Jensen will succeed retiring Bishop Gerald Wiesner, OMI.
“I’m overwhelmed,” said Jensen. “It’s sad to leave Vancouver, but I am looking forward to my new home in Prince George.”
Jensen said he hopes to keep in touch with his friends in the Lower Mainland.
“It’s a big Church and we are all part of it.”
“The Holy Father has chosen a worthy shepherd and successor to Bishop Wiesner,” said Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, “and we shall all pray his ministry will be fruitful for the entire people of God entrusted to his care.”
Miller added that Jensen’s appointment will be “a great blessing” for the diocese of Prince George but said the monsignor will be missed in Vancouver. The archbishop noted Jensen is “indefatigable in carrying out his priestly ministry” and revered by his co-workers for his exemplary simplicity, wisdom and wit.
“It’s going to be a huge loss for us,” said Barbara Dowding, vice chancellor and stewardship director of the archdiocese of Vancouver, though she said she wasn’t surprised by the monsignor’s appointment.
“He has such a sense of duty to the Church and will bring his gifts to the diocese (of Prince George) and do a great job there.”
“Words cannot describe how much I love this guy,” added an emotional Mary-lynn Murray, office manager in the chancery. She said she will miss Jensen’s dry humour and the way he was always there for his staff.
Fr. Richard Beaudette, OMI, vicar general in Prince George, said he was delighted with the news of Jensen’s appointment. He said he’s spoken to Jensen a few times over the phone but has never met him.
Beaudette said Jensen will have quite a task ahead of him in the northern diocese, noting the Prince George faithful have faced a lot of adversity in the past few years, with unemployment rising in the forestry sector.
“We’ve had two mills burn down in Prince George in the past year,” Beaudette recalled.
He noted the Burns Lake community in particular was devastated because the mill that was flattened by a deadly explosion in January 2012 was the town’s main employer.
“One of the real challenges for the churches here is the transiency: people come here for work, then leave when the jobs leave.”
Beaudette emphasized this with the example of Mackenzie, a small town 180 kilometres north of Prince George.
Overnight, the Catholic community went from “120 homes to 40 because of loss of jobs.”
Jensen plans to work with the people of Prince George by proclaiming the Church’s authentic faith.
“It’s a big challenge but God always equips us,” he said.
He added that he will follow the words of St. Paul in 2 Cor 3:5-6, which states, “Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God.”
Jensen was born in North Vancouver in 1954. He went to St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ont., to study for the priesthood and received his BA in Philosophy in 1976 and his MDiv in 1979.
The late Archbishop James Carney ordained him a priest for the archdiocese of Vancouver in 1980.
Jensen became a parish priest in 1984 and served in that capacity until 1998. Archbishop Adam Exner, OMI, appointed him vicar for education in 1997.
No date has been set for Jensen’s ordination.
(B.C. Catholic)