Your wise thoughts on this?

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jesusmademe

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I am learning to play the organ and I therefore go to the Church of Sweden to practice and take lessons.
Sometimes I see people with a white collar. Those men and women call themselves Priests but I feel that they live a lie. They are not Priests.
Sure they can help people in need of someone who can listen to them and so on but they are simply not Priests. It just feels wierd. I only talk with the organists so I never interact wih the “priests”. I feel that the idea of Lutheran church is just weird. It feels empty and fake.
Your wise thoughts on this?
 
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Sounds like how I felt when I met an Anglican priest who was a woman. Cognitive dissonance?
 
Well, seeing that you’re on a Catholic website, most of the people here are Catholics and will explain why we believe in our Church.

You’re living in Sweden? IIRC, Church of Sweden is the state run church?

Anyway, although I’m a Catholic, I don’t get too fussed about other religions calling their clergy “priests” as long as they’re clear what religion they’re representing.
 
How did you deal with this?
I myself live in a country where I have to go to the Lutherans in order to learn organ. I can really connect with them on a musical level.
I feel likeI can connect through music.
 
jesusmademe said:
No, not any more. Svenska Kyrkan is not a state church nowadays.
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What exactly happened in 2000? Would it be correct to say the church was disestablished, in the same way the Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1871?
 
What happened in Ireland?
Svensla Kyrkan still exists but is simply not a state church.
 
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Where I grew up, we had a Methodist priest come do the ash wednesday service at our church as part of an effort to reunite Christians.

Besides that the only other Church service and activities I went to were my friend’s Baptist Church. As a kid I thought it was awesome that they had a rock band performing contemporary Christian music. As I grew up and looking back, the lack of reverence is disturbing. It was like going to a party where everyone is certain they are going to Heaven and mostly just focus on having fun together.

In high school when we were learning about the protestant reformation in history class, I was convinced that the Catholic Church was evil and that Martin Luther was a hero of Christianity. I had some experience with a corrupt priest when I was younger too. I didn’t make Confirmation the first time around and considered converting to Lutheranism without ever having gone to one of their churches.

Anyway, that’s my experience with other religions, but now after other events I fully believe in Catholicism.

Edit: I forgot to say in all of this, I agree. Protestant denominations are kinda weird, because they are all missing something.
 
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jesusmademe said:
Sure they can help people in need of someone who can listen to them and so on but they are simply not Priests. It just feels wierd. I only talk with the organists so I never interact wih the “priests”. I feel that the idea of Lutheran church is just weird. It feels empty and fake.
Your wise thoughts on this?
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Well, first of all, you’re correct that the Catholic faith wouldn’t consider them actual priests. The question that naturally follow is . . . . so what?

Why not just respect that they see things differently, pray for them, and let God sort it out?

If anything feels “empty and fake” to me, it’s the secular consumerist cultural that has all but subsumed Sweden. At least cut these Lutherans some slack; they’re making a sincere effort to seek God, after all.
 
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There are special laws made by the parliament that rule what the Svenska kyrkan - Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden has to abide to like being in the whole country, keeping maintenance to the old church buildings that have a cultural value to the whole population.

The government doesn’t appoint bishops anymore and priests are not employed by the state any longer. There are still political parties that are running for leadership in the ELC and bishops have their separate vote in questions. In some regards it is more like any other church but still not because of its history and being so large. There are few who can explain this and the ELC is still figuring out her way to move forward when it looses about 60 000 members/year for the past 10 years.

There have been other laws and still are regarding the “Free Churches” (all churches and ecclesial communions that are not Lutheran). In some ways ELC is closer to them now and in other ways not.
 
HeDa said:
keeping maintenance to the old church buildings that have a cultural value to the whole population.
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Thank you, @HeDa. In the Irish case, one important issue was ownership of the church buildings and the land they were standing on. In Sweden, who owned the buildings and land before 2000, and who owns them now?
 
So, given what you wrote in your other thread, I would say that your expectations are way too high. It seems like you are expecting perfect music, you are expecting that you will sing perfectly, and that the place where they have great music should also be something else spiritually.

Maybe if you think: the Lutherans and you have a professional relationship, you will sing badly at Mass because they play in too-low a key for you, and the others who sing will sing unprofessionally, then things will go better for you mentally?
 
If I had this type of adverse reaction and feelings , I wouldn’t take advantage of their hospitality and take lessons or practice on their premises.
 
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I had to check the Swedish National Heritage Board website. The majority of church buildings and cemeteries are owned by the local parish or a diocese since year 2000. There are heritage laws for all buildings before year 1940.

I will email one of the parishes regarding ownership of church buildings before 2000 as I haven’t been able to find any reliable sources that doesn’t require hours of reading. My guess is that they were “owned” by the church and maintenance costs was one post in the national state budget.
 
Please don’t go to the trouble of doing a lot of detailed research just because of my question! I never knew until today that the Church of Sweden was no longer a state church, and what aroused my interest was the apparent parallel with both the Church of Ireland, which was disestablished in the 19th century, and the Church of England, which many people in the UK think ought now to be disestablished as well. In both cases, the real estate aspect was or will be a difficult dispute to settle. I thought I was asking an easy question that anyone who reads the Swedish newspapers would know all about. My apologies!
 
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