Catholic and Orthodox leaders express ‘sadness’ at Swedish Lutherans’ same-sex union decision
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Stockholm, Sweden, Oct 25, 2009 / 04:52 pm (CNA).- The Catholic and Orthodox Churches of Sweden have responded with “sadness” to the Swedish Lutheran Church General Synod’s decision to hold homosexual “weddings” in churches, saying the move departs from the Christian tradition and will widen the gap between the churches.

Fr. Fredrik Emanuelson, head of ecumenical efforts in the Swedish Catholic Church, joined Orthodox representative Fr. Misha Jaksic in a statement that said the churches learned of the Lutherans’ decision “with sadness.”

“It is a swing away not only from Christian tradition but also from the point of view on the nature of marriage which is typical of all religions,” they said, according to SIR News.

The Lutherans’ General Synod expresses a “radically different vision” from the way in which the Church and Christians understand marriage, they added.

The spokesmen said they were not surprised by the decision because it had been preceded by a long debate.

According to SIR, the church debate started at the beginning of 2009 after a Swedish law that granted civil marriage to homosexuals took effect.

“None of us want to annul ecumenical dialogue with the Swedish church,” the joint Catholic-Orthodox statement continued. “However, this decision of the Church of Sweden widens the gap.”

The statement concluded by saying that talks are “more important than ever” to fulfill Christ’s desire for Christian unity.

The Church of Sweden is the largest Christian denomination in the Nordic country.

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Subscriber comments:
Published by: Ronald Morrow
Valrico 10/25/2009 06:46 PM EST
How can any church justify a homosexual marriage based soley on tolerance? If the underlining reason is that supporting such marriages will ultimately change their life styles, then the premiss for their actions are misguided. Unfortunately the world is changing faster then the church can keep up with. But the Chuch must continue to be proactive in its teacning and emphasize that morally correctness and teachings of Christ come first before political correctness.
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Published by: DLL
scituate Mass 10/25/2009 06:42 PM EST
Protestant Churches are protestant to Catholic and Orthodox Teaching and by just a definition of terms that describe the origins of these churches,protestant is just that,protestant. I thought I was a Christian all my life when I was at one time a protestant but I never ever,considered myself in protest to the Catholic or Orthodox Churches. Their ways of worship seemed ornate and protestant ways seemed like they were friendly ,basic and simple. I became a Catholic so that I could attend Church regularly,which became difficult when I was protestant,because they offered only one service a week. Since my conversion in 2001 to a Catholic,I have seen the fundamental positions of protestant churches significantly change. They now seem to be a if it feels good than do it,types of churches. Homosexual marriage is unorthodox,hardly catholic and very protestant,just by the meaning of the definition of what these words mean. The Christian Churches have social differences between them because they have allowed the term Protestant Church,obscure what it means to be Catholic{universal}and Orthodox,in it's universal message of Jesus Christ's proclamation of the "Good News"to the entire world. Homosexual marriage is not in keeping with the Christian teaching of a Holy Family comprised of Jesus,Mary and Joseph,the Holy Family is the model for every family.
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