Paul Abels
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The Reverend Paul Abels |
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| Born |
August 4, 1937 Yellow Springs, Ohio |
| Died | March 12, 1992 (aged 54) Rensselaerville, New York |
| Cause of death | Complications from AIDS |
| Alma mater | |
| Years active | 1963–1989 |
| Religion | Christianity (Methodist) |
| Church |
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| Ordained | 1963 |
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Congregations served
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Washington Square Methodist Episcopal Church |
Paul Milford Abels (August 4, 1937 – March 12, 1992) was an American Methodist minister who became the country's first openly gay minister to serve in a major Christian denomination. He served as pastor of Washington Square Methodist Episcopal Church in Greenwich Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan from 1973 to 1984.
Abels was born on August 4, 1937, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, to Carrie Mae (Atkins) and James Albert Abels. He attended public schools in Yellow Springs and Cedarville, Ohio. As a teenager, he was editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper and wrote a column in the local newspaper, the Cedarville Herald. After graduating from high school, Abels moved to Madison, New Jersey, to study at the College of Liberal Arts at Drew University, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959. He went on to attend Drew Theological School, from which he received a Master of Divinity degree in 1963. Abels was ordained as an elder the same year by the Methodist Church (which would go on to merge with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form the United Methodist Church in 1968). He received a Master of Sacred Music degree from United Theological Seminary in 1965 following approval of his thesis entitled An Ecumenical Manual of Song for Young Churchmen. He served as music minister for churches in Towaco and Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, and as pastor in West New York, New Jersey.
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