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	Inside Today's Bulletin Episcopal Priest Wishes Bennison Had Spoken up By Bradley Vasoli The Bulletin June 11, 2008 http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=19763698&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8 Philadelphia - Father James Armstrong Trimble, of Philadelphia, testified yesterday before an ecclesiastical court that Fr. Charles Bennison, when he was a candidate for bishop in 1996, should have disclosed the sexual violations of an underage girl committed by his brother, also a priest. Fr. Trimble co-chaired the search committee for an Episcopal bishop in the five-county region in 1996. Fr. Bennison succeeded in getting elected bishop but now finds his position challenged amidst charges that he concealed an adulterous relationship his younger brother John had with the female parishioner in the early 1970s. The repeated abuses, which took place over more than a three-year period, were perpetrated at St. Mark's Church in Upland, Calif., beginning when John Bennison was a 24-year-old seminary student before he was married, and continued after he was married. At the time the sexual relationship began, he had been appointed by his brother, then rector of St. Mark's, to head the parish youth group. The woman ended the relationship in 1974. Counsel for the Episcopal Church and for Bp. Bennison differ on whether he can be said to have known that sex between his brother and the girl actually transpired. The parishioner, now 50, recalled two instances during which Charles walked in on her and John albeit after intercourse had taken place. She recalled both herself and the seminarian to have been fully clothed; church counsel asserts they were disheveled and perceptibly tired. "Had we known about this we would have investigated this because it's a serious allegation," Fr. Trimble told a court comprised of nine Anglican priests and bishops from across the country. "I would have taken that very seriously." Bp. Bennison's attorney asked the witness whether the search committee conducted a background check on the candidates. He responded that it did and that the results were fine. "We contacted Los Angeles and there didn't seem to be any problems," Fr. Trimble said. He noted that the opinions he expressed in court were his own and could not illuminate the standpoints of any other search committee members. Gary Schoener, a Minneapolis-based clinical psychologist, also testified yesterday, asserting that even in the 1970s, before recent changes to standard practice in the reporting of abuse cases, someone in Charles Bennison's position should have acted on what knowledge he had of a sexual relationship between an adult and a minor. "You need to stop [the abuse] immediately," he said. "Harm can be done that day or the day after." Bradley Vasoli can be reached at bvasoli@thebulletin.us
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