A new course in confirmation preparation: Priest in Viborg wants to facilitate conversation about body and boundaries
Conversations about human dignity, body ideals and boundaries are on the menu for upcoming confirmation candidates at Vestervang Church in Viborg.
In Viborg, upcoming confirmation candidates can look forward to lessons on body and boundaries leading up to their confirmation next year. (Photo: © Mikkel Berg Pedersen, Ritzau Scanpix) 24 minutes ago
Confirmation preparation should be more than just hymn singing and Bible stories at Vestervang Church in Viborg.
That is why a handful of priests here have decided that the upcoming confirmation candidates should also receive instruction on body and boundaries.
"The purpose of the course is for the confirmation candidates to learn a little about the fact that there are many different types of bodies in the world; that God loves all types of bodies, and that God wants us to treat each other properly," says parish priest Hildur Ahrenkilde.
Together with four other church employees, she will therefore dedicate one week of the confirmation preparation to teaching about boundaries and behavior.
The church must engage with what occupies us – otherwise the church is not relevant in a modern world, the parish priest believes. And precisely for that reason, it makes sense for the church to address what fills everyday life.
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Theme fits in
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"The church must be where people are. And we simply have to acknowledge that confirmation candidates in 7th grade are constantly exposed to body and boundaries," says Hildur Ahrenkilde, who therefore wants to make it clear to the young people that they can always come to the church with their problems.
She would be very upset if the confirmation candidates thought that the church was not relevant to them and that they could not talk to it.
"Of course they can," she says.
The confirmation candidates at Vestervang Church started their confirmation preparation in mid-September, and if everything goes as planned, the first confirmation candidates can stream out of the church at the end of April next year.
Parish priest Hildur Ahrenkilde and four other church employees will dedicate one week of the confirmation preparation to teaching about boundaries and behavior. (© Private photo)
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A safe space
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The confirmation candidates will cover around 60 lessons, which among other things are about Christianity, Bible history, the church service, and church rituals.
And here the theme of body, boundaries, and human dignity fits well in, believes Henrik Stubkjær, who is bishop of the Viborg Diocese.
Confirmation instruction "is about life," he says.
"It is about our relationship with God, with each other, and with ourselves. And one must say that this matter of love, and perhaps also of budding sexuality, is something that really concerns ourselves and our relationship with our fellow human beings."
"Therefore, it is also a topic that is far too important for us to leave to social media," says Henrik Stubkjær.
And that the conversation should take place precisely in the church, Henrik Stubkjær sees as completely natural.
"Confirmation preparation is a safe space, where we meet the young people, and where we can talk with the young people about what matters to them."
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