The municipalities are offered priest against payment
If municipalities Solund, Gulen, and Masfjorden adds 500,000 kroner on the table, they get each a pastor from the Norwegian Church. If not, it will be cut in the offer.
The mayors of the municipalities in Sogn and Fjordane and Hordaland is not necessarily thrilled about the situation, according to the local newspaper Bergens Tidende.
– I’m concerned. It is the state’s responsibility to pay the priests, says Hallvard Oppedal in Gulen.
Together with the other mayors, he will still consider offers of the Church. Today, the three municipalities share of 2.1 priestly positions and additionally gets a little help from Sunnfjord deanery.
– With the governmental framework we get now, the municipalities must be to finance minister positions. Otherwise, the services must be significantly reduced, especially in rural areas, says Dean Geir Sørebø to Bergens Tidende.
Together, the Bjørgvin Diocese has to save NOK 7.5 million this year.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
