Letter writers decry PJC member's personal attack The Layman Online Tuesday, October 22, 2002 Some Presbyterians across the theological spectrum on the issue of ordination standards have decried the language and logic of a public letter written by the clerk of the Southern New England Permanent Judicial Commission. The letter by Barbara Hager, who is a minister and a lawyer, vilified Paul Rolf Jensen, a Virginia lawyer who has filed disciplinary charges against 19 ministers and one elder because of their public statements and actions in defiance of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Hager questioned Jensen's sexuality and declared his actions un-Christian. She also attacked church law and declared that the only basis on which a homosexual could be prohibited from ordination is to observe that person in a sexual act. Letter writers said they were shocked by the tone of Hager's letter and suggested she recuse herself from hearing cases dealing with the "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard. They also criticized Hager's legal analysis of that standard. The Layman Online published part of Hager's letter on Friday, Oct. 18, and, as is normal policy, edited out the portions that attacked Jensen personally. But Presbyweb published Hager's letter in its entirety on Saturday, Oct. 19, and that set off a firestorm of letters criticizing Hager. Some of those letters were published on Presbyweb on Monday, Oct. 21. One writer, the Rev. Edward Koster, stated clerk of the Presbytery of Detroit, a long-time opponent of the denomination's prohibition against ordaining self-affirming, practicing homosexuals, said he was nonetheless disturbed by Hager's letter. "I am distressed that my position is being advocated in a way that is destructive and damaging to the cause I advocate," Koster said. "Ms. Hager's … allegations of Mr. Jensen's motive, that he 'obviously has some neurotic or psychotic problems with his own sexuality,' are uncalled for, inappropriate, unsupported by facts and destructive to the debate we are having throughout our church." Furthermore, Koster, a practicing lawyer, said Hager's legal analysis of church law was "inaccurate at best." "I want to say that I personally find her tone of voice to be not only offensive but bordering on hysterical," said Alan Wilkerson, pastor of Kenton United Presbyterian Church in Portland, Ore. The Rev. Al Sandalow of Ellensburg, Wash., said Hager should recuse herself "from any further judicial matters that cover these topics that will come before her PJC." William R. Thurman Jr., clerk of the session of First Presbyterian Church in Thomaston, Ga., said Hager's letter was "characterized by the worst sort of mean-spiritedness. Shrillness, sarcasm, and invective are only a few of its qualities. It is cut from the same cloth as the imprecation from a former denominational official who, speaking of orthodox Presbyterians a few years ago, said, "Damn them! I wish they would go away!" Jeffrey Hayes Wildrick, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Dunellen, N.J., found it surprising that "such an invective could have been written by a Presbyterian pastor, let alone a member and clerk of a PJC. Could this really be written by a person who is charged with impartially trying the cases she's referring to?" If Hager wrote the letter, he added, "she must remove herself immediately from any role in any of the cases referenced." The Rev. J.P. Thornton of Bland, Va., considered Hager's letter a clear "sign that our church and its constitution is in deep, deep trouble. Trust the system? Yeah, sure (wink, wink). Take your complaints to the liberal oligarchy, and you, too, can be vilified like Paul Rolf Jensen." "Rev. Hager reveals, as I see it, her own theological bankruptcy, and that of Protestant liberalism in general, when she resorts not to dealing with the theological and ethical issues involved in Mr. Jensen's filings, but to psychologizing," said the Rev. Walter Taylor of Forest Park Presbyterian Church in Statesville, N.C. "To Rev. Hager's way of thinking, since no thinking person can subscribe to the teachings of the Reformed faith (and stated so well in our Book of Confessions) on these matters, anyone who does must have some sort of psychological problem," Taylor added. "In light of the basic inability of folks like Rev. Hager to have a serious theological dialog, are there any takers out there for another 'Irreconcilable Differences' overture?" The Rev. Thomas W. Gray, pastor of Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, Okla., said, "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." And Bill Arthur of Tucson, Ariz., said Hager's attack of Jensen was "right out of the Bill Clinton playbook: viciously undermine the credibility of someone with whom you disagree with the intent of making him/her look like a fool. After reading her comments, I certainly recognize who is being foolish."

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