Episcopal Bishop Charles Bennison faced his first day of ecclesiastical trial yesterday over whether he violated church rules by failing to disclose a sexual relationship between his brother and an underage parishioner.<\/p>\n
The bishop’s younger brother John allegedly had illicit sex with a girl beginning in 1971 when she was a 14-year-old member of St. Mark’s Church in Upland, Calif., and he was a 24-year-old seminary student. The sexual relationship lasted until 1974, the year she departed for college.<\/p>\n
On two occasions in the summer of 1973, according to the victim, Charles, then the rector of St. Mark’s, walked in on the seminarian and the high school student but did not report what he saw either to the girl’s parents or to the police.<\/p>\n
Bp. Bennison stands accused of violating Title IV of the Canons of the Episcopal Church. His trial is neither civil nor criminal but will determine whether he can continue as bishop of the five-county region.<\/p>\n
“I participate in this trial sadly, but with a sense of duty and obligation,” church attorney Larry White said in his opening statement. “It is a painful case.”<\/p>\n