Bishop testifies in Bennison trial

By David O’Reilly
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Wed, Jun. 11, 2008

The church trial of Episcopal Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr. - charged with concealing his brother's sexual abuse of a minor many years ago - resumed at the Downtown Marriott Hotel today with the testimony of another bishop, who acknowledged that church leaders have known about the abuse and coverup for decades.

Testifying for the defense, Bishop Harold Hopkins, former head of the Episcopal Church's Office of Pastoral Development, acknowledged receiving several letters from the victim's mother in 1992 and 1993. Hopkins said he discussed the charges with the then-presiding bishop of the church, Edmund Browning.

He said that, in 1993, he also participated in a special intervention that included Bennison's younger brother, John, who began abusing the girl in the early 1970s, when she was about 15 and he was the parish youth minister.

Charles Bennison had been rector of the parish, St. Mark's in Upland, Calif., when the abuse occurred. He is now charged by the Episcopal Church U.S.A. with "conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy," for failing to protect the young victim or notifying his church superiors. the rest

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