Pastor's public criticism stings again as California ordination case dismissed By John H. Adams The Layman Online Thursday, December 26, 2002 On Christmas eve, Paul Jensen received a certified letter from the Presbytery of Redwoods in California that included a stinging reminder that his own pastor played a public role in derailing his efforts to require the presbytery to enforce the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA). "The fingerprints on the knife are John Huffman's," Jensen disappointedly told The Layman Online after reading the letter from the presbytery's permanent judicial commission. Huffman is the senior pastor of the 4,100-member St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, Calif. The presbytery court notified Jensen that it had dismissed his complaint against a presbytery leader accused of securing presbytery approval to ordain a self-affirming, practicing lesbian. Order cites session's statement In its one-page report, the court challenged Jensen's status as a member of St. Andrew's, saying, "the pastor [Huffman] and the clerk of session of St. Andrew's Church … disassociated themselves with [sic] the complaint." That was a reference to a statement, adopted by the St. Andrew's session on May 21, 2002, and signed by Huffman and St. Andrew's Stated Clerk John P. Lehman. The session did not then use the term "disassociate." In May, Huffman and the session said they did "not support or concur in" Jensen's complaints. Later, Huffman did use the word "disassociate" to describe the session's action. The session's statement said Huffman encouraged Jensen to transfer his membership to another church instead of using his "membership in St. Andrew's … [as his] legal standing in the PCUSA to file disciplinary actions in the courts of the church." Church's endorsement not required The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) does not require any Presbyterian to get pastoral or sessional approval before filing judicial complaints, and St. Andrew's was never a party to Jensen's cases. Although he had moved from California to Reston, Va., to become legal counsel to a congressional committee, Jensen continued his membership in St. Andrew's and worshiped there on occasional trips back to the West Coast. Besides the session's statement, Huffman later publicly criticized Jensen's efforts to get the courts in the Presbyterian Church (USA) to enforce the constitution. And he publicly disparaged another St. Andrew's member – Dr. Alex Metherell – because of Metherell's leading role in a petition campaign for a called General Assembly to respond to the "constitutional crisis" in the denomination. Huffman said in his public statement he had expressed his concern to Metherell privately. Review of complaint ends The presbytery report ended the review of Jensen's charges against the Rev. Chandler Stokes, chairman of the presbytery's committee for preparation on ministry. Previously, the presbytery's investigating committee dismissed the case, along with five other Jensen complaints, but Jensen asked the presbytery court to review the Stokes decision. Jensen accused Stokes of renouncing his oath of office by securing the presbytery's approval of the Rev. Kathleen "Katie" Morrison as a candidate for the ministry and participating in Morrison's ordination. Morrison had made clear to the presbytery and Stokes' committee that she was in an active lesbian relationship, but she insisted that she was not violating the denomination's "fidelity/chastity" standard. She said she was "chaste" in her own eyes. Fundraising letter was supportive Ironically, in a previous letter to Jensen and in a later press statement, Huffman expressed more regard for Jensen. On March 15, 2002, Jensen sent Huffman a letter, enclosing a copy of a complaint he had filed in the Presbytery of Baltimore against a homosexual minister who was publicly defying church law. Huffman responded on March 22, 2002, with a "confidential" letter – which Jensen released at the request of The Layman Online – in which the minister spoke supportively of Jensen's Baltimore complaint. "It's with interest that I read the attached material," Huffman said. "We must have compliance!" In the rest of the March 22 letter, Huffman informed Jensen about the congregation's multimillion-dollar capital campaign and asked him to make a $100,000 donation. Jensen did not respond to that request. Two months later, Huffman signed the session's statement denouncing Jensen's complaints. Also, in February of 2002, speaking at the National Celebration of Confessing Churches, Huffman himself said he was committed to taking aggressive steps to enforce the constitution. He told more than 800 representatives of the Confessing Church Movement that he would ask the St. Andrew's session to withhold per-capita payments to the denomination if the constitution was not enforced. "I have been warned not to say this because charges may be brought for disturbing the peace, but there are those who have been disturbing the peace for decades and have not been held accountable," Huffman said. Opposition restated On Nov. 20, 2002, Huffman issued a press release in which he restated his opposition to Jensen's complaints and to the work of Metherell. This time, he called both "active members in good standing of this congregation" and said, "I have warm, personal friendships of almost 25 years with each of them." "Although I share with both men a common concern that there be full compliance with our constitutional and theological standards, neither alerted me or the session of St. Andrew's before they initiated their individual and separate actions," he added. "I and the session of St. Andrews have already disassociated ourselves with the methodology of Mr. Jensen. And I have shared in private conversations with Mr. Metherell my personal opinion that a recall of the [214th] General Assembly is not only unwise but could be counterproductive to our constitutional procedures." Sides with clerk, moderator While "disassociating" himself from the actions of Jensen and Metherell, Huffman said in the Nov. 20 statement, "I stand in solidarity with the stated clerk, Clifton Kirkpatrick; the moderator, Fahed Abu-Akel; and the two additional moderatorial candidates, Laird Stuart and Jerry Tankersley; along with many others in calling for compliance to our constitutional standards while deeming a special meeting of the General Assembly to be unnecessary." "This is the time to concentrate our efforts on carrying out the Great Ends of the church and to move forward in our General Assembly mandated "Mission Initiative" while expecting, in the due course of time, that the judicial process will enforce compliance," he added. Huffman is a member of the denomination's Mission Initiative Steering Committee, which is seeking to raise $40 million. Jensen's legal challenges and Metherell's campaign for an historic called meeting of the General Assembly have been independent movements. But both Jensen and Metherell have expressed disappointment in Huffman's public opposition to their attempts to restore constitutional integrity to the PCUSA. Court action closes case Jensen told The Layman Online that the latest word from the Redwoods Presbytery court seals the presbytery's judgment in favor of ordaining homosexuals. He contended that the presbytery's investigating committee violated the denomination's disciplinary rules by never inviting him to offer testimony – "not even a postcard or a phone call," he said. "What this means [in Redwoods Presbgytery] is that you can defy G-6.0106b," the constitutional "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard, he said. "It is judicial activism at its worst."

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