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church and religion.
265
cases with the addition of a dwelling-house. Every eighth rector has an income
falling below three thousand kronor, and every eighth perpetual curate has less
than twelve hundred kronor. Twenty-three rectors have more than ten thousand
kronor each, and thirteen perpetual curates have four thousand kronor or above that.
The whole sum of salaries amounted to 8-n million kronor, of which r« mill,
kronor consisted of the revenue from the benefices (=houses with grounds), the
whole appraised value of these amounting to 48-io million kronor. The whole
question about the payment of the clergy is now receiving attention and a
reform may soon be expected. The salary of a bishop is officially reckoned
at from 10,000 to 15,000 kronor, and of the archbishop at 16,000 kr.; these
amounts are probably, as a rule, far short of the actual sums received. —
The Swedish clergy have not the right to pension (though their widows and
children are entitled to such, from a special fund), hence clergymen who are
getting past their work by reason of age obtain assistance from young clergymen
not yet holding fixed appointments, whom they usually receive into their own
houses and themselves remunerate.
The parish early came to form the basis of secular communal life
too. Nowhere, certainly, within the compass of the Lutheran Church
has the influence of the parishioners in church affairs been of old
greater than in Sweden. In ecclesiastical and educational questions
the Church Assembly (Kyrkostämman) has the decision; the Rector
presides, and every member of the civil community who as such
possesses a vote and belongs to the Swedish Church has the right of
voting here too, in accordance, however, with a graduated scale, i. e.
in proportion to the sum each pays in rates (with the restrictions
mentioned on page 250). The Assembly elects two standing committees
for four years: the Vestry Board (Kyrkorådet) and the School Board
(Skolrådet), over both of which the Rector presides. The Vestry Board
has to look after the concerns of the church, to administer certain
church funds, and exercise church discipline. The close connection
between church and school in Sweden is a characteristic feature;
moreover, the high standard to which popular education has been brought
in the country, is largely owing to the efforts of the clergy.
Instrumental in bringing about this result have also been the Catechetical
Meetings (Husförhör), which have no counterpart in other countries. Already the
Ecclesiastical law of 1686 enjoins the clergy to supplement their sermons and
interrogations in church on the catechism by visiting their parishioners at home,
one after the other, in order to examine them in Christian knowledge. During
the 18th century it was enacted their duty so to do, while the obligations of
the parishioners with regard to attendance were more precisely defined. At the
present time, these catechetical meetings are held for a considerable section of the
parishioners together at one time. The institution has, however, in many towns
changed so far as to the meetings having assumed a devotional character.
The clergy in Sweden have from olden times kept a number of Registers
of the population (amongst others those which have formed the basis, for a
century and a half, of the famous Swedish population statistics). These registers
have been instituted, partly for the requirements of the churches, but also largely
for those of national government. The labour of keeping these in large parishes
is considerably onerous, and it is carried out without extra remuneration.
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