wfn.org | ELCA Jazz Pastor, John Garcia Gensel Died

[Brenda Williams <BRENDAW@elca.org>]

Reply-To: ElcaNews <ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG>
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 13, 1998

JAZZ PASTOR, JOHN GARCIA GENSEL DIED
98-06-027-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- One of the most "off-beat" ministries in American
Christianity ended Feb. 6 with the death of the Rev. John Garcia Gensel.  A
pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Gensel was
named minister to the jazz community of New York in 1965 by the former
Lutheran Church in America.  He died ten days before his 81st birthday.
     Gensel's interest in jazz music and his understanding of the special
needs and problems of jazz musicians led him to propose it be an active
Lutheran ministry.  He was called to be minister to the jazz community of
New York and associate pastor of Manhattan's St. Peter Lutheran Church in
1965, when Gensel established a Jazz Vespers worship service every Sunday
at 5:00 p.m.  He retired at the end of 1993 and moved to Muncy, Pa.
     Gensel traced his love of jazz to 1932 when he first heard the music
of Duke Ellington. Ellington was among Gensel's "jazz congregation" and
called Gensel his "special reverend."  When "the Duke" died in 1974, Gensel
conducted the funeral service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in
New York.
     Born as Juan Garcia Velez in Manatí, Puerto Rico, Gensel moved to
Pennsylvania while a child.  He earned degrees in 1940 from Susquehanna
University, Selinsgrove, Pa., and in 1943 from the Lutheran Theological
Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa. -- a college and a seminary of the ELCA.  He
studied at Union Theological Seminary, New York, and received an honorary
doctorate from Susquehanna University.
     Gensel served as a U.S. Navy chaplain in Guam during World War II,
and he was pastor of First English Lutheran Church and St. Paul Lutheran
Church in Mansfield, Ohio.  From 1953 to 1955 he served "temporary
communities" of construction workers in the Scioto Valley Atomic Area of
southern Ohio from a "chapel on wheels" before serving briefly as pastor of
two congregations in Puerto Rico.
     In 1956 Gensel became pastor of New York's Advent Lutheran Church in
Manhattan.  He took a jazz course at the New School of Social Research and
began counseling musicians in the city's night spots.
     Gensel is survived by Audrey, his wife of 55 years, and by three
children and nine grandchildren.  The congregation of St. Peter Lutheran
Church is planning a memorial service to be celebrated after Easter, April
12.

For information contact: 
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html