First deaf priest in Sweden

Johan Selin from Harnosand, Sweden, will be ordained to priest on Sunday 11th June. This is a great event, because Johan is the first deaf who will be ordained to priest in the Swedish Church.

Anne-Maj write more about this in her blog. If you know Swedish Sign Language, you can read it here. She has interviewed Johan Selin, and he told her that he used to play priest when he was a child. Later, after his one-year work in Tanzania, he decided to study to priest, which he has succeded at it now. Johan did his studies in Uppsala, near Stockholm, which is far away from his wife and two children. But he could to go home on the weekends, and came back to the studies on weekdays.

Johan wanted to change the church for deaf people, and raised a debate about Sign Language in church services. The priests had too little knowledges in Sign Language by then. Now, the hearing priests have got further training in Sign Language, and now signs in the church services.

We can also learn from Anne-Maj's blog that in U.K there are 3-4 deaf priests, and a couple more in other places around the world. But here in Sweden, Johan is the first deaf who will be ordained to priest.

Congratulation to Johan Selin!