PENNSYLVANIA: Bennison will go to trial. Bishop spun lies about health of Diocese
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
11/8/2007
Bishop Charles E. Bennison, the inhibited Bishop of Pennsylvania, has chosen to go to trial on charges that he failed to report the sexual abuse of a minor by his brother John Bennison.
VirtueOnline learned that last Friday, a day before the Diocesan Convention, Bennison traveled to the church's national headquarters at 815 2nd Ave., in New York where he met with F. Clayton Matthews, bishop for pastoral development in the Episcopal Church and Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori's consigliere, where he was offered an opportunity to resign as the Bishop of Pennsylvania. Bennison turned down the offer.
Bennison then returned to his office and called together a meeting of the staff. He again proclaimed his innocence and said he would fight the charges.
Following his inhibition at midnight Saturday, Bennison was officially out of the diocese. On Monday morning when the Rev. Glenn Matis, head of the Standing Committee, showed up early at diocesan headquarters to take over the day to day operations. The staff showed up later.
James A. A. Pabarue, Bennison's attorney in this matter, did not return phone calls nor did he respond to an e-mail VirtueOnline sent him requesting more information.
The Rev. Timothy Stafford, rector of Christ Church in Philadelphia, the parish Bennison's wife attends, wrote a private note to his parish which VOL obtained. It says, "I met with Charles last Thursday, and he made it clear to me his intention to proceed with the ecclesiastical trial. I offered to him the advice that he has given me on numerous occasions: 'Make all your decisions as if your successor will have to live with the consequences.' I believe that drawing out this prolonged conflict is not in the interest of our common future of our diocese. I feel that Charles, even if vindicated at trial, would never regain the trust necessary to serve this diocese as Bishop. I pray that Charles chooses what is best for both the diocese and his family."
The Standing Committee of the diocese still has their Presentment charges in place and has not withdrawn them despite the current inhibition of Bennison. Matis, said in a statement, "These allegations were not made by the Standing Committee, but having read the Presentment document carefully and discussed it with Counsel, we felt it incumbent on us to allow the process to go forward as requested by the Presiding Bishop's office.
"We believe that the allegations in the Presentment against Bishop Bennison are profoundly serious and we respect and rely on the work of the Review Committee of The Episcopal Church to have properly and thoroughly investigated these allegations," The Standing Committee has been at odds with the bishop for more than two years over concerns about how he has managed the diocese's assets. More than once in the past, the Standing Committee has called for his resignation or retirement.
Bennison also faces a number of charges in civil court brought by Fr. David. L. Moyer, the Anglo-Catholic priest of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont. If Bennison is found guilty, the bishop could have several millions of dollars to pay.
The standing committee members should consider the possibility that the diocese may be liable for any judgment that is entered. It is also possible they could become co-defendants since they now are the ecclesiastical authority.
In a letter to the diocese, Mrs. Jefferts Schori says that she talked to Bennison and also revealed Frank Griswold's role in the Presentment charges. She went ahead with the Presentment following a public forum held in the fall of 2006, led by then-Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold who passed on information about Bishop Bennison to the Title IV Review Committee. "After reviewing all the material before them, he issued a Presentment and delivered it to my office." The Title IV Review Committee is formed by the General Convention of The Episcopal Church and serves as a Grand Jury for the Church.
"Speaking with Bishop Bennison before any of this was made public, I then was obligated to Inhibit him due to the nature of the Presentment." Mrs. Jefferts Schori said she consulted with the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Pennsylvania to request their support of the Inhibition. She got it.
The Trial Court is now in the process of organization for the upcoming trial. A meeting with the Diocese is being scheduled with representatives from her office within the next few weeks according to Jefferts Schori.
The Diocese will hold an open forum to which representatives from the Presiding Bishop's Office and the members of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Pennsylvania will attend regarding the presentment and inhibition of Bennison. The implications of these actions will be explained and discussed at Saint Mary's, Wayne, on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 3 p.m. A "Question and Answer" section will take place after the presentations. Those attending on behalf of the Presiding Bishop's Office are Clayton Matthews, Bishop for Pastoral Development, Office of Pastoral Development of the Episcopal Church and David Beers, Esq., Chancellor to the Presiding Bishop.
Since the announcement of Bennison's inhibition, a number of people have written to VOL recounting their experiences with Bennison over the years when he came to visit parishes. One layman wrote VOL with this story, "A couple of years ago when I was on the vestry of a local Episcopal Church, Bishop Bennison attended a vestry meeting after Mass. I probed him about theology. I told him that it was my understanding that he did not believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus. His response was meandering with him ultimately saying that he believed that the idea that the Holy Spirit raped the Blessed Virgin Mary to conceive Jesus was an acceptable theological position to hold."
Another area of confusion is just how many congregations and communicants are in the Diocese of PA. The Diocese of PA boasts that it has 155 congregations in the five-county area with some 33,000 communicants. According to a Yahoo report on the diocese, it appears the diocese hasn't a clue how many members it has. When I logged on to Yahoo and typed in Diocese of PA the numbers revealed that it had only 22,000 members in 155 congregations. The diocesan website shows it has 53,576 baptized members, with 44,000 active, but less than 18,000 average Sunday attendance..
Parish closures continue apace. In the last ten years, Bennison, who has repeatedly said the "Diocese has never been more healthy, with growing attendance and dedicated congregations," has managed to systemically close parishes that he claimed were not worth keeping open. He has closed 14 parishes, some of these are orthodox.
His predecessor, Allan Bartlett, only closed three parishes: St. Luke's, Eddystone; St. Giles, Stonehurst Hills, Upper Darby and St. Paul's, Overbrook.
Bennison takes first prize in the amount of closures he's enforced. Here is the most recent list:
All Saints', Crescentville
Atonement, Morton
Calvary/S. Paul's, South Philadelphia
Emmanuel & Good Shepherd, Kensington
Transfiguration, West Chester
St. Aidan's, Cheltenham
St. Alban's, Olney
St. Bartholomew, Wissoniming
St. Elisabeth's, South Philadelphia
St. James-the-Less, Philadelphia
St. Martin's, Boothwyn
St. Peter's, Broomall
St. Peter's, Germantown
St. Philip's, Grays Ferry, South Philadelphia
The real tragedy of Bennison's legacy is his treatment and contempt for Fr David Ousley and the closure of St. James-the-Less, which after 160 years was forced out of their Clearfield Street property. The black community not only lost a beloved church and a church school where local children could be educated, but also a friend and pastor in Fr Ousley who worked tirelessly on their behalf. The neighborhood no longer has an Anglo-Catholic presence, thanks to Bennison.
There the Church of St. James-the-Less, stands in all its gothic splendor, empty, lifeless, like the inhabitants of its church-yard. The diocese cannot afford to maintain it, unlike the parishioners who lovingly cared and nurtured it during its 160 year history. It is sad that Fr Ousley and his parishioners have to make do with the tiny cemetery chapel at W. Laurel Hill. The Black Community surrounding S. James-the-Less have been deprived of a first rate education for their children in the local neighborhood. Nothing has replaced it---the S. James School was located in the church's Parish House---complete with its own chapel. For more than a year, it has sat empty and neglected, lacking the sounds and presence of neighborhood inner city children of all races and backgrounds.
The newly constituted Standing Committee ought to be ashamed of themselves for allowing Bennison to close this church. It would be nothing short of a miracle if the Standing Committee would allow Fr Ousley and the parish to return to their former property.
Meanwhile, the diocese is having to pay for churches that are empty, thanks to Bennison. The diocese is employing a Sexton/caretaker to look after the St. James-the-Less property, and will have to pay out huge sums for maintaining a parish church which no longer worships in the building.
It is this writer's contention that the Standing Committee made a mistake in allowing Bennison to go after Father Moyer and Fr. Eddy Rix of All Saints, Wynnewood. Bennison brought charges against Rix in Africa for officiating without a license. He was "convicted" and "sentenced" to preach the gospel. Bennison did nothing after that although he has asked the Standing Committee for permission to sue All Saints.
The Standing Committee now has a chance to redeem themselves from further embarrassment - they can do the honorable thing and give these parishes their independence, which will help the very neighborhoods and communities to which they minister.
At the recent Diocesan convention, delegates ignored the 800-pound elephant in the cathedral - Charles Bennison - the man who watched his brother seduce a 14-year old girl and did nothing about it. A public trial will reveal just how dysfunctional the bishop is. It will also reveal how dysfunctional the standing committee was throughout all this and how accountable they all will be before the whole diocese.
Wrote one angry parishioner to VOL, "This is not only a dysfunctional bishop but an equally dysfunctional diocese. The diocese carried on like there was nothing amiss with Bennison smiling his way through the day like nothing was wrong. In the area of mental disorders there is the concept of 'Non-arrestable' Criminality. This is a person who betrays trust, tries to control other people, builds himself up by tearing others down, and generally regards himself as the center of the universe around whom everything must revolve. Showing considerable arrogance and lacking empathy, this individual may be forgiven for his flaws because he is brilliant, talented, and accomplished. He may not cross the line into committing arrestable acts.
"Perhaps, he has committed crimes but has been clever enough so far not to get caught. Although not an adjudicated "criminal," he leaves a trail of injury behind -- invariably emotional injury, perhaps financial injury. From the standpoint of the harm that he inflicts on others, his conduct is criminal. He victimizes others but refuses to take responsibility for what he has done. If held accountable, he offers innumerable justifications and rationalizations. In the nomenclature of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, he is considered to have a "narcissistic personality disorder." Getting this person to look in the mirror to recognize that he has flaws is a formidable task for any psychotherapist or counselor. This is a perfect description of Charles E. Bennison the ousted bishop of Pennsylvania. That he and his brother are not going to jail is because of the statute of limitations on the sexual abuse."
The Standing Committee has sought to assure the Clergy and people of the Diocese of Pennsylvania that it "has and will continue to exercise its canonical responsibilities in the best interests of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Pennsylvania," adding that the committee will work with Matthews, Rehill and diocesan leaders, both lay and clergy, "to develop and implement plans for exercising ecclesiastical authority in the absence of a diocesan bishop."
The two counts of the presentment center on accusations that Bennison, when he was rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Upland, California, did not respond properly after learning sometime in 1973 that his brother, John, who worked as a lay youth minister in the parish, was having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old member of the youth group. John Bennison was also married at the time, according to the presentment.
The bishop is accused of not taking any steps to end the sexual abuse of the girl, not providing proper pastoral care to the girl, not investigating whether she needed medical care, taking three years to notify the girl's parents, not reporting his brother to anyone, not investigating whether his brother was sexually involved with any other parishioners or other children, and seeking no advice on how to proceed. The presentment says Charles Bennison reacted "passively and self-protectively."
Bennison will continue to be paid during the time that he is inhibited. He will have an opportunity to respond to the presentment's charges. A date for the trial before the Court for the Trial of a Bishop is yet to be set.
END
