I think I could bear a few bishops if I were in Sweden (and spoke Swedish.) The Church of Sweden seems so keen in its international humanitarian mission. It willingly disestablished. They have a quite-nice modern language liturgy conveniently translated to English and — miracle of miracles! — have a preliminary rite for celebrating registered partnerships (for persons of the same sex). Again, in English.
There’s a PDF to download. Grab it.
Link at “Swedish Rite for Blessing Same-Sex Couples” (Thurible.net via Thinking Anglicans)
Thanks so much for sharing. I’ve grabbed it!
The translating is nothing new, mind you. There have been official translations (French, German) of the marriage rite (Vigsel in Swedish), since the last years of the 17th century.
Well, that’s admirable. I wonder if the history of translation has something to do with Sweden’s historic maritime trade. Or perhaps everything to do with that trade.
Dunno, but apart from 1850 to 1930, when a quarter of the population left for America (think Swedish maids) we’ve had a steady influx of immigrants all through the 2nd Millennium.
The towns here were largely German speaking, along with some Dutch, up to the 18th century, when French was the thing, to be followed again by German from 1870 untill 1945 ;=)
Have a look at this!
http://www.thelocal.se/6713/20070316
;=)
Quite encouraging. I won’t judge the language politics; those often don’t, well, translate.