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Dear Editor,
I am appalled at the letter the Rev. Hager sent to Paul Rolf Jensen. Mr. Jensen is correctly, constitutionally using our system to obtain redress for what he (and I) believe is an ongoing disregard of Presbyterian law. While many will not agree with the accusations proffered, it is the job of a presbytery and its judicial commission to evaluate each case on its merits alone.
The Rev. Hager’s job, ostensibly, is to dispassionately report and record the adjudication of church cases, yet she shows an appalling lack of substance, not to say grace.
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Her bizarre focus on the need for witnesses to sexual activity is unnecessary in cases of admitted behavior. As someone put it, “We are not on a witch hunt if someone comes to us saying ‘I am a witch.’” I believe that justice has ruled in courts of law for generations without videotaped evidence. |
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Regarding her statement, “Our denomination DOES NOT HAVE ANY RULE AGAINST ORDAINING HOMOSEXUALS.” Where has she been in the last 20 (and more) years? The authoritative guidance of 1979, never repealed or amended, speaks clearly against such ordination of practicing homosexuals. |
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I agree that “being gay” does not bar ordination unless there is actual practice. I believe, though, that many fingers are crossed when those such as Rev. Hager “believe” that there is no sexual activity on the part of those activist gays seeking ordination. Much of what is going on politically in our denomination is not about celibate gays, but is about gays seeking to affirm and normalize gay activity through the approval of a mainline denomination. |
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The Rev. Hager calls for Mr. Jensen to get the log (or, as she puts it, “LOG”) out of his eye, even as she tells him (through intemperate, ungracious language) “…I am ashamed that someone like Mr. Jensen is in MY church.” and “Mr. Jensen needs to look at his own psyche, there is something very wrong there, not to mention very un-Christian.” Most egregiously she says, “Mr. Jensen obviously has some neurotic or psychotic problems with his own sexuality.…” When did it become her church? Is her work as pastor and attorney sufficient authority to analyze someone else’s psyche or sexuality? |
I can only hope and pray that the members of the Permanent Judicial Commission do not share the Rev. Hager’s bias and rage. If they do, there will be no justice in the Southern New England Presbytery.
Thomas W. Gray
Pastor, Kirk of the Hills, Presbyterian
Tulsa, Oklahoma
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