Bishop Bennison Cleared of Financial Management Charges

June 24, 2008

The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Bennison Jr., the inhibited Bishop of Pennsylvania, was informed recently that he has been cleared of charges related to his financial management of the diocese.

In November 2006, five clerical and five lay members of the standing committee of the Diocese of Pennsylvania filed a presentment complaint against Bishop Bennison. He was charged with concealing certain financial information and failure to consult properly with the standing committee.

“The church attorney’s report stated that his investigation has not disclosed facts that, if found to be true upon trial, would clearly and convincingly show that Bishop Bennison acted contrary to the canons of the church or the diocesan canons or otherwise engaged in conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy by managing the financial affairs of the diocese as he did.” said the Rt. Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson, Bishop of Upper South Carolina and chairman of the Title IV [disciplinary] Review Committee, in a letter sent to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori on June 10. the rest-TLC

Bishop Bennison awaits outcome of trial
Monday, 23rd June 2008
By George Conger

The trial of the Bishop of Pennsylvania for conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy has concluded, with a plea from the defendant’s lawyer not to judge the Rt. Rev. Charles E. Bennison Jr., for the crimes of his brother, the Rev. John Bennison.

Bishop Bennison was accused of failing to discipline his brother John, who as a seminarian served as his youth minister in the 1970’s at St Mark’s Episcopal Church in Upland, California. John Bennison, who resigned from the priesthood in 2006, was accused of having seduced a teenage member of his parish youth group---and that his brother, Charles, had knowledge of the affair, but took no action. the rest