Church of Finland deposes traditionalist bishop: The Church of England Newspaper, Sept 3, 2010 p 6.

Bishop Matti Väisänen

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Church of Finland has defrocked the leader of the church’s traditionalist movement, the Luther Foundation, saying that by accepting consecration at the hands of foreign Swedish and African Lutheran bishops, Bishop Matti Väisänen had violated his ordination vows to the state church.

On Aug 11, the Diocese of Tampere removed Bishop Väisänen from the ranks of its ministers.  Spokesman Leevi Häikiö told STT television the diocese had no choice in the matter.

“Defrocking Väisänen will influence how his actions and the religious ceremonies he administers will be evaluated. In our eyes Väisänen is now a layman,” Mr. Häikiö said.

Formed in 1999, the Luther Foundation began as a confessional movement within the state church for those opposed to the ordination of women.  In 2006 the Finnish Bishops’ Conference ruled that male priests may not refuse to work with women priests, and stated that those who rejected the validity of women’s orders would not be appointed as parish vicars.  The church has also refused to ordain clergy opposed to women priests.

In 2007 a state court fined the Rev. Ari Norro 20-days pay for refusing to con-celebrate the Eucharist with a woman priest.  The Hyvinkää District Court held that religious convictions cannot trump the state’s sexual discrimination laws, and that by agreeing to serve in the ministry of the state church, a clergyman forfeited his rights of conscience.

The church’s purge of traditionalists has led to the formation of 17 congregations that operate within the tradition of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland, but are self-governing and financially independent.  In March, the leaders of the Church of Sweden’s traditionalist movement, the Mission Province, consecrated Bishop Väisänen to provide episcopal oversight to the ‘free diocese’ in Finland and to ordain new clergy for the movement.

On Aug 12, Bishop Väisänen released a statement saying the state church’s action would have no bearing on his ministry, and that the failure of the state church to be faithful to its confessional standards had led to this situation.

“Because shepherds who bind themselves to the apostolic view on the office of the ministry are no longer being ordained in our church, I have received the office of bishop. The justification for this ecclesial emergency right is based on the Holy Bible and the Lutheran confessions. It is not an offence against the ordination oath but in the most profound sense precisely acting in accordance with the duties of that oath,” he said.

While the Luther Foundation has not yet broken with the Church of Finland, the issue may be put to the test in October, when Bishop Väisänen is scheduled to ordain four graduates of the Theological Faculty of the University of Helsinki.  Bishop Matti Repo of Tampere told the Finnish press that if Bishop Väisänen starts ordaining ministers, it will be an indication that the Luther Foundation considers itself a church unto itself. “Real bishops guide the Church to unity, not disunity,” he said.