The lawyer for the Rt. Rev. Charles E. Bennison Jr., the inhibited bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, has offered a preview of the defense’s case as the bishop prepares for his days in court.
Bishop Bennison goes on trial June 9 in Philadelphia before the Court for the Trial of a Bishop. Bishop Bennison faces two charges related to how he responded, in the mid-1970s, after learning that his younger brother, John, was involved in sexual relations with a female teenager. A presentment against Bishop Bennison charges him with “contemporaneous failure to respond appropriately” and “subsequent suppression of pertinent information.”
The teenager was 14 when the sexual relations began. At the time, Bishop Bennison was rector of St. Mark’s Church in Upland, Calif., and his brother, a married man attending Claremont School of Religion, was on staff.
Bishop Bennison has expressed remorse about how he responded. “My efforts to maintain confidentiality and prevent scandal were very misguided,” he wrote to his diocese in November 2006.
Nevertheless, says defense lawyer James A.A. Pabarue of Philadelphia, Bishop Bennison’s efforts were consistent with the church’s limited understanding at that time””and even into the early 1990s””of how to respond to sexual predation by clergy.
Sorry, but Bennison has the remorse of a snake.
[blockquote]Nevertheless, says defense lawyer James A.A. Pabarue of Philadelphia, Bishop Bennison’s efforts were consistent with the church’s limited understanding at that time—and even into the early 1990s—of how to respond to sexual predation by clergy.[/blockquote]
The utterings of a moral pygmy, an ethically bankrupt cretin.
A mental midget?
Please refrain from these unnecessary insults.
-Elf Lady