Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori visited Stockholm and Uppsala Sept. 22-23 as a guest of The [Lutheran] Church of Sweden, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of that church’s decision to ordain women.
 
Members of the Swedish royal family were among guests attending a celebratory Eucharist and jubilee service at Uppsala Cathedral on Sept. 23. The Presiding Bishop delivered the invitation to confession and Bishop Antje Jackelén of Lund, one of two female bishops serving in the Church of Sweden, preached.
 
Following the service, Bishop Jefferts Schori delivered a greeting during the formal opening of the Church of Sweden's General Synod.
 
“I join you in giving thanks for your intrepid example of welcoming women into pastoral leadership in this church,” said Bishop Jefferts Schori, whose great grandparents emigrated from Sweden to the United States in the late 19th century. “Fifty years of women's example, witness and ministry have brought abundant, productive and transformative change in this place, all of which define the church’s ministry of leadership.”
 
Bishop Jefferts Schori commended Sweden’s leadership in working toward fulfilling the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. “You are one of the few developed nations who have met or exceeded the promises that were made in the year 2000 to fund this work in the poorest countries,” she said, noting that the United States “still falls woefully short” of this commitment.
 
Earlier in the day, Church of Sweden Archbishop Anders Wejryd was host to a formal lunch for distinguished guests that included key figures in the church’s journey toward ordination of women. Describing Bishop Jefferts Schori as the “most prominent woman in the global church today,” Archbishop Wejryd presented the Presiding Bishop with a specially made stole bearing the Church of Sweden's coat of arms.
 
With 6.9 million members in 13 dioceses, the Church of Sweden is the world's largest Evangelical Lutheran Church and a member of the Lutheran World Federation. Special services will be held throughout the Church of Sweden on Sept. 27, the date in 1958 when the decision was made to ordain women.
 
Episcopal News Service contributed to this report.
 
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