Malkus

Malkus - what is it?   Calendar   Activities   Links   Camp 2010   Contact information

Malkus - what is it?

Malkus is a group of Seta, Helsinki, for Christian and other views of life. Seta is the main organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people concerns in Finland. From now on we use the abbreviation "lgbt" to refer to all these minority groups.

For us in Malkus, the word "Christian" has a broad meaning. Anyone looking for a spiritual home or interesting discussions is welcome to our group; let him/her see himself/herself as a "Christian", a "believer", both, or neither. The group members belong to various denominations and congregations. That is why we don't have any "correct doctrines" or given answers to ethical questions. Our goal is to give everyone room enough to debate and question. However, everyone should give respect to everyone else's beliefs. We intend to make the group a safe haven to build one's views of life without any pressure or leading to any direction. As a group it might be easier and more fruitful to do this than just by pondering things over alone.

When we gather together in the discussion group, we talk about both profound and easy topics, depending on people's mood each time. Sometimes we have a prepared theme (often introduced by a guest speaker) and usually we also have time set aside for listening to what is going on with each of us lately. The number of people attending our regular gatherings averages 15. The discussion themes are listed in our calendar.

Malkus has arranged many devotional gatherings called Rainbow Masses, as well as weekend camps and special gatherings during the Finnish Gay Pride Weeks. Outside summer season we gather in the Rainbow Café once every two weeks. Other forms of activity have been Bible study, sorrow group and weekends of silent devotion. In or web club we can discuss with each other any time. We also have other less formal activities such as picnics or social evenings. We try to keep this page up to date to announce our future events in time.

Malkus has gradually widened its activities. However, probably the most important kind of "activity" is that Malkus exists and provides an accepting atmosphere toward each one's sexual orientation and religious beliefs. The actual forms through which the more concrete activities take place depend on the participants.

The calendar for year 2010 is as follows


January
  8.   at 6.00 p.m.  Informal gathering.  (Rainbow Café)
15.   at 7.00 p.m.  Planning of themes.  (Seta office)
29.   at 7.00 p.m.  Richness and poorness.  (Seta office)
29.                       Relationship training course, deadline for registration
                            (registration hkettusaari (at) evl.fi ).
30.   at 5.00 p.m.  Rainbow Mass.  (Cathedral Chapel)


February
12.   at 7.00 p.m.  A pleasant memory from my childhood or youth. (Seta office)
12.   at 6.00 p.m.  Informal gathering.  (Rainbow Café)
26.   at 7.00 p.m.  Views of a gay man on views of the churches on gay men. (Seta office)
                            Jorma Hentilä as guest. (Seta office)
27.   at 5.00 p.m.  Rainbow Mass.  (Cathedral Chapel)


March
12.   at 7.00 p.m.  Rainbow colours from Geneva.
                            Pastor Matti Peiponen as guest. (Seta office)
12.   at 6.00 p.m.  Informal gathering.  (Rainbow Café)
26.   at 7.00 p.m.  Courage to bless a rainbow couple.
                            Pastor Leena Huovinen as guest. (Seta office)


April
  3.   at 5.00 p.m.  Rainbow Mass.  (Cathedral Chapel)
  9.   at 7.00 p.m.  (Seta office, theme will be announced later)
16.                       Rainbow retreat, deadline for registration
                            (registration paivimaaria.ollila (at) saunalahti.fi
                             or auli.hynonen-rinne (at) evl.fi ).
23. - 25.              Rainbow retreat.  (Tammilehto, Rymättylä)
23.   at 7.00 p.m.  Youth work. Anders Huldén as guest. (Seta office)
24.   at 5.00 p.m.  Rainbow Mass.  (Cathedral Chapel)


May
  7.   at 7.00 p.m.  (Seta office, theme will be announced later)
14.   at 6.00 p.m.  Informal gathering.  (Rainbow Café)
21.   at 7.00 p.m.  As a non-heterosexual at workplace.
                            Hanna-Leena Autio as guest. (Seta office)
29.   at 5.00 p.m.  Rainbow Mass.  (Cathedral Chapel)


June
  4.   at 7.00 p.m.  No theme.  (Seta office)


July
  2.   at 6.00 p.m.  Rainbow Mass.  (Kallio Church)


August
26.                      Malkus camp, deadline for registration
                            (registration malkusleiri (at) gmail.com ).

September
10. - 12.             Malkus camp. (Rantalahti, Janakkala)

Activities:

Malkus discussion group meets on every other Friday (even weeks) starting at 7.00 p.m. The themes of the group will be listed above in the calendar. The meetings take place in the Seta Helsinki office:

Address:
        Mannerheimintie 170 A 4  (5th floor)
        00300 Helsinki
        FINLAND

Malkus has informal gatherings in the Rainbow Café . However, the café is not part of Malkus activity. It is a gathering place for all kinds of rainbow people.

We take part in Lutheran church services called Rainbow Masses. Everyone who is interested in the Rainbow Mass is welcome regardless of the person's sexual orientation or view of life. Usually the Mass is held in the Helsinki Cathedral Chapel (the right hand tower of the church seen from the Senate Square) at 5.00 p.m., but sometimes also in Kallio Church (see calendar).

In spring 2007 a Lutheran parish, Kallion seurakunta, arranged Bible study from a rainbow point of view once a month in a group called Perspektiivi. Information of possible corresponding future activity will be given later.

For many years in spring there has been a weekend of devotion in silence for people who belong to sexual or gender minorities. Year 2010 it will be arranged on April 23.-25. by a local Lutheran parish in Tammilehto in Rymättylä, 35 km from Turku. Deadline for registrations is 16.4. You can register by phoning or sending email to Päivimaaria Ollila (050-4436541 or paivimaaria.ollila (at) saunalahti.fi) or Auli Hynönen-Rinne (02-2617207 or auli.hynonen-rinne (at) evl.fi).

A Christian/spiritual camp for sexual minorities has been arranged several times. Year 2010 the camp will take place in Rantalahti in Janakkala (90 km from Helsinki). More information of the camp is given (in Finnish) in the brochure of the camp.

A sorrow group for those who have lost a close person (by death) has been arranged a couple of times by Kallion seurakunta. A sorrow group gathers regularly for a limited period of time, always with the same composition. The members of the group can share their sorrow with each other. There will be other sorrow groups also in the future as soon as there are at least three registered participants. To register contact pastor Jaana Partti of Kallion seurakunta (by telephone 09-23403635, by email jaana.partti (at) evl.fi ). You can always contact her in case of losing a close person by death, regardless of whether you are interested in the group or not. Nobody needs to be alone with one's sorrow. There is always a chance to talk and often it helps too.

A relationship training course for same-sex couples will be held in spring 2010. To participate you must register by January 29. by sending email to Henna-Mari Kettusaari, hkettusaari (at) evl.fi.

During the Helsinki Pride 2009 event Malkus took part in the arrangements of two discussions. During the event there was also a Rainbow Mass in the Kallio Church. Malkus will have pride program also in summer 2010.

Links:

Most of our links are to other Christian gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender pages, but we have many links to corresponding pages of other religions too. Our link pages are trilingual. Plain text is in Finnish, italicized text in Swedish and bold text in English. Link sites are mainly in English.

Finnish links
Links by country
Links by denomination
Directory links
Other links

Contact information:

Email address:  malkus (at) heseta.fi
(Note! The answer may not always come quickly, but usually we will answer.)
                           
Postal address: 
Seta / Malkus 
Mannerheimintie 170 A 4 
00300 Helsinki 
FINLAND

Updated: 07.03.2010