Archbishop Jukka Paarma believes that a fresh resolution by the bishops of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church on the issue of women's ordination in Finland is bound to at least clear the air within the church.
At their two-day conference in Helsinki, the bishops unanimously stated that gender discrimination within the church is illegal. Both the Ecclesiastical Act and current Finnish labour legislation prohibit discrimination based on gender.
"The Episcopal Conference issued a statement to say that we do not approve of any kind of discrimination nor do we give the objectors the right to refuse assignments", confirmed Paarma.
According to Archbishop Paarma, by bringing forth the judicial issue, the resolution clearly reflects the stiffening attitude of the Finnish Lutheran Church.
On the other hand, the church is a community in which even the beliefs of opponents should be tolerated. Hence, the bishops stress the importance of cooperation in congregations as well as within the entire Church.
When resolving the problems, the first steps should be discussions and episcopal guidance. Only if these do not help should judicial steps be taken.
The Archbishop believed that to some extent problems could be avoided by the organising of duty shifts in parishes.
The bishops' resolution is based on a report written by the working group appointed by the bishops' conference and chaired by Bishop Mikko Heikka of the Espoo Diocese. In terms of law, the situation is clear: an employee cannot refuse to carry out his or her duties assigned to that position.
The working group rebuffed the opponents' erroneous interpretation of the Episcopal Conference's resolution in 1986 concerning the scope of opponents of the female ministry to refuse to cooperate with women as clerics.
The Episcopal Conference made a decision to send the report to all chapters of the dioceses, asking for recommendations with a statement of how they should be applied by May 15th.
The bishops will return to the issue at the Episcopal Conference next September.
