Baltimore, November 21, 2002
Tonight Baltimore Presbytery released documents
in order to clarify
"factual errors" and "misinterpretations" in the media recently over the
Jensen charges in that Presbytery. A summary of the relevant events of the
meeting, and the documents themselves, are provided below.
Statement of the Stated Clerk
"In the last week or so a number of articles have appeared in the press
regarding the report of the designated members of the Permanent Judicial
Commission which appears in the Clerk's Report. This reporting has
contained factual errors which have gone uncorrected, even though the media involved
have been advised of the errors and asked to correct them. The first of
these errors is the report that this Presbytery improperly instructed the
Investigating Committee and the PJC to ignore the Constitution...."
full
statement
MOTION
"THAT the Presbytery direct the Stated Clerk, acting on behalf of the IC
appointed September 27, 2001, to release copies of those documents which
refute and clarify the misrepresentations being published in the media
about the Committee."
The Presbytery voted to approve the Motion. At the end of the Stated
Meeting a packet of materials was handed to the commissioners. Here is the
cover page detailing the contents of the packet, which are further
described below.
Jensen WAS invited to meet with the Investigating Committee
A letter was sent from John Kazanjian, chair of the IC, to Mr. Paul
Rolf Jensen, dated April 12, 2002, inviting Mr. Jensen to a face
to face meeting with them in the Presbytery Office. read
letter
This invitation was sent certified mail and received by Jensen
himself
The Presbytery released the certified mail receipt for the above letter,
signed by Mr. Jensen on April 19, 2002. view
receipts
Yet, Jensen claimed he was not invited to testify!
The Presbytery released an extract from the Petition of Mr. Jensen for
review of the IC's decision not to bring charges, dated July 26, 2002, in
which he alleged that the IC did not fulfill its duties because it did not
seek to obtain testimony from all available witnesses, specifically
himself. read
Jensen petition excerpt
Designated PJC members asked Mr. Jensen about this factual
conflict
A letter dated October 7, 2002 from Mr. Tom Eastman on behalf of
the designated members of the PJC was sent to Mr. Jensen, asking
for an explanation of the apparent conflict between his petition and
the letter of April 12, 2000 sent by the IC to invite him to a face to
face meeting. read
letter
Jensen admitted the signature on the certified return receipt is his
own
Extract from a Reply to the above letter from Mr. Jensen,
dated October 15, 2002, in which he verifies that the
signature on the certified letter return receipt (April 19, 2002)
was his signature, but that he does not recollect
ever seeing the letter nor was it in his files and he could not
account for the seeming contradiction. Mr. Jensen presented
various
scenarios for why he never saw the letter and then indicated that
the
IC should have called or sent a follow-up letter. read
Jensen's reply