Bishop Helga Haugland Byfuglien Underlines Message of Hope
GENEVA, 28 October 2010 (LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has congratulated the first woman to be elected chairperson of Church of Norway Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Helga Haugland Byfuglien, noting her election is cause for celebration.
“The election is first of all, of course, a recognition of your own gifts and vision, and for that we join your church in giving thanks,” said Acting LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge in a letter to Byfuglien, who was elected to head the bishops’ conference on 21 October. She succeeds Bishop Olav Skjevesland of Agder, who has held the post since 2006.
“We celebrate this new evidence that, within the span of a single lifetime ordained women’s leadership is becoming visible at the most senior levels of our churches,” Junge added.
He said that he looks forward to working with Byfuglien, who was elected LWF vice president for the Nordic region at the Eleventh Assembly in July.
Byfuglien has been bishop of Borg, southeast of the capital Oslo, since 2005, and one of four Church of Norway women bishops.
Her term as chairperson of the Bishops’ Conference will end in mid-2011 as the government will establish an additional office of bishop which will give the state church its first permanent function of presiding bishop based in the country’s ancient ecclesiastical capital of Nidaros or Trondheim as it is known now.
She says the church’s main challenge is to pass on the “message of love, forgiveness and hope in such a way that people find our words and deeds relevant,” reports the Church of Norway Information Service.
Byfuglien has held positions in the dioceses of Nidaros and Borg. She is chairperson of a national project to reform religious education in the church. Since 2001, she has been Secretary General of the Norwegian Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Associations.
The Church of Norway has nearly 3.9 million members, representing more than 80 percent of the country’s population. It has 11 dioceses organized in over 1,280 congregations. It joined the LWF in 1947. (361 words)
See also:
- Lutherans Worldwide Are Allies in Quest for Mutual Understanding, Church of Norway Told
- Lutheran Woman Chaparro to Head Venezuelan Church
- Norwegian Lutheran Bishops Reiterate Gratitude to Global Church for Solidarity
- Church of Norway Synod Agrees Procedure for Clergy in Same-Sex Partnerships
- Shock and Horror at Attacks in Norway
- Church of Norway Council Adopts Guiding Principles for Interreligious Relations
- LWF Congratulates First Permanent Presiding Bishop of Norwegian Church
- Latvian Church Now Has Three Bishops
- Woman Elected Bishop of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany
- LWF Welcomes Ecumenical Consequences of Church of England Vote for Women Bishops
