NEW YORK: Ecclesiastical Court Refuses New Trial for PA Bishop Charles E. Bennison

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
Sept. 25, 2009


The deposed Bishop of Pennsylvania, Charles E. Bennison, has been denied a new trial by an ecclesiastical court that found him guilty of behavior unbecoming a bishop.

In a ruling handed down today, the Court of Appeals, led by Connecticut Episcopal Bishop Andrew D. Smith, determined that additional correspondence submitted by Bennison's attorneys did not materially change the decision of the court.

Bennison had asked for new trial based on newly discovered love letters related to his case. Bennison was deposed in 2008 after a church trial in Philadelphia found he covered up his brother's sexual assaults of a teenage girl in the 1970s. The defrocked Episcopal bishop then sought a new trial. The motion asked for the charges to be dropped or for a new trial.

Bennison's lawyers said a cache of more than 200 letters between the victim and Bennison's brother contradicted witness testimony at the trial.

In a 29-page summation the court decided that the new evidence proffered by Bennison failed to warrant either a dismissal of the Presentment or a new trial.

The Court reviewed the 287 documents submitted by Bennison did not support the motion to dismiss the case nor would it have changed the outcome of the trial.

The bishop, 65, was tried in June 2008 on charges that 35 years ago as rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Upland, California, he failed to respond properly after learning that his brother, John Bennison, a 24-year-old seminary student whom he had hired as youth minister, was "engaged in a sexually abusive and sexually exploitive relationship" with a 14-year-old parishioner. The abuse lasted for more than three years.

Charles Bennison was found to have failed to discharge his pastoral obligations to the girl, the members of her family, and the members of the parish youth group after he learned of his brother's behavior.

The court said that he suppressed the information about his brother until 2006, when he disclosed publicly what he knew. John Bennison, having once renounced his orders, later successfully sought reinstatement as a priest. He was forced again to renounce his orders in 2006 when knowledge of the abuse became public.

The following are links to the ecclesiastical court documents.

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/content/bennison_090925/9-25-09_decision.pdf

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/content/bennison_090925/9-25-09_order_on_seal.pdf

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/content/bennison_090925/9-25-09_scheduling_order.pdf

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A STATEMENT FROM THE STANDING COMMITTEE

The Court for the Trial of a Bishop in a 20 page decision has denied Bishop Bennison's motion for a new trial.

Following a determination as to the contents of the Certified Trial Record, Bishop Bennison's appeal will proceed before the Court of Review for the Trial of a Bishop.

The Trial Court has entered an Order permitting the parties to simultaneously submit designations of proposed additions to the certified trial record on September 30, 2009 and to simultaneously submit counter designations of proposed additions to the certified trial record or objections to any designation by the other party on October 2, 2009. No schedule for hearing the appeal has yet been set by the Court of Review.

We continue to keep in our prayers all who have been affected by this trial.

END