HELLO?
You know, it’s funny, but I can’t find anything regarding an Orthodox bishop of any stripe, anywhere, at any time, named Paul Lemmen.
I did. It’s archived because it is rather dated (1988), and you have to pay for it to see it, but this is an excerpt from an article available from Tampa Bay Times Archives Online Archive, April 2, 1988.
The presiding local bishops of five small, little-known Christian denominations in the Tampa Bay area will join at noon April 9 for a formal ceremony marking the establishment of a new Ecumenical Council of Catholic and Orthodox Bishops.
The event begins with a Pontifical Mass concelebrated by the five bishops and other invited clergy at the Pro-Cathedral Church of Jesus of Nazareth (Philippine Independent Catholic Church), 14322 N Boulevard, Tampa.
The ceremony will focus on the signing of a covenant (agreement) “emphasizing the core of Christianity, rather than dwelling on theological differences,“ said Fredrick O’Keefe, secretary of the group and an archbishop of the Free Anglican Communion. He identified the other four bishops as Bishop Marinus Peters of the American Catholic Church; Bishop Eugenio Loreto of the Philippine Independent Catholic Church; Bishop Paul Lemmen of the Byzantine Orthodox Church; and Archbishop Roberto Toca of the Catholic Church of the Antiochean Rite.
You’ll have to pay the fee if you want absolute confirmation and if you want to read the full article.
Mr. Lemmen has told me that he believes that he was illicitly and invalidly ordained, but he was, per his claim, a “consecrated bishop” though not licitly or validly so.
The really important thing everyone needs to understand here is that false claims are being made against Paul Lemmen, who happens to be a friend of mine. This isn’t really such a big deal, generally speaking, in the blogosphere, but know that if these false claims were somehow “proven” true (they are not true), then that would land my friend Paul back into prison. I really do not want my friend to have to go back to prison, particularly based on false claims, so I would ask Ann Barnhardt to explain herself on this and why it is that she is making these claims against my friend. I do think it’s reasonable to ask that of her.
For those of you who think this is a “distraction,” then please, by all means, take that to Ann Barnhardt, not to me. It’s not a “distraction” to defend a fellow Christian against false claims. It is a distraction for a self-identified Christian blogger to make false claims that could wrongly land a fellow Christian in prison.
Think about that. Thanks for your time and consideration.
