Paul Jensen accuses 2 more ministers
Jensen castigates PC(USA) moderator, vows to
keep up pressure
His home congregation dissociates itself from his
actions
by Alexa Smith, Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE -- April 18, 2002 -- A Virginia attorney
has alleged that two more Presbyterian Church (USA) clergy have violated
their ordination vows by defying a constitutional ban on ordinations of
non-celibate gays and lesbians.
Paul Jensen, of Reston, VA, now has filed 16
such cases, against 15 ministers and one elder, in at least nine
different presbyteries. Each presbytery is required by church polity to
appoint an investigative committee to consider the charges.
Jensen's latest allegation was lodged against a
minister member of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities for having
announced on the floor of last year's General Assembly that she is
"a practicing homosexual," in violation of her ordination
vows.
In a separate action, Jensen filed a complaint with
the Presbytery of New York City alleging that a clergyman published an
article in his church newsletter in which he said that the church would
ordain gays and lesbians in violation of a provision of the PC(USA)
constitution, section G-6.0106(b), that prohibits such ordinations.
Jensen also charged that the minister made the same announcement from
the pulpit.
In both cases, Jensen challenged those he accused to
"have the courage of (their) convictions" and to "save
much time and effort on the part of the committee(s)" by waiving
their rights to preliminary investigations and proceeding directly to
trial.
Jensen argued, as he has in other cases he has filed
in recent weeks, that the accused have made their defiance public and
have renounced the jurisdiction of the church by failing to abide by its
ordination standards.
Jensen has acknowledged that he doesn't know the
people he has accused. He says he has found their statements of defiance
on the Internet or in some other public form.
"As in the past, I am acting entirely on my own
behalf in this matter, and no one had any advance notice of my
actions," Jensen told the Presbyterian News Service (PNS).
Jensen is a member of St. Andrew's Presbyterian
Church, in Newport Beach, CA, but he said no one on its staff or session
had knowledge of his intentions.
He said he will continue filing such charges.
"I am absolutely going to pursue these as far as
I can," he said, adding:
"If our constitution means anything, then those
who persist in defying it must (suffer) the consequences of the
disciplinary process. Absent such consequences, anyone can freely ignore
his or her ordination vows at leisure, and our constitution, not just
G-6.0106.b, will be meaningless.
"This is why I have brought these accusations,
and will continue to bring accusations in the future, against anyone I
come to learn is actively defying, or actively encouraging the defiance
of, our constitution -- up to and including the (General Assembly)
moderator."
Jensen said he has sent a letter to the Rev. Jack
Rogers, the moderator of the 213th General Assembly, reprimanding him
for visiting allegedly out-of-compliance churches and for being
sympathetic to those who support the ordination of homosexuals. He gave
a copy of the letter to PNS.
Rogers, an evangelical scholar, has been all but
ostracized by the church's conservative wing because of his views on
homosexuals' participation in the life of the church.
"You have an absolute duty to uphold our
constitution, particularly in the face of such outright defiance, yet
have said nothing," Jensen wrote in his letter to Rogers. "The
time is thus well past for you to fulfill your duty to … condemn in
unequivocal words any conduct that defies our constitution, or
encourages others to do so.
"If you fail to do so, you will have grossly
derelicted (sic) and abandoned your duty … for which you will
certainly find yourself accused in a disciplinary accusation. I urge you
to wait no longer, and to speak plainly and forcefully in fidelity and
obedience to our polity."
Jensen said his communication with Rogers is not a
threat, but a statement of his own resolution to oppose church officers
who defy the constitution.
In a letter dated March 4, Rogers and the Rev. Clifton
Kirkpatrick, the denomination's stated clerk, informed Presbyterians
that "those called to office in the church and all ordaining bodies
are responsible to uphold (G-6.0106.b) … for ministers, elders and
deacons."
They wrote the letter after an amendment that would
have eliminated the clause prohibiting ordination of gays and lesbians
was defeated by a vote of PC(USA) presbyteries.
Efforts to reach Rogers for comment on Jensen's letter
were unsuccessful.
Jensen is a lifelong Presbyterian from a wealthy
family in Laguna Beach, CA. He has worked as a consultant on
national-level Republican political campaigns.
In the 1970s, he worked for right-wing California Rep.
John G. Schmitz, and later was on the campaign staff of Schmitz's wife
when she made an unsuccessful run for Congress. In 1986, he was a
campaign advisor to conservative Alabama Sen. Jeremiah Denton, a Navy
officer who came to public attention as a prisoner of war in Vietnam
when he blinked out the word "torture" in Morse code during a
TV interview -- the first confirmation that POWs were being abused by
the North Vietnamese.
In the early 1980s, Jensen was legislative director of
the American Defense Foundation in Washington. The 1990 graduate of the
law school at Duke University practiced law in California for several
years and now works for the federal government.
He joined St. Andrew's in 1979 but has not served as a
church officer. He has worked as a volunteer reporter for The
Presbyterian Layman during several General Assemblies.
He said no other group or individual is involved in
his pursuit of the disciplinary cases.
On April 5, the Presbytery of Los Ranchos wrote in a
letter to PNS: "This is to inform you that neither Dr. John A.
Huffman, Jr., pastor of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach,
CA, the staff of the church, nor the session of St. Andrew's had any
prior knowledge of the complaints filed by Paul Rolf Jensen. Although
Mr. Jensen's name appears on the membership rolls of St. Andrew's, he
moved to Vienna, Virginia, in February of 2001."
The letter was signed by Jane F. Odell, the
presbytery's interim executive, and by Huffman and the clerk of the St.
Andrew's session.
