Charles Bennison

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The Rt Rev Charles Ellsworth Bennison, Jr.
Image:Replace this image male.svg
Denomination Episcopal Church
Senior posting
See Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania
Title Bishop of Pennsylvania
Period in office 1997 —
Predecessor Allen Lyman Bartlett, Jr.
Successor Incumbent
Religious career
Priestly ordination 1969
Previous bishoprics none
Previous post Rector, St Luke's, Atlanta, Georgia
Personal
Date of birth 30 November 1943 (1943-11-30) (age 64)
Place of birth Minneapolis, Minnesota

Charles Ellsworth Bennison, Jr. is the 15th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.

Contents

[edit] Education and family

Bennison was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 30, 1943, and was baptized at St. Luke’s in Hastings, Minnesota, on December 24, 1943. His father, Charles E, Bennison, Sr., was also a clergyman who went on to become Bishop of Western Michigan.

Bennison received a B.A., summa cum laude, from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1965. In 1965-66, he studied at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, and then attended Harvard Divinity School, where he received a B.D., in 1968 and a Th.M. in 1970. He earned his M.A. from the Claremont Graduate School in 1977, and S.T.M. from Union Theological Seminary in 1992. He was honored with a D.Div. from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1997.

Married to the former Joan Kathryn Reahard, the bishop has two daughters, Sarah and Kathryn.

[edit] Ministerial and academic career

Ordained a deacon in 1968 and a priest in 1969, Bennison began his full-time ministry in 1971 as rector of St. Mark’s Church in Upland, California, where he was founder of St. Mark’s Episcopal School, St. Mark’s Homeless Shelter, and new congregations in Rancho Cucamonga and Chino, California.

In the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, he chaired the Program Group on Social Relations and the Standing Committee, served as president of the Corporation of the Diocese, taught at the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont, and was a frequent reader of the General Ordination Examinations. He served as a member of Venture in Mission Board, the Los Angeles Jewish-Christian-Muslim Trialogue, the Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission, and numerous other bodies. In 1987, he was recognized by the Pomona Valley Council of Churches for outstanding leadership in ecumenical affairs. That year he was also among the nominees considered to replace Robert Rusack as bishop of the diocese, a position that ultimately went to Frederick Borsch.[1]

In 1988-91, he was rector of St. Luke’s Church in Atlanta, Georgia, where he substantially raised stewardship giving, broadened the participation of laity in the governance of the parish, and initiated a process leading to the acquisition of significant real estate holdings. His role in the John Bennison abuse scandal (See below) surfaced toward the end of his tenure at St Luke's. In a 1992 letter, Bennison refers to how his brother's "well-known troubles ... bolster[ed] the negative opinions about me on the part of some of my antagonists in Atlanta ... possibly contributory to ... my involuntary termination there."[2]

Bennison has been a fellow of the College of Preachers [3] and a Masland fellow at Union Theological Seminary. In 1992, he was elected to the faculty of Episcopal Divinity School, where he served as associate professor of Pastoral theology and founded the program in Congregational Studies.

[edit] Bishop of Pennsylvania

Bennison was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania at a special convention held on October 19, 1996, at the Cathedral Church of the Savior in Philadelphia. He was consecrated Bishop Coadjutor on February 27, 1997, at the Deliverance Evangelistic church in Philadelphia and was made Bishop Diocesan on May 16, 1998.

[edit] Disputes with traditionalist Anglo-Catholic parishes

As Bishop of Pennsylvania, Bennison became an important figure in the ongoing tension between liberal and conservative factions in The Episcopal Church.

[edit] Background

In 1994-1995, seven Anglo-Catholic priests[4] opposed to the ordination of women made an agreement with the 14th bishop of Pennsylvania, Allen Bartlett, known as the "Parsons Plan."[5] Under the terms of this plan, Donald Parsons, the retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, would make episcopal visitations to several traditionalist parishes until the next General Convention. This arrangement was similar to the role of a provincial episcopal visitor in the Church of England.

In 1997, the General Convention adopted a resolution stating that "no member of this Church shall be denied a place in the life and governance of this Church on account of their sex or their theological views on the ordination of women,"[6] after which Bishop Bartlett decided not to renew the Parsons Plan. He retired later that year. Despite differences in churchmanship, traditionalist leaders in the diocese supported Charles Bennison's election under the impression that he would continue the provisions of the Parsons Plan.[7] When Bennison elected not to reinstitute the arrangement, several crises arose in the diocese, compounded by theological differences between Bennison and several conservative parishes.

[edit] Social and religious opinions

Disagreements between traditionalist priests and Bishop Bennison centered on Bishop Bennison's writings on homosexuality and Christology.

Bennison was a signatory to the "Koinonia Statement," a 1994 letter authored by John Shelby Spong, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. The statement affirmed the 1976 ordination of women and said that gay or lesbian relationships "that are faithful, monogamous, committed, life giving and holy are to be honored," and promised "support and protection" for gay and lesbian clergy.[8] In 1997, while still Coadjutor, Bennison published an article arguing that, "Because the legitimized paradigm institutionalized in the church's present marriage liturgy is a heterosexist one directed against gay men and lesbian women, a change in the rite is required to delegitimize that paradigm."[9] He proposed 24 changes to the sacrament of marriage, some based on a "Visigothic rite,"[10] and wrote,

"In their relationships and families, lesbian and gay couples, in fact, often display a more enviable and ideal model of the church than do heterosexual couples. ... Anyone who has seen The Birdcage, Mike Nichols's rendition of the gay comedy classic "La Cage Aux Folles" with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane playing a gay couple ... knows that it looks like a mini-church. Throughout history gay and lesbian couples have established in their committed relationships such minichurches, and, if such is the nature of marriage, then the church ought to open to gay and lesbian couples the sacrament of marriage."[11]

Bennison's statements on salvation and the doctrine of the Resurrection have been cited as a source of controversy.[12] In a 2003 Easter Message, Bennison also wrote that Jesus "acknowledges his own sin. He knows himself to be forgiven."[13] Many Christians interpreted this remark to be a denial of the sinlessness of Jesus.[14]

[edit] Dispute with the Church of St. James the Less, Philadelphia

The Church of St. James the Less had, for many years, withheld its payments to the diocese in protest about the ordination of women. Bennison's decision to not renew the license of Fr. Willis, an assistant priest of St. James, further strained diocesan relations with the parish.[15]

In 1999, the vestry of St. James the Less voted to transfer the property and assets of the parish to a nonprofit corporation called the “CSJL Foundation,” in order to disassociate from the diocese and the Episcopal Church.[16] In response to St James' attempt to secede from the diocese, Bishop Bennison declared the parish "inactive or extinct" and initiated litigation to seize its property. In 2003, the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia ruled that the attempted merger of St. James the Less with the CSJL Foundation was ultra vires and invalid, that the vestry was "ineligible to continue in their offices," and that the diocese could appoint or elect a new vestry.[17] St. James lost two subsequent appeals, first to Commonwealth Court and then to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.[18] Pursuant to the Supreme Court's decision, the Diocese assumed control of the St. James property, and the congregation left to form an independent church.[19]

[edit] Dispute with the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont

Fr. David Moyer, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, was also President of the American branch of the conservative group Forward in Faith until 2005. Moyer is alleged to have refused to allow Bennison to make canonically-required episcopal visitations to Good Shepherd, saying the bishop "was too liberal and could not be trusted in the pulpit."[20] The charge, however, is disputed by Moyer and by the Vestry of the Church of the Good Shepherd, who insist that they only advised Bishop Bennison that a visit would not be helpful. Bennison was specifically invited to visit with the Vestry and to inspect the books and records of the Parish, which would have fulfilled his canonical responsibility. In response to Moyer's very public criticism of Bennison's public statements regarding the veracity of the Bible, sexual teachings, and other statements regarded by the conservative parish as heretical, Bennison approved a decision to inhibit Moyer from exercising his priestly functions for six months in 2002, under the canons of the diocese.[21][22]

Moyer not having recanted, but insisting that he had not left the Episcopal Church as charged by Bennison, within the six month period of inhibition, at the conclusion of the canonical inhibition Bennison deposed Moyer on September 4, 2002. Bennison deposed him using a canon designed for the removal from the official list of priests a priest who has left the church, rather than using the canon for disciplining of a wayward priest that provides for a church trial in which the priest may contest charges against him. By using this method, Bennison denied Moyer the opportunity to contest his charges and make his case. Bennison explained, "I deposed him because he had over a decade shown a pattern of a series of canonical failures, one after another. Under his leadership, his parish has become increasingly alienated from his diocese."[20] The inhibition of Moyer was immediately declared null and void within the Anglican Communion by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Moyer was promptly received by Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh, as a priest in good standing, although it is unclear whether such reception was permissible under the canon law of the Episcopal Church. Moyer also denounced Bennison's teachings as "apostate and heretical".[23] Subsequently, Moyer has been consecrated as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Australia and in the Traditional Anglican Communion, and continues to serve as Rector at The Church of the Good Shepherd. A trial in the matter of Moyer v. Bennison, et al, is pending in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

[edit] 2006 crisis

During Bennison's episcopacy, the Diocese of Pennsylvania developed serious divisions over the management of church finances. Calls arose for Bennison to step down, which he resisted. Eventually the controversy expanded to dredge up allegations, from his time as rector in California, that he had failed to respond appropriately to charges that his brother, John Bennison, had sexually abused parishioners.

[edit] Financial dispute

The financial crisis came to a head in 2006, when the Standing Committee of the diocese voted twice to request Bennison's resignation, alleging the misappropriation of approximately $11.6 million from diocesan trust funds.[24] This followed the committee's repeated refusal to accept the reappointment of diocesan chancellor William Bullitt, who advised Bennison on financial matters, and the defeat of the 2006 budget in a diocesan convention. A major point of controversy was the planned use of $1.2 million in unrestricted net assets. Meanwhile, the Diocesan Council passed a resolution in support of Bennison, and Bishop Clayton Matthews of the church Office of Pastoral Development was called in to mediate.[24][25][26]

On November 6, 2006, the Standing Committee filed a complaint against Bennison with church authorities, charging that he had usurped its "canonical prerogatives and authority" by spending money and transferring funds without the committee's consent.[27] Bennison responded that the complaint had no merit, saying, "I have never spent any money in the diocese without the approbation of various governance bodies."[28] The chancellor to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori forwarded the complaint to a review committee in March 2007.[29]

[edit] Handling of brother's earlier sexual misconduct

While these problems were building, Bennison's brother John, a priest in Clayton, California, was suspended from his post because of sexual misconduct, including child sexual abuse. Some of the charges dated back to John's service at St. Mark's Church in Upland, California. At the time John Bennison was training for the Episcopal priesthood and Charles had hired him to serve as the youth minister of St Mark's.[30] Although married, John was shown to have had sexual relationships with several women and girls he had counseled, including one who was 14 when the abuse began. Over a four year period, John Bennison repeatedly had sexual intercourse (amounting to statutory rape) with the girl both on and off the premises of St. Mark's Church.[31] In 1975, John left St. Mark's for a parish in Santa Barbara, where he would also have other affairs.[32]

The matter became an issue in Pennsylvania after Bishop Bennison's critics argued that he had concealed the abuse of the 14-year-old,[33] and held three forums attended by the girl's mother along with John Bennison's ex-wife. Charles Bennison initially said he had learned of the situation from the girl's parents and promptly told his brother to leave the parish. He acknowledged not having reported the matter to civil or ecclesiastical authorities at the time, saying, "I did not think it was my prerogative to do so on my own" (because the girl's parents had not done so).[34]

The girl's mother vehemently disputed this account,[35] based on a 1978 letter from Bennison indicating that he had not told them of the relationship when he discovered it. John's ex-wife produced another letter from 1979 in which Charles Bennison asked her not to visit the parish because of the potential for "a public scandal here which, I believe, could cost me my job."[32][36] John's victim has stated that "she and John Bennison were twice interrupted during sex by Charles Bennison's arrival at his brother's apartment" (although it is unclear whether she alleges that Bishop Bennison saw them in a sexually-compromised state). [32]

On October 31, 2007 the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church inhibited Bennison "from all ordained ministry pending a judgment of the Court for the Trial of a Bishop" and he faces charges related to his handling of his brother's sexual misconduct [37].

[edit] Response at Diocesan Convention

The forums came shortly before the November diocesan convention. Addressing the convention, Bennison said:

Reading the statements from last weekend's sessions reminded me that it was probably the senior warden, not the girl's mother, who in 1975 reported John's abuse, after which I immediately told him to leave the parish, and that in order to maintain the confidentiality of both John and the girl, I did not tell the parents, who nonetheless confronted me when they had found out four years later. Until reading the statements I had never before known that John's destructive behavior did not stop, but rather increased, in the parish to which he went after leaving my parish. That I could have prevented that from happening had I known to act differently is extremely grievous to me. My efforts to maintain confidentiality and prevent scandal were very misguided.[38]

He acknowledged a "failure in the 1970's to act more assertively with regard to my brother, his victims, and the church," but also reassured people that the church had since established reporting and disciplinary procedures so that, "What happened 30 years ago would not happen today."[38]

Outside the convention, protesters renewed calls for Bennison's resignation. Inside, a motion to hold him accountable narrowly failed.[39] Instead, a study of the impact of sexual abuse by clergy was authorized almost unanimously. Unlike the previous year, the convention was able to adopt a $3.45 million program budget.[40][41]

On 31 October 2007, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, issued an inhibition of Bishop Charles Bennison. The text reads, in part:

"A presentment having been issued by the Title IV Review Committee on 29 October 2007, pursuant to Title IV, Canon 3, Sections 43(c), 44 and 45 of the Episcopal Church and thereupon served upon me on 30 October 2007, pursuant to Title IV, Canon 3, Section 47, and a majority of all the members of the Standing Committee of the diocese of Pennsylvania having consented to this inhibition on 30 October 2007, pursuant to Title IV, Canon 1, Section 6, I hereby inhibit

The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Bennison, Jr. Bishop of Pennsylvania,

and order that from and after 12:01 a.m., Sunday, 4 November 2007, he cease from exercising the gifts of ordination in the ordained ministry; and pursuant to Title IV, Canon 15, I order him from and after that time to cease all episcopal, ministerial, and canonical acts, until after the Judgment of the Court for Trial of a Bishop with respect to the foregoing presentment becomes final."

Under the inhibition, the Standing Committee of the Diocese will become the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Diocese in place of Bishop Bennison.

The presentment charges arise from his conduct in a California parish in which he was Rector and his brother, John Bennison, served first as youth minister, and subsequently was ordained to the priesthood. It is charged that his brother sexually molested a minor girl over a period of years, and that Bennison knew of it but did not inform the authorities, did not notify the girl's parents, did not raise it as an objection to his brother's ordination, and that his brother also had an affair with a 19-year old woman in the parish before beginning his relationship with the girl. Bennison is further charged with concealing the evidence of this until 2005, when publicity in California resulted in his brother's removal from the ministry and renunciation of his orders.

It is likely that the church trial of Bishop Bennison will take place some time in 2008.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Upland Rector Joins List of Episcopal Bishop Nominees". Los Angeles Times, December 12, 1987, p. 7.
  2. ^ Bennison, Charles E. Letter to Maggie Thompson. 29 September 1992.
  3. ^ This is a program of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation.)
  4. ^ Fr. Vernon Austin, St Johns, Norristown; Fr. Robert Haskell, Redemption, Southampton; Fr. Harry Krauss, All Saints, Wynnewood; Fr. Philip Lyman, St. John, Huntingdon Valley; Fr. David Moyer, Good Shepherd, Rosemont; Fr. David Ousley, St. James the Less, Philadelphia; Fr. Larry Snyder, St. Luke, Newtown. These parishes are sometimes referred to as the "seven sisters." They were later joined by Fr. Warren Shaw, St Paul, Chester. These eight parishes were associated with the Episcopal Synod of America, the predecessor of Forward in Faith North America.
  5. ^ Virtue, David. "The Parsons' Plan Revisited." Virtue Online, 1 November 2006.
  6. ^ Resolution Number 1997-A053. Acts of Convention, 1976-2003. Archives of the Episcopal Church.
  7. ^ Virtue, David. “Broken Promises.” Virtuosity, 11 March 2002.
  8. ^ Spong, John Shelby. “A Statement in Koinonia.” 25 August 1994.
  9. ^ Bennison, Charles E. "Rethinking Marriage Again" Anglican Theological Review, Fall 1997.
  10. ^ Bennison, Charles E. "Rethinking Marriage Again" Anglican Theological Review, Fall 1997.
  11. ^ Bennison, Charles E. "Rethinking Marriage Again" Anglican Theological Review, Fall 1997.
  12. ^ Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. "Deposed Philadelphia Priest celebrated Mass at Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh." Anglican Communion News Service, 10 September 2002.
  13. ^ Bennison, Charles E. "The Challenge of Easter" The Pennsylvania Episcopalian, Vol. 14, No. 4, April 2003.
  14. ^ Olsen, Ted. "Jesus' Sins?" Christianity Today, 1 June 2003.
  15. ^ In re: Church of St. James the Less. 953 N.P. 2001. Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Orphans Court Division. 10 March 2003. pp. 14.
  16. ^ In re: Church of St James the Less. 953 N.P. 2001. Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Orphans Court Division. 10 March 2003. pp. 13-16.
  17. ^ In re: Church of St. James the Less. 953 N.P. 2001. Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Orphans Court Division. 10 March 2003. pp. 43.
  18. ^ Appeal of the Church of St. James the Less. 47 E.D. Appeal Docket 2004. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Eastern District. 29 December 2005.
  19. ^ "East Falls Church Forced from Property." The Fallser, February 2006.
  20. ^ a b Donovan, Gill. "Anglican leader offers job to ousted U.S. priest". National Catholic Reporter, September 20, 2002, Vol. 38, Iss. 40, p. 17.
  21. ^ "Suspended Priest Will Ask Anglicans for Help". Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2002.
  22. ^ Bennison, Charles E. Letter to David L. Moyer. 1 March 2002.
  23. ^ Nunley, Jan. "Deposed Philadelphia priest to join Pittsburgh diocese". Episcopal News Service, September 5, 2002.
  24. ^ a b Diocesan Digest. "Diocese will enter mediation in dispute with bishop". Episcopal News Service, February 9, 2006.
  25. ^ Diocesan Digest. "Divisive time requires prayerful discernment, bishop says". Episcopal News Service, March 2, 2006.
  26. ^ Diocesan Digest. "Standing Committee asks again for bishop's departure". Episcopal News Service, May 4, 2006.
  27. ^ Verified Complaint in Re: The Right Reverend Charles E. Bennison, Jr. Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.
  28. ^ Schjonberg, Mary Frances. "Standing Committee Files Complaint Against Bennison". Episcopal News Service, November 10, 2006.
  29. ^ Schjonberg, Mary Frances. "Title IV Review Committee to consider complaint against Bennison". Episcopal News Service, March 29, 2007.
  30. ^ O'Reilly, David. "Abused Teen's Mother Joins Other Critics of Area Bishop." Philadelphia Inquirer, 5 November 2006.
  31. ^ Noyes, Dan. "Priest Removed From Church After Sex Scandal". KGO-TV/DT, June 9, 2006.
  32. ^ a b c O'Reilly, David. "Episcopal Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr. Is under Fire over His Brother's Misconduct". Philadelphia Inquirer, October 29, 2006.
  33. ^ e.g. Rev. Greg Brewer (Rector, Good Samaritan, Paoli) and the vestry of his parish requested that Bennison cancel his November 2006 episcopal visitation in partial response to what Rev. Brewer called "Recent revelations that Bishop Bennison not only hid, but misrepresented the truth with regard to his brother’s sexual abuse of parishioners, and the Bishop’s role in the cover up of these facts." cf. Brewer, Greg. “Letter to the congregation concerning Bishop Bennison's visit.” 11 November 2006.
  34. ^ O'Reilly, David. "The Episcopal Bishop Failed to Report Abuse". Philadelphia Inquirer, November 1, 2006.
  35. ^ Associated Press. "Bishop Sends E-Mail Apologizing for Handling of Brother's Case." International Herald Tribune, 1 November 2006.
  36. ^ Bennison, Charles E. Letter to Maggie Thompson 16 April 1979.
  37. ^ . Schjonberg, Mary Frances. "Pennsylvania bishop inhibited from ordained ministry." Episcopal News Service, 31 October 2007.
  38. ^ a b Bennison, Charles E., Jr. "A Church for Others". Address to the 223rd Meeting of the Convention of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, November 11, 2006.
  39. ^ At least four clergy called for Bennison's resignation during the diocesan convention: Rev. Judith Beck (Rector, St Peters, Philadelphia), Rev. Pamela Nesbitt (Deacon, St Andrews, Yardley), Rev. Marek Zabriskie (Rector, St Thomas, Whitemarsh), and Rev. Sunny Hallahan (Rector, St James, Collegeville). cf. O'Reilly, David. “Episcopal Bishop Hears Some Call for Him to Resign: Delegates Were Angry over Charles E. Bennison Jr.'s Spending and Cover-Up of His Brother's Sex Abuse.” Philadelphia Inquirer, 12 November 2006.
  40. ^ O'Reilly, David. "Episcopal Bishop Hears Some Call for Him to Resign: Delegates Were Angry over Charles E. Bennison Jr.'s Spending and Cover-Up of His Brother's Sex Abuse". Philadelphia Inquirer, November 12, 2006.
  41. ^ LeBlanc, Douglas, and Steve Waring. "Bishop Bennison Survives Calls for His Resignation". Living Church Foundation, November 15, 2006.

[edit] Publications

  • Bennison, Charles E. In Praise of Congregations: Leadership in the Local Church Today. 1998.

[edit] External links