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	Philadelphia: Witnesses Expose Bennison's Venality in Brother's Sex Abuse Rev. William Wood, President of Standing Committee Refuses to Testify By David W. Virtue Virtue Online June 11, 2008 http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8411 A witness for Charles E. Bennison turned on the inhibited Bishop of Pennsylvania by telling the court that based on what he knows now, he would never have voted for Bennison's elevation to bishop. The Rt. Rev. Harold A. Hopkins, former Bishop of North Dakota and Executive Director of The Office of Pastoral Development during the reign of Presiding Bishop Ed Browning, said that consecrating Charles Bennison was a mistake because of his handling or non-handling of his brother's situation which reflected poorly on his judgment. When pressed by Bennison attorney James Parabue as to why he would not vote for Charles Bennison, Hopkins replied "(for) not taking immediate steps to -- not separating physically somehow John from the roles that he had in the Church and not reaching out to the family as well." Hopkins said that the issues that came to him regarding Bennison's brother, (John) shed light -- not a very good light on his (Charles') judgment. He condemned Charles Bennison's failure to show up at an intervention in 1993 in Minneapolis, which was a form of pastoral response that could have resolved the situation. "The fact of the matter is he needed to act. It's a very, very important matter. The Presiding Bishop had no authority to become involved." Hopkins cited the statute of limitations as obstacles to the filing of ecclesiastical charges, but said that his response was not always essentially a pastoral one, where he tried to hear and listen and tell complainants that the Church believed them, this was not what the Church was about. "He tried, as best he could, to see that their requests be addressed in some way. But that he (the presiding bishop) was not canonically responsible or able to intervene." Hopkins said the family felt a sense of betrayal toward Charles Bennison during that 1990 to 1993 intervention, but that they could not file any formal charges. Hopkins said the Rev. Margo Maris, an Episcopal Church counselor and support person and a person well versed in Canon Law, understood the difficulties they and other complainants have in coming forward, but the witnesses and victim went anyway. In his own testimony, Bennison said he did not attend the intervention because he believed it "violated confidentiality." Hopkins said the intervention was a disaster because of Bishop William Swing's (Bishop of California) response. "He got angry. He didn't offer any sympathy or regret for what had happened to the woman. And it turned into a confrontation, when that was not the intent of the meeting at all." After the intervention, Bishop Swing did not remove John Bennison from the priesthood. In her testimony, Maggie Thompson, the former wife of John Bennison said she was seduced into an "open marriage" with her husband, accepting the fact that her husband was having sexual relations in 1973 with the then 15-year old Martha Alexis. Maggie said she learned of John's sexual relationship with Martha after coming back from a day at the beach when John made an offhand comment about Martha's breasts. "I was shocked. And I said to him, you mean you've seen them? And he said, Yeah. Well, I started crying." Thompson said that just a few months before she and John had had a ceremony renewing their marriage vows, over which Chuck (Charles Bennison) presided. "I was just shocked that he would do this after we had gone through that process. Thompson said John had a constant litany of reasons why it was okay. "He would always describe it as a special gift from God, you know, God's special gift. He just had a whole long list of ways that he would explain that this was okay. The Ten Commandments were old-fashioned, adultery and didn't matter." He said the marriage was big enough to have this sort of relationship with somebody else." He said that it wasn't that he didn't love Maggie, but that it was he loved her (Martha), too. "It was very confusing to me. I never thought of it as a crime, in legal terms." She said the three of them discussed it. "John manipulated us into the -- into thinking that it was okay. He was very persuasive, very coercive, and it was hard to counteract that." She said that one thing John was very adamant about was not to tell anybody because nobody else would be enlightened enough to understand this special gift from God. So, we didn't talk to other people." "Nothing in my upbringing prepared me for being in a situation like this. I was young, naïve and I loved my husband very much at the time. I took my marriage vows seriously. I was trying to make it work. I was coping the best that I could." Bennison said it was okay for the three of them to move forward together. "He told us that it would be okay. We couldn't quite understand this adultery stuff the way John did. I mean, adultery is pretty clear. And, you know, from time to time, that did come up. Martha would get upset, and then John would blame me for getting Martha upset." Thompson said she never told any authorities, police or anybody about the relationship at that time because of pressure from John. "It was a special gift from God. He said it would impact his career as a priest if anyone found out. By that time, I was heavily controlled and dependent upon him." Thompson said she was too intimidated even to protest when John was made a Deacon and then a priest Parabue: "Did you stand up and say anything to anybody at the ordination or before the ordination that you didn't think it was appropriate for John to be ordained a priest?" Thompson: "No, I didn't." The relationship finally broke up when Martha, then 19, went to college in 1976. She said Chuck first became aware of John's sexual misconduct in the fall of 1977 when John and I separated. "He may have suspected it earlier than this because on several occasions June Alexis questioned him about what was going on with John and Martha. Chuck's response would always be to ask John about it. John would lie. And then, with no further investigation, Chuck would assure June and Don that all was well." Thompson and John then separated. She decided to get a divorce. John then moved in with a woman named Julia, whom he later married. Thompson said the floodgates broke for her in 1987. Now remarried with two daughters, she went to a preschool that had a weekly Monday night meeting for parents focusing on general parenting issues. On one occasion, they had a meeting on child sexual abuse. "They had a professional come and speak to us and tell us, you know, how to prevent child sexual abuse, -- what the characteristics of a perpetrator were, what the symptoms are of a child who has been sexually abused. That night I knew that what had happened was sexual abuse. And that was a real turning point for me," said Thompson. She then sought an intervention with Alexis through the services of Margo Maris. Several years later, when John Bennison sought reinstatement to the priesthood, Thompson went to see the Bishop of Los Angeles, Robert Rusack to tell him about John's sexual abuse of her. "Bishop Rusack sat behind a gigantic rosewood desk and dressed up, you know, in all of his bishop finery. He was very intimidating. I was on the other side of the desk. He listened and nodded his head and made a couple of comments like, Oh, that must have been awful for you. I had the impression that he believed what I said as the truth. He didn't question me on anything I told him. I left thinking11 that I had done the right thing by telling the person who was going to be making the decision whether or not to reinstate John." Rusack then reinstated John Bennison to priesthood. Soon after that, an organization called SNAP - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests -- and an I-Team investigation by Dan Noyes of a local TV station broke the story. When the story broke on the East Coast (mainly through exposure on VOL), a series of forums was set up in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, exposing the sexual abuse of John Bennison and his brother Charles' failure to intervene on behalf of the victim. Maggie Thompson flew out to give testimony at these various forums, although Martha Alexis did not. Thompson testified that John Bennison had five other infidelities, she was 100 percent sure of. "There were three in Upland and two in Santa Barbara." Thompson testified that John Bennison was ordained by Charles and their father, who was the Bishop of Western Michigan, in the cathedral in Kalamazoo. In testimony given by Charles Bennison (which VOL will deal with more fully on Thursday), the inhibited bishop said that he had "no clear recollection", "not sure", "didn't know", "didn't think so", "can't or do not remember", "don't recall", or "don't remember", some 54 times. One observer noted that when Charles Bennison speaks "it is a complex 'double speak' process, a combination of elements to evade answering truthfully, not just simply ' not recalling or not remembering' . With him it is a combination of things...the general' not sure, no recall, no remembering ' , etc.; but also using 'spin' along with sentences that seem to imply one thing when spoken, but the words actually mean something different when one sees them in writing, double enténdres, plus distortions, as well as outright lies. "I find this fascinating because he has made such an issue on occasion of having a 'photographic mind.'" The trial continues on Thursday.
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