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At Dagsnytt 18 on Friday evening, Selseng and Bishop Halvor Nordhaug joined forces to debate what many have witnessed in the past week: the dispute over pastor Mikael Bruun.
– When we realized that we have a parish priest who discriminates against women, many reacted. These are actions from which we strongly dissociate ourselves and which violate our core values related to gender equality and equality, Selseng said in the radio debate.
Mikael Bruun had the opportunity to participate in the debate, which took place directly, but decided not to participate.
On Friday night, Bruun texts NRK that he understands they think he’s out of date.
– But I would like you to understand that these are not derogatory opinions about women, writes Bruun.
– He becomes skeptical
Selseng represents the parents of a total of 26 confirmants who want Mikael Bruun not to rent the confirmed lessons.
The reason is that he believes that women should not be priests and that he does not want to cooperate with them in communion and worship.
– When he has such special attitudes towards women that he is forced to ask for Norwegian law to be reserved for him, I become skeptical about how it will affect the teaching of our children, Selseng said.
For NRK, Bruun writes in a text message that he thinks it is sad that they think he is breaking the law.
– I only have respect for the law and, of course, I am also for equality. My parents attribute to me a view of women that I do not have, based on an isolated ecclesiastical issue, writes Bruun.
He states in the text message that he does not prevent any woman from performing his services and that he is satisfied with the current system, which several others want to abolish.
The current arrangement is that male priests have the right to reserve communion and worship with their female colleagues.
– It has worked well, and it is the man who gives in.
At the Dagsnytt 18 debate, his boss, the Bishop of Bjørgvin, met Halvor Nordhaug.
Ber dei godta Bruun
Nordhaug reiterated that he does not support Bruun’s view that he does not want liturgical cooperation with priestesses, but asks parents to agree that Bruun should rent the confirmation teaching.
– You are not alone, there are many who work together. It is also the case that one cannot choose not to receive priests according to one’s own tastes and tastes, Nordhaug said.
He added that for him as a bishop, it is very difficult to enter that line.
– It is devastating for the work environment and it becomes demanding for me as an employer to comply with that kind of order.
It made confirming mother Selseng react.
– We have some basic rights and principles in Norway on which our society is based. Among them linked to equality and gender equality. When they break, they should wait and hear us react, Selseng said.
DISPUTE: Mikael Bruun is a parish priest in Sogndal and stands firm in his theological point of view that women cannot be priests.
Photo: Sondre Dalaker / NRK
– No damage occurs
Nordhaug, on the other hand, believes that confirmants will not be harmed if a conservative priest rents out the confirmation teaching.
– Confirmers can be triggered by what Mikael Bruun represents, but I don’t see any harm happening if one is exposed to someone who thinks radically differently, says Nordhaug.
What will happen next in Sogndal’s inflamed case is uncertain. The parish council and the bishop call for peace in the ranks, but Selseng claims that the confirming fathers are on his side.
– I heard that the bishop asks us to tolerate this discrimination, that he asks us to be generous over attitudes and practices that go beyond the others. I think it’s a sad sign. I don’t want this, Selseng said in the debate at Dagsnytt 18.
See the discussion at Dagsnytt 18.
