Episcopal Bishop Apologizes for Handling of Brother's Sex Abuse Case
By The Associated Press
Wed, Nov. 01 2006

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The leader of the Episcopal Church's five-county Diocese of Pennsylvania sent an e-mail to clergy and lay leaders apologizing for failing to properly investigate or report sexual abuse of a minor by his brother during the 1970s.

"I sincerely apologize if any lack of action on my part 30 years ago has caused hurt or distress," Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr. wrote.The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday that while he was a young rector in a California parish, Bennison failed to contact law enforcement or church officials when he discovered that his brother, a parish youth minister, had sexually abused a 14-year-old girl.

Bennison said in an e-mail Tuesday that "to the best of my memory," he learned of the abuse in 1974 when the girl's mother informed him. He said he confronted his brother and "told him to leave the parish's employ." He said he did not report the abuse to civil or church authorities because the girl's parents had not chosen to do so. the rest