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Clerical Misconduct in the Church of Sweden 2000–2004

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2010

Per Hansson
Per Hansson
Affiliation:
Professor of Education, Organization and Leadership, Department of Education, Uppsala University
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Abstract

The Church of Sweden, being the national Lutheran Church, was disestablished in 2000 and former state obligations were transferred to the church. Major changes were effected in the oversight of the clergy and all complaints were thereafter to be handled by the church itself. This article considers empirical data concerning those complaints and makes an evaluative comparison with the previous system.

Type
Articles
Information
Ecclesiastical Law Journal , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 17 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2010

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References

1 1 Samuel 2:11–25, Farrell, D, ‘An historical viewpoint of sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy and religious’, Journal of Religion & Abuse: Advocacy, Pastoral Care and Prevention 6/2 (2004) 41–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Lindegård, S, Ämbetsbrott av präst. En kyrkorättslig studie från medeltid till nutid [Clerical malpractice. A study in Swedish canon law from the middle ages to the present day] (Lund, 1999)Google Scholar.

2 Garland, DR, ‘When wolves wear shepherds’ clothing: helping women survive clergy sexual abuse’, Social Work and Christianity, 33/1 (2006) 1–35Google Scholar, Shupe, A (ed), Wolves within the Fold: religious leadership and abuses of power (New Brunswick, NJ, 1998)Google Scholar, Shupe, A, Stacey, WA and Darnell, SE (eds) Bad Pastors: clergy misconduct in modern America (New York, 2000)Google Scholar.

3 Evinger, JS, ‘“…Nothing bad happened…”: A 19th century letter from the archbishop of Manila to the cardinal of Toledo, concerning the sexual abuse of an indian student’, Journal of Religion & Abuse: Advocacy, Pastoral Care and Prevention, 8/2 (2006), 23–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nason-Clark, N, ‘Has the silence been shattered or does a holy hush still prevail? Defining violence against women within christian churches’ in Shupe, , Stacey, and Darnell, (eds) Bad Pastors, 69–89Google Scholar.

4 Garland, ‘When wolves wear shepherds’ clothing'.

5 NT Ammerman and T Schmitt, ‘How common is clergy sexual misconduct?’, <www.hartfordinstitute.org/research/quick_question18.html>, accessed 26 November 2009.

6 However, this description can probably be used for many cases of clergy sexual abuse, cf Garland, ‘When wolves wear shepherds’ clothing'.

7 Ammerman and Schmitt, ‘How common is clergy sexual misconduct?’.

8 Ohlsson, G, För domkapitlets kännedom. Anmälningar mot präster under tre brytningstider [To the chapter for your information. Complaints about priests during three transition periods] (Lund, 2002)Google Scholar.

9 Sfs 1992:300. Kyrkolag [Canon Law] (Stockholm, 1992).

10 Kyrkoordning med angränsande lagstiftning för Svenska kyrkan [Canon Law for the Church of Sweden], (Stockholm, 1999).

11 Sfs 1998:1591. Lag om Svenska kyrkan [Church of Sweden Act] (1998).

12 Russell, A, The Clerical Profession (London, 1980)Google Scholar; Karle, I, Der Pfarrberuf als Profession. Eine Berufstheorie im Kontext der modernen Gesellschaft, (Gütersloh, 2001)Google Scholar.

13 Shupe, A and Iadicola, P, ‘Issues in conceptualizing clergy malfeasance’, in Shupe, , Stacey, and Darnell, (eds) Bad Pastors, 13–38. p 14Google Scholar.

14 Ibid, p 15.

15 Simon, DR and Eitzen, DS, Elite Deviance (3rd edition, Boston, 1990)Google Scholar.

16 cf Ammerman and Schmitt, ‘How common is clergy sexual misconduct?’

17 Lindegård, Ämbetsbrott av präst.

18 According to the Church of Sweden the priesthood can never be withdrawn, only the permission to act as a priest. The priest is not reordained if the permission is regained.

19 Kyrkoordning [Canon Law for the Church of Sweden].

20 The chapters in Uppsala Archdiocese and Visby are composed differently, with more members.

21 Cf Church of England Code of Practice: ‘ensure the clergy continue to be worthy of the great trust that is put in them as ordained ministers’; R Bursell, ‘More turbulence? Clerical misconduct under the clergy discipline measure 2003’ (2009) 11 Ecc LJ 154–168, at p 157.

22 Cf R Bursell, ‘Turbulent priests: clerical misconduct under the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003’ (2007) 9 Ecc LJ 250–263; Hill, M, Ecclesiastical Law (third edition, Oxford, 2007), chapter 6Google Scholar.

23 The bishops in the Church of Sweden have a low-key role and are less powerful compared to Church of England bishops, more like ECUSA bishops. Cf C Podmore ‘A tale of two churches: the ecclesiologies of the Episcopal Church and the Church of England compared’, (2008) 20 Ecc LJ 34–70.

24 See A Iles ‘The Clergy Discipline Measure 2003: a canter through its provisions and procedures’ (2007) 9 Ecc LJ 10–23.

25 Cf the cases decided under the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 available on <http://www.ecclaw.co.uk/clergydiscipline.php>. The penalty for adultery is generally criticism (not prohibition to act as a priest, admonition (rebuke) or a period of probation) compared to Church of England penalties of several years of prohibition.

26 National registry was an obligation for the priests from the early 17th century to 1991.

27 H Sahlin, Var går gränsen? Om prästs övergivande av läran [Where do we draw the line? A study of priests abandoning the doctrine of the church], (Uppsala, 1999).

28 Ohlsson, För domkapitlets kännedom.

29 Same-sex marriage has been adopted by the Swedish parliament, and the Church of Sweden has changed its practise regarding marriage to include same-sex marriages. The priests are expected (but not forced) to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.

30 Bursell, ‘Turbulent priests’.

31 Clergy Discipline Measure 2003: Code of Practice (London, 2006).