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The Women Priests of the Church of Sweden

Juliette Robert set out to photograph women priests and bishops, who signified a powerful contrast to the conservative Catholicism Ms. Robert had known.

Women praying before their ordination ceremony at the Cathedral of Stockholm.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea

Raised Roman Catholic in France, Juliette Robert saw similarities between her childhood faith and the Church of Sweden. It’s not totally surprising, since Sweden’s Lutheran church was among those that split from Rome during the Reformation.

“In some ways, it almost the most Catholic of the Lutheran churches,” said Ms. Robert, a photographer who moved to a suburb of Stockholm after marrying a Swede in 2015. “They have so many symbols, and a lot of the symbols are the same. There are many things that make it close to Catholicism.”

But there is one big difference: the Church of Sweden has women priests and bishops. Many are married, including some in same-sex unions.

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Sabina Koij celebrating Sunday Mass at the Stockholm Cathedral.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea
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Evelina Gilberg, a student at the Uppsala Theology Institute, trying on clerical clothing at the shop of the fashion designer Maria Sjodin, who created the brand “Casual Priest” for women.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea
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Karin Ohagen playing with her daughter after baptizing her friend’s son.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea

Ms. Robert’s realization that almost half the denomination’s clergy are women led her, along with Delphine Bauer, a writer, to explore the lives of Sweden’s female clergy 60 years after women were allowed to be ordained. It was a powerful contrast to the conservative Catholicism Ms. Robert had known in Paris, even if it is no longer Sweden’s official religion and church attendance is minuscule. Nowadays, she noted, men who seek to be priests will not be ordained if they cannot accept women as clerical equals.

“Yes, they have their own problems,” Ms. Robert said. “But they manage to say that it’s O.K. to be religious and to be progressive. That religion is not just stuck in the past. Swedes are very atheist, and only 2 percent go to Mass on Sunday. They’re not believers. But they trust them.”

Shortly before Ms. Robert moved to Sweden, she had covered protests in France by Catholics opposed to same-sex marriage. That, and the scandals over clerical sex abuse, left her skeptical about organized religion.

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At Stockholm Cathedral, Kristina Ljunggren, its chaplain, leads the morning prayer.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea
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Bishop Eva Brunne preparing to lead the procession for the ordination of six priests in the Cathedral of Stockholm.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea
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Lena Thoms praying before her ordination ceremony.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea

“In 2013, the Catholic Church launched a huge movement, very conservative movement, against marriage for everyone,” she recalled. “They were at the forefront. You had bishops on TV. The thing was, marriage for everyone was only about civil ceremonies. It had nothing to do with religion. But they loaded buses from the churches to go protest in Paris.”

Struck by the progressive nature of the Swedish church, she and Ms. Bauer, a colleague in the Youpress freelance collective, began seeking out subjects. Among them were some of the first women to be ordained, who Ms. Robert said had longed for a greater role than the traditional one of pastor’s wife.

“They really wanted other responsibilities,” she said. “They wanted to be fully recognized as priests. They said the first thing they had to do was to study theology and be equal to men in those studies. And then they found the theological foundation to say women should be allowed to be ordained. That was their first fight.”

From a handful of pioneers, the role of female clergy has grown, including the appointment of an openly lesbian bishop and a woman named the church’s first woman archbishop. The church, she added, continued to pursue a more liberal approach, even if it has faced some pushback from other faith leaders abroad for its stance on female ordination and causes like immigration. The church’s evolution, she said, reflected bigger shifts that occurred in Swedish society after World War II.

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Karin Ohagen during the baptism of a friend’s son.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea
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Marten Martesson and Lars Lifvendahl, both priests, will each assist a future clergy member during their ordination.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea
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Karin Ohagen with her wife after the baptism ceremony.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea

“It completely evolved and modernized, and they became this super-egalitarian nation,” Ms. Robert said. “Women went in, and the role of the priest changed, and the more it did, the more women felt they could fit in.”

Ms. Robert does not believe that men and women bring fundamentally different gifts to their vocation. “I would never say women are more sensitive, or men are more this than that,” she said. “What I think is that for people, it’s important they could relate to someone, man or woman. It was important to the believers. They found they could have both, and have both perspectives. It made the church more complete.”

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Karin Ohagen, her wife and their daughter.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea
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In the sacristy, Jenny Wall, a priest, takes a picture of Emelie Bjorling, whom she mentored and would assist during ordination.Credit...Juliette Robert/Youpress/Haytham-Rea
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