of any of the Nordic Churches: four of its 11 bishops. The fourth was consecrated last September.

In all Nordic Churches, members elect to join; most pay a specific church tax. Eighty-three per cent of 

Norwegians are church members, including those in awakening groups. In Sweden, it is 75 per cent, 

Denmark 82 per cent, Iceland 85 per cent, and Finland 81 per cent. In all cases, membership is declining.

Church attendance is lower than in England: about four per cent at tend church at least fortnightly. A 

large majority, however, are baptised, con firmed, and married in the churches.

IN SWEDEN, the Archbishop of Uppsala’s assistant, Canon Ann-Catherin Jarl, says that women bishops

are now almost universally accepted.

Women had started campaigning to become ministers in 1919. In 1957, the state government decided

to introduce women priests. The move was narrowly defeated, but an Act of Parliament was passed the

following year. A conscience clause in the Act was abolished in 1982

IN neighbouring Finland, the issue of female clergy is less settled. There has never been a female

bishop in Finland, although it has been possible since the mid-1990s, and women have been 

standing routinely.

SURPRISINGLY, the most liberal of the Nordic Churches is the one that is also the most accom mo­dating

 to op ponents of female clergy. The Danish Lutheran Church refused to sign the 1992 Porvoo Agreement 

between the Anglican, Nordic, and Baltic Lutheran Churches because of concerns that its female bishops 

would not be recognised by all signatories.

ICELAND, a Danish province until 1944, has one diocesan bishop. Female pastors have been relative ly

 uncon troversial there since their ordination in 1974. The country tends to look on the debate over women

 priests and bishops almost with amazement.