16 | March | 2013 | Impressions

. By T.V. Antony Raj

In the southeastern town of Rödeby in Sweden the badge and the certificate given to 14-year-old children after they attended a course on “Love and Sexuality” at a Church of Sweden confirmation camp shocked their parents. The certificate stated that the children “qualified for sex”.

Vicar Mats-Ola Nylen - 2 — Vicar Mats-Ola Nylen

The enraged parents complained to Mats-Ola Nylen, the Vicar of the church about the certificate and the use of colloquial phrases in Swedish like “knullborgarmärke” that vaguely translates to “giving someone a blow job.” They also said that their 14-year-old children were not ready for sex yet because under Swedish law children do not have the right to engage in sexual activities until they are 15 years old.

The Vicar explained about the camp conducted over the weekend. “The whole camp revolves around different aspects of friendships and relationships … In the past, young people have complained that the Church does not discuss these issues … Young people who had more information were not necessarily sexually active at a younger age, but possibly at a later age,” he said.

He told them that a man purporting to come from the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) and wearing an RFSU shirt at the event organized the course. RFSU is the Swedish national affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Organization.

He had asked that man to allow him to sit during the session. However, the man asked him to stay away because he felt the Vicar’s presence would have an inhibiting effect on the participants.

The Vicar added that he felt betrayed by that man.

The church later found out he had not worked for RFSU in years. Although the man no longer worked for RFSU, they had hired him on several occasions with no complaints, said Pelle Ullholm, head of RFSU’s outreach programs.

Josefin Morge, a spokesperson for RFSU said the organization stopped using the sex certificate since 2007. She said they used that certificate at a campaign “not primarily meant for youths.”

The man who organized and conducted the course was not available for comment.