Ecclesiastical Court proceedings to determine whether Charles Bennison may remain Episcopalian bishop in the five-county region concluded yesterday.
Two counts against Bp. Bennison concern whether he committed “conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy.” Church prosecutors allege that he failed to protect underage parishioner Martha Alexis from sexual predation by John Bennison, his younger brother, and kept the matter a secret from the girl’s parents.
The abuse continued nearly throughout Ms. Alexis’s high school years in the early 1970s when John served as youth group leader in St. Mark’s Church in Upland, Calif. The elder Bennison, then rector of the church, hired his brother for the job as he worked on his seminary studies.
If the panel of nine priests and bishops finds that Bp. Bennison failed in his priestly duties, he could lose his standing as bishop and face further sentencing. They will issue their ruling within 30 days.
Meanwhile, John Bennison is quite the entrepreneur … see [url=http://www.phaseliftdesigns.com/wordsnways]here[/url] and [url=http://www.phaseliftdesigns.com/phaseliftdesigns]here[/url].
Kind of creepy.
Shame on him! Claiming to he an ethicist is the height of hypocrisy.
Regarding the verdict I have several thoughts. Firstly, as regards the justness of a guilty verdict, I feel the church has more than met the required proof. He should be removed from office. From a political standpoint (and our bishops and clergy in the past have repeatedly shown themselves to be as mutually self-protective as cops as evidenced in testimony in this trial and in other circumstances), this is act one of a two-part drama. The second act is the upcoming Moyer v. Bennison civil trial. It concerns allegations of the wrongful dismissal of a Diocese of Pa. employee, Father David Moyer of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont. If politics somehow have sway in the first case I feel the very public prominence of this trial will require some sort of reprimand. Should there be a tendency toward political calculation in the verdict, the question is…will Bennison be removed or just reprimanded and what will his resulting status do to further TEC’s interests in Moyer v. Bennison, also headed for a lot of press attention. I pray that this court is impartial and fair, as they have told us they will be. But whatever happens in either case, everything is being viewed in the full light of day.
Definitely creepy! Offering “personal ‘credo’ consultations”?!!