Bennison's Sex Abuse Scandal Edited out of Wikipedia by Order of Schori

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
5/23/2007

The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori allegedly ordered all references to a sex scandal surrounding Pennsylvania Bishop Charles E. Bennison to be removed from Wikipedia, the widely read online encyclopedia. The ultra-liberal bishop faces both an ecclesiastical presentment and civil fraud charges.

In a clear attempt to downplay Bennison's role in the cover-up of a 14-year girl who was sexually abused by his brother, the Rev. John Bennison, Barbara Alton, Bennison's personal assistant, claims she was told by Mrs. Schori to remove the sexually explicit references to the bishop's cover up.

John Bennison was forced from his parish and resigned from The Episcopal Church when sexual allegations emerged in the Diocese of California. He avoided prosecution because of the Statute of Limitations. At the time of the abuse, he was sharing a home with his brother Charles.

The scandal came to Philadelphia when family members of the abused girl presented their case in a series of town hall type meetings around the diocese. The sex abuse scandal eventually found its way into the widely read on line encyclopedia.

People searching for "Charles Bennison" on google.com are immediately confronted with a very exhaustive section on the scandal. The first thing to come up is a history of the sex scandal, which apparently caught the attention of the Presiding Bishop's office.

Here is an example: "Exec Asst to Bishop Bennison again deleted inflammatory and libelous text. 17:26, 21 May 2007 Barbaraalton External Links - The links about scandals must be deleted per order of the Presiding Bishop in her address to ECCP in New York available on podcast. She requires us to focus on the mission of the church."

Alton then removed all the references, many of them related to VirtueOnline stories about the bishop's behavior.

Alton did not return a phone call to her office, but according to Wikipedia, Alton claims she is removing the comments "by order of the Presiding Bishop!"

VirtueOnline sent the Wikipedia sections to Mrs. Schori, but has not received a response. Click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Bennison&action=history

The request to delete various entries regarding Bennison and the sex scandal go back to November 2006 and take up several pages in Wikipedia.

In a report on the Cathedral Campus Development in the center of "Philadelphia, which Bennison labeled as "absolutely confidential", he said developers and local politicians are being approached to investigate changing zoning laws in order to develop a "scheme" that will allow a high rise to be built on diocesan property surrounding the cathedral area.

END