- Thorkild Grosbøll
Thorkild Grosbøll (born
February 27 ,1948 ) is aparish priest in theChurch of Denmark . Grosbøll has said that he does not believe inGod , but he still wants to serve as a priest. While quoting just these two views out of context is an oversimplification of his position, they have resulted in Grosbøll being at the centre of a controversy among Christians, mostly inDenmark .After various other services, Grosbøll became parish priest in Taarbæk June 1991.
In the spring of 2003, Thorkild Grosbøll published the book "En Sten i Skoen" (A Stone in the Shoe), resulting in very limited reactions, though he wrote in it that he does not believe in
God . OnMay 23 ,2003 , the Danish newspaperWeekendavisen published an interview with Grosbøll, in which he repeated statements from his book, in particular that he does not believe in a creating or upholding God.After a public outcry, the bishop in
Elsinore ,Lise-Lotte Rebel , started talks with the priest onJune 3 ,2003 about his faith. Simultaneously, she relieved him of his duties as parish priest in Taarbæk as she believed Grosbøll had failed in four accounts:
*neglected thecreed of the Church of Denmark.
*subverted the respectability of the service.
*ignored orders.
*created profound confusion about the Church of Denmark.On
July 23 ,2003 , Thorkild Grosbøll was allowed to continue his service as a parish priest in Taarbæk, subject to special surveillance by the bishop.On
June 3 ,2004 , Grosbøll was instructed to resign no later than June 4, or he would be suspended. OnJune 7 , 2004, the chairman of the elected parish council in Taarbæk, Lars Heilesen, informed the parish about the situation in the church in Taarbæk. OnJune 10 , 2004, Rebel again relieved Thorkild Grosbøll of his duties.During all these events, the parish community in Taarbæk stood by Thorkild Grosbøll. There was an animated public debate, occasionally fuelled by statements from Grosbøll like: "God belongs in the past. He is actually so old fashioned that I am baffled by modern people believing in his existence. I am thoroughly fed up with empty words about
miracle s andeternal life ." ("Ude og Hjemme", week 24, 2005). At the same time he maintained that the bishop and the press misunderstood him, taking quotes from hissermon s out of context.July 12 , 2004 the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs transferred the case to an ecclesiastical court. The first stage of this process, a hearing of the involved parties, was concluded February 2005. OnMay 11 2005, the ministry relieved bishop Rebel from her surveillance of Thorkild Grosbøll, and transferred the surveillance to the bishop inRoskilde ,Jan Lindhardt . Thereby the ministry put the ecclesiastical court case on hold.May 20 2006 Grosbøll confirmed his priestly vows before Lindhardt in the presence of witnesses and by his signature, and was allowed to serve again as parish priest, but was instructed not to talk to the press.Thus the case was put to rest till autumn 2007, where it was decided that the surveillance was to be transferred to the bishop in
Århus ,Kjeld Holm , byMay 1 2008 , when Lindhart would retire. As announced shortly after this decision, Grosbøll retired early when he turned 60 in February 2008.
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