Ólafur Skúlason (29 December 1929 – 9 June 2008) was an Icelandic prelate who was Bishop of Iceland from 1989 to 1997. Since 1996 he had been accused of sexually abusing many women, including his daughter.

Biography

Ólafur was born in Birtingaholt in

Hrunamannahreppur Hrunamannahreppur (, ) is a municipality located in Iceland. Its major settlement is Flúðir. The district abuts the Highlands, so that farmers' livestock occasionally strays there. Hrunamannahreppur and other parts of southwest Iceland were ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, the son of Skúli Oddleifsson and Sigríður Ágústsdóttir. After graduating from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

in 1955, he was ordained priest for service to the Icelandic congregation in Mountain, North Dakota. In 1960, he was appointed as the first youth representative of the National Church and in 1964 became pastor of Bústaðarkirkja in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

. In 1975 he was appointed a Dean in Reykjavík. In 1983 he was appointed and consecrated Bishop of Skálholt and suffragan to the Bishop of Iceland. In 1989 he was elected Bishop of Iceland. His time as bishop saw a great transformation towards more independence for the National Church. The highlight of these changes was the law (on the status, government and practice of the National Church), where the Church was granted the right to decide on the issues that concerned it. At the time, he was also a board member of the Lutheran World Federation and chaired the administration of the Ecumenical Organisation in Strasbourg.

Sexual abuse

During his tenure, a series of

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

scandals related to priests, as well as accusations against Ólafur himself, started to come out, whereby he was accused of sexually abusing numerous women. At that time the scandals were kept in secrecy and dismissed by the church. However, after his death, in 2010 his daughter Guðrún Ebba Ólafsdóttir attended the Church Council and disclosed that Ólafur had sexually abused her for many years.Kjartansdóttir, K
"Biskup: Æðri dómstólar fara yfir mál séra Ólafs"
'' Vísir.is'', Reykjavík, 20 August 2010. Retrieved on 9 July 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skulason, Olafur 1929 births 2008 deaths Olafur Skulason Olafur Skulason Olafur Skulason