How to learn Swedish in 1000 difficult lessons

Last weekend, climbing up onto the rocks overlooking the Baltic at Nacka, the priest said as we were scrambling up a path, "Once, the bishop asked me why I became a priest, what was behind it."

We stopped and caught our collective breaths, especially the priest who is just now starting to look pregnant with four months left to go.

"Everyone always thinks that it's faith," she said.

I nodded, her boyfriend the policeman waiting patiently in front of us, ready to keep climbing.

She continued, "But for me, it wasn't faith, it was fear." And then she laughed.

The Swedish word for the day is församlingen. It means the congregation.

- by Francis S.