Good grief. About the last thing I want to be doing is wading back into this nonsense again, but it seems that serial criminal and conman Paul Lemmen is back at it, this time trying to con the “Three Percent” community. He is behind a scam “chaplaincy corps” this time, and it is all complete bee-ess.
Very quickly: Paul Lemmen is a career conman who served a stint in the pen for, among other things, impersonating a flag officer in Iraq and attempting to abscond with enormous amounts of money. But his history goes WAY back, including impersonating a Vietnam Vet, and comes all the way up to the present. Everything this guy says and does is a lie.
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Thanks, David.
Paul Lemmen is at various anti-Kimberlin/Schmalfeldt blogs claiming to be a priest (Hogewash.com, billysez.wordpress.com, ukeleledave.wordpress.com). I have attempted to alert them that he is conning them, but they don’t want to know the truth – they all believe him wholeheartedly despite the evidence presented –
Paul Lemmen claims to be a Syrian Orthodox Priest:
“I am an ordained Syrian Orthodox Priest. Part of my reformation and redemption. I have accepted assignment to participate in ministry to ex-convicts as my past is an effective testimony to the redemption of Christ. All under the ‘Tent-maker Paul’ tradition, that is, funded through my own earnings and self-supporting. No donations accepted and not incorporated as a charity. My decision on that, I requested same from the Patriarchate and was granted my wish. Reformation of life, a life centered on prayer and service, supported by the work of my hands and the sweat of my brow. A life of service, prayer and penance. I am very happy with what I am able to do to improve the world through my life now, to compensate for my former life.”
See: https://deadcitizensrightssociety.wordpress.com/about/ -- lemmen comment on May 16, 2015 at 09:46 (emphasis supplied)
-- and –
“I was a Christian before. In fact, I was ordained a priest in 1985 but fell away around 2000 or so. My experiences in prison convinced me to re-examine my life and the result of that re-examination of my life led, with fits, starts, stumbles and falls, to my decision to re-engage with the Eastern Orthodox Church. I re-entered Seminary for refresher courses last year and I expect to complete my studies later this year. I have been accepted back into the Church as a priest, albeit as a medically retired one.”
See: https://deadcitizensrightssociety.wordpress.com/about/ -- lemmen comment on feb 28, 2015 at 13:02. -- so, Lemmen is claiming he was an active, working priest between 1985 and 2000 in the Syrian Orthodox Church (was this before or after he was a Franciscan monk, I wonder?). Surely there is some record somewhere that Lemmen can produce of his 15-year stint as an active, working Orthodox Priest?
There appears to be only one Syrian Orthodox Church in the U.S. And they have no record of him being a priest.
See http://www.syrianorthodoxchurch.org/directories/clergy -- Note no listing for Lemmen.
And here: http://malankara.com/church-directory.html -- look at the churches in Florida, where Lemmen lives. None have him listed as a priest.
And here -- http://malankara.com/priests -- no Lemmen.
And here -- all the priests again -- http://soc-wus.netfirms.com/ourchurch/Pat_V_E_USA.htm -- no Lemmen.
The Syrian Orthodox Church in America is a relatively small church -- so there is no way that they are just “missing” him in their accounting of who their priests are.
In his comments to me at Ukulele Dave’s blog, Lemmen clearly indicated that he was NOT ordained within the last 2 years, but some time previous to that. He stated at 12:31 p.m. “Never did I say I was ordained in the past two years nor even the past decade.” see: https://ukuleledave.wordpress.com/2015/07/05/stupid-and-crazy-i-may-have-hit-on-a-crazy-stupid-idea/#comments
So, according to this, he has been an ordained Orthodox Priest for more than a decade at least.
At the other McCain’s blog, last August, he posted a comment stating:
“It isn’t BS. I am a Seminarian, enrolled in a degree program pursuing a degree in Theology with a major in Christian Social Work. Scoff all you want. Go as Bill Schmalfeldt, who attempted to attack me through the Seminary. He got back a very polite yet stinging reply. Of course, this was after I authorized them to release the information without even knowing who was attacking or what exactly was said.”
See here and look for comment by Lemmen: http://theothermccain.com/2014/08/07/truth-on-trial/
Also, in 2012, Lemmen commented at another blog:
“Thankfully my confessor does it right, even after my marathon 2 hour confession. My absolution was much more involved than an ordinary one as there were many serious mortal sins involved as well as other “interesting” issues including invalid Holy Orders and invalid consecration to the Orthodox Episcopate. My return to Holy Mother Church and repudiation of these errors was lengthy and involved. Thanks to a very holy and insightful priest I was brought back into the church as a simply member of the laity, absolved of my error and sinful state.”
(Emphasis added) See: http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/03/ever-experience-a-priest-who-doesnt-say-the-correct-words-of-absolution-idea/ and look for comment by Lemmen.
So, in 2012 he was not claiming to be a priest (nor to be in seminary), and as of August 2014, he was not ordained but was in seminary working toward a degree (which usually takes 3 years for the Orthodox Church), but as of July 2015, he has been a Priest for longer than 2 years (indeed, his comment to me implied he was ordained long ago).
On his own blog he states he is a:
“Former Criminal, former Capuchin Franciscan brother, former Orthodox Priest. In the process of redemption (a life-long process). Seminarian pursuing a degree in Theology with a major in Christian Social Work.”
See: https://deadcitizensrightssociety.wordpress.com/about/
Regardless, according to him, he “was” an “orthodox priest” after having been a Roman Catholic Franciscan -- all without having ever attended Seminary, but is currently attending seminary as of 2014. Note that at that time doesn’t claim he is a priest yet.
In a comment at another blog in 2012, he claimed to be a Catholic -- not an orthodox, so the conversion to Orthodox and the ordination to an “orthodox priest” must have come after May, 20, 2012:
“My preference is always an EF High Mass. They are hard to find and as rare as hens teeth. I also attend at the occasional EF Low Mass and the OF Masses that are the most available. Regardless of the Mass type, I follow along as I was taugh as a Capuchin Novice, being prepared for Mass by not only having made an examination of conscience and devout confession, but by also pre-reading the days readings, Gospel, etc. If one is familiar with the Eucharistic prayers, one can determine which one the Priest is using and pray it silently with him. I follow all of the prayers of the Priest and acolytes silently and join my silent prayer with theirs. That is silent participation, being sufficiently educated in the form and function and silently joining your prayers with the Celebrant and other Altar Servers so as to be a full participantg in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. To be less is to be lazy in ones Catholicity, to want shortcuts and offering of excuses to be truly and fully Catholic in joining fully in the liturgical life of the Church. Having been “fallen away” for many years, I started praying the Breviary again a few years ago, to one again immerse my life in the liturgical life of my Church once again. While I am not required to do so by virtue of valid and licit ordination to Holy Orders, there is nothing that I am aware of that prohibits one from this deeper involvement in liturgy and prayer.”
See: http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/05/to-speak-or-not-to-speak-that-is-the-question-active-participation-and-the-extraordinary-form/#comment-341623 -- lemmen comment at 11:57 a.m.
Yet, on April 16, 2012, he admits he claims not only that he was an Ordained Priest, but a “Bishop”: “I am a sinner, a former con-artist, invalid and illicitly ordained Orthodox Deacon, Priest and Bishop as well as having engaged in many other sinful and criminal acts and I have served time in Federal prison.” (Emphasis supplied).
Although he does say he was “illicitly ordained” -- I suppose that is admitting he was never really ordained, which makes his current status all the more mysterious: see:
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/04/the-mercy-of-god-a-truth-for-some-uncomfortable-even-offensive/#comment-335045 -- lemmen comment at 12:17 a.m.
The first time he appears to identify himself as “father” on Hogewash appears to be March 2, 2015 -- see: http://hogewash.com/2015/03/02/in-re-rico-madness-39/#comments
He never mentions graduating from Seminary or being ordained in his own blogs or comments at any other blog. He just changed his username to “father” instead of just Paul H. Lemmen. One would think he would mention such a momentous occasion or explain the change in his username from “Paul H. Lemmen” to “Father Paul H. Lemmen” -- but no such luck.
So, he never went to Seminary until his claim that he was attending in 2014 -- meaning the earliest he could have started is around 2013. Seminary is 3 years. The earliest he could graduate is 2016. So, by his own timeline, the earliest he could be ordained is 2016, or giving him every benefit of the doubt, late 2015.
He was allegedly a Catholic as of 2012, but was previously “illicitly” Ordained as an Orthodox priest and bishop, after having been a Franciscan friar (this must be in-between all the self admitted con-man activity). He somehow becomes “Ordained” again -- even though the first alleged time was “illicit”, without graduating from any seminary, in or around March of 2013, with no notice to anyone that he became ordained, simply changing his online username.
Also, at another blog, on February 12, 2014, he claimed to have been terminally ill and in hospice in 2014 and would have to stop commenting: http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2014/02/pray-for-conservative-blogger-paul-h-lemmen-in-hospice-2805854.html
Note he never made that claim at the Hogewash blog -- where he was regularly commenting at the time. Funny that he would make a big deal of being terminally ill at one blog and be silent about the same at another.
It is crazy to me that people will believe this guy despite the massive amount of evidence -- easily just from his own claims -- that show he is lying. It is sad.