Finland consecrates first woman bishop: The Church of England Newspaper, Sept 17, 2010 p 8.

Bishop Irja Askola of Helsinki

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Church of Finland has consecrated its first female bishop.  On Sept 12 the Rt. Rev. Irja Askola was consecrated Bishop of Helsinki for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

A member of the Porvoo Group of churches in Communion with the Church of England, Finland now joins Norway, Sweden and Denmark in appointing women bishops.  Women bishops from Sweden, Denmark and Germany were among those laying hands on the new bishop.  The former Bishop of Limerick the Rt. Rev. Edward Darling served as a co-consecrator and the Dean of Leicester, the Very Rev Vivienne Faull, and the suffragan Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, the Rt. Rev. David Hamid, represented the Church of England.

The consecration of Bishop Askola has come at the price of soured ecumenical relations in Finland, however.  In June, the head of the Orthodox Church of Finland said the consecration of a woman bishop would drive Lutherans and the Orthodox father apart.  In an interview with Kotimaa the leader of Finland’s Catholics, Bishop Teemu Sippo, said that while he would work with the new Lutheran bishop, her consecration would drive the two churches farther apart.

The chairman of the Pentecostal Church of Finland, Vesa Pylvänäinen, said his group was concerned over her theological views.  Her support for same-sex blessings would likely push traditionalists out of the Lutheran Church.  “I am quite sure that this will happen,” Pastor Pylvänen told the Helsingen Sanomat.

In her address to the congregation, Bishop Askola said, “people have a longing for trust. If we do not know how to speak with each other, even with those who have different opinions, backgrounds or lifestyles, we are on the way to destruction. Disagreement does not destroy us.”

The new bishop added that people need to hear that someone shows unconditional mercy toward them, the Helsingen Sanomat reported.

The consecration of the new bishop follows close upon the dismissal of traditionalist Bishop Matti Väisänen.  On Aug 11, the Diocese of Tampere removed Bishop Väisänen from the ranks of its ministers after he was consecrated by traditionalist Lutheran bishops from Sweden and Africa to serve members of the state church who are unable to accept the oversight of a woman bishop.

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.