Well, Not So "Careful"

Following up on Wednesday's entry about the election of Eva Brunne as the next Bishop of Stockholm, the following article from the Church of Sweden website (one of 4 stories currently linking from the church's front page is dated Tuesday:

Med blick för de maktlösa

Eva Brunne är skånskan som alltid sett tro och samhällsengagemang gå hand i hand. I valet av henne har Svenska kyrkan för första gången valt en biskop som lever i partnerskap.

Som homosexuell har Eva Brunne ibland känt sig utsatt och det har gett henne ett engagemang för andra.

- Jag vet vad det är att bli ifrågasatt. Jag är i den lyckliga situationen att jag har makt och jag kan använda den till gagn för dem som ingen makt har, säger Eva Brunne, i dag stiftsprost i Stockholm....

With the help of Google Translate, a translation would be something like this:

With eyes for the powerless

Eva Brunne is a Scanian who always believed faith and citizenship go hand in hand. In selecting her, the Church of Sweden for the first time elected a bishop living in partnership.

As a homosexual Eva Brunne has sometimes felt exposed and it has given her a commitment to others.

"I know what it is to be questioned. I am in the lucky situation that I have power and I can use it for the benefit of those who have no power," says Eva Brunne, now a diocesan dean in Stockholm....

(Apologies to my Swedish speaking friends.)

A sidebar describes the Bishop-elect's marital status as "Lever i ett registrerat och välsignat partnerskap" (Living in a registered and blessed partnership). The Church of Sweden began offering the blessing of gay civil unions in 2007.

Interestingly, a list of related news articles includes the headline, "50 år för prästvigda kvinnor" (50 years for the ordination of women priests). The ordination of women was approved by the Church of Sweden in 1958, with the first ordination in 1960.

In an article headlined Church of Sweden elects lesbian bishop the Religion News Service reports:

The newly-elected Lutheran bishop of Stockholm says that being a lesbian means she wants to stand alongside people who feel powerless.

"I know what it is to be called into question," the Rev. Eva Brunne said in an article on the Web site of the Church of Sweden after her Tuesday (May 26) election. "I am in the lucky situation that I have power and I can use it for the benefit of those who have no power."

Brunne, who is currently the dean of the Stockholm diocese, is the first Church of Sweden bishop to live in a registered homosexual partnership, the Uppsala-headquartered church said, and she is believed to be the first openly lesbian bishop in the world.

Brunne, 55, lives with priest Gunilla Linden in a partnership that has received a church blessing. They have a three-year-old son.

"Once you have been baptized, no one can say you cannot be part of the Church because you are homo-, bi-, or transsexual," the Web site of the French periodical Ttu quoted Brunne as saying.

She clinched the post by 413 votes against 365 votes for Hans Ulfvebrand; she will succeed Bishop Caroline Krook, who is to retire in November....