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The Lutheran Church in Finland voted in synod held in 1986 that even women could be ordained priests. <BR> <BR>First time such an ordination happened in 1988, when the first 94 female priests were ordained. <BR> <BR>Or were they the first ones? It depends. <BR> <BR>It depends on how "female" is defined. <BR> <BR>Namely now and then there have been ordained persons even before 1988, who indentify themselves with feminity, but have a male appearance. <BR> <BR>The issue came to daylight when reverend Olli-Veikko Aalto (known as a male) came of the closet and told to media November 2008 of his (or should we now use the word "her"?) intentions to get the necessary operative and hormonal treatment in order to become Marja-Sisko Aalto. <BR> <BR>The gut reaction of his/her bishop Voitto Huotari was catastrophal and aroused an enraged reaction among common parishioners. Many of them expressed their sympathy towards Ms. Aalto and left the church. <BR> <BR>So the bishop had very soon to recant his opinion and assure that "of course Olli Aalto can continue in the service of the Lutheran church". <BR> <BR>But there are numerous theological implications involved... <BR> <BR>Maybe of them later, maybe not.
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As Finnish first names obviously are not very familiar to most of you, let me tell that Reverend Aalto seems to have some humorous tendencies. <BR> <BR>Namely "Veikko" in his current name means "brother" in Finnish language, but "Sisko" in his chosen name means "sister". <BR> <BR>And Marja equals Maria. Both forms are in common usage.
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Which raises a most interesting question: <BR> <BR>For the churches that only ordain males, if a female priest decided to have an operation to change genders, would "he" then still hold his office?
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Come on Elaine, the priest who would do that would be living such a repugnant public life the answer is an obvious no.
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It has happened!
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It may have happened, but it is still repugnant.
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Elaine, if I became a minister/priest as a heterosexual or celebate, but then became a pedophile, should I be able to keep my job. Let me take it down a knoch, if I became an SDA minister, then started smoking, should I be able to keep my job??
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Vicar Aalto knew of some other cases, similar to that of his. One of them was not quite identical. Namely there is one female pastor considering to be made to male. <BR> <BR>There is one aspect of this issue Adventists usually do not grasp. <BR> <BR>Namely so far the parishioners have the right and duty to choose, whom they want to be their vicar, i.e. the highest minister in the local parish. <BR> <BR>If they have chosen a male and afterwards he becomes a she, some parishioners may have reason to feel that they have been had.
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This discussion has points of contact with the past and current Finnish SDA problems, but as they do not deal with transsexuality, maybe I should open another thread?
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Quote: <BR> <BR>"A precedent-setting court ruling declares that a marriage becomes void if one person is transsexual and applies for an official change of gender. In a decision that will anger the gay community, the court said that marriage can only be contracted between a man and a woman. <BR>The Supreme Administrative Court ruled that a married man who had undergone the long process of transforming into a woman was not entitled to be listed as female in official records. Current law permits married people to officially change their gender only if their spouse agrees. <BR>In these cases, the couple gives up their married status and becomes a registered partnership. <BR>Gay rights organisations have long lobbied for a gender-neutral marriage law, which would allow same-sex marriages and avoid legal snarls caused by gender re-assignment. <BR> <BR><b>Wife Refused Consent to Save Family</b> <BR> <BR>The case in question was brought to the Court by a married man and father, who became a transsexual. The couple want to retain their married status, so the wife refused to give her official consent. <BR>A lower Administrative Court rejected their case, ruling that "in the realm of family law, a marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman." And so, from the court's perspective, the local registry office did not violate the constitutional guarantee of equality of the sexes by refusing to change the woman’s gender without her wife’s consent. <BR>The lower court’s ruling, which defined marriage as exclusively a heterosexual right, has put one more legal obstacle in front of activists calling for gender-neutral marriage laws. <BR>The plaintiff argued that the current laws are essentially forcing her to choose between her sexual identity and keeping her family intact. <BR>In addition, she says that her identification papers have caused real problems in security checks, for example, because they no longer reflect her new self. <BR>There are no legal objections to a man undergoing sexual reassignment to become a woman and then marrying a man, for example. " <BR> <BR>Source: <BR><a href="http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/02/transsexual_identity_case_may_set_back_gay_marriage_523371.html" target=_top>http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/02/transsexual_ide ntity_case_may_set_back_gay_marriage_523371.html</a>
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