Tor Berger Jørgensen

Tor Berger Jørgensen
Born	27 December 1945 Oslo, Norway
Nationality	Norwegian
Education	cand.theol.
Alma mater	MF Norwegian School of Theology
Occupation	priest, provost, bishop
Religion	Christian (Church of Norway)
Spouse(s)	Anne Berger Jørgensen

Tor Berger Jørgensen (born 27 December 1945 in Oslo, Norway) is the Bishop of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland in the Church of Norway.^[1]

Jørgensen was named the new bishop of Sør-Hålogaland on 17 November 2006 and took over those duties from Øystein Ingar Larsen on 28 January 2007.^[2][3] Jørgensen had previously been the dean of Bodø Cathedral since 2000 and had for various periods been deputy for the bishop.

Jørgensen has a cand.theol. degree from the Misjonshøgskolen/MF Norwegian School of Theology in 1972. Jørgensen has worked for 15 years as a mission priest in Japan for the Norwegian Missionary Society and after that was the general secretary of the same organisation from 1991 to 1999. Jørgensen was also a candidate for bishop of the Diocese of Oslo in 2005, but Ole Christian Kvarme was elected.^[4]

Beliefs

In 2000, Jørgensen entered the debate on homosexuals in the church, and since then has been referred to as one of the liberal bishops in the synod. A week before he became bishop, he gave an interview to a newspaper stating that he supported a ritual in church for homosexuals to take part in a Civil union.^[5][6][7]

In 2009, Jørgensen ordained a female priest that was unmarried and living with the father of her child. The issue of cohabitation of priests is a very controversial topic in the church, and many have called for his resignation.^[1][8]

References

1. Lindekleiv, Heidi Marie. "Biskop sa ja til prest som lever som samboer - Nå raser preste-Norge" (in Norwegian). VG Nett.
2. "Tor B. Jørgensen vigsles til biskop 28. januar" (in Norwegian). Kirken.no. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
3. "Biskoper i Sør-Hålogaland bispedømme 1952-2009" (in Norwegian). Kirken.no. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
4. Store norske leksikon. "Tor Berger Jørgensen" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2011-10-28.
5. "Den homofile agenda" (in Norwegian). Norge Idag. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
6. "Nekter fortsatt å vigsle homofile prester" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet.no. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
7. "Ja til to homofilisyn i Kirken" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet.no. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
8. "Prestekritikk mot biskop som ordinerte samboer". Dagbladet. 9 January 2009. Retrieved 2011-10-28.