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	Episcopal Bishop Appeals Decision to Defrock Him By Randall Chase Mercury News May 5, 2010 http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_15012870?nclick_check=1 A panel of Episcopal bishops met Tuesday to hear arguments in the appeal of a Pennsylvania bishop who was ordered defrocked for covering up his brother's child sexual abuse more than 30 years ago. Unless he is successful in his appeal, Charles Bennison Jr., 66, bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, will be ousted from the priesthood. The panel of eight bishops heard three hours of arguments but adjourned without indicating when it would rule. The panel was to have nine members, but Bishop Wayne Wright of the Diocese of Delaware recused himself for reasons that were not immediately clear. The case marks only the fourth trial of a bishop in the history of the Episcopal church, said Bennison's attorney, James Pabarue, who argued that case should be dismissed because the charges were brought too late and officials withheld evidence. Bennison was found guilty by a church panel in 2008 of covering up a sexual relationship that his brother, John, began with a 14-year-old girl when Bennison was rector of St. Mark's Church in Upland, Calif., in the Diocese of Los Angeles. John Bennison was a youth group leader at the church. John Bennison gave up the priesthood in 1977 after his sex with the girl came to light, but he was reinstated two years later. He remained in the priesthood despite a subsequent 1993 church investigation led by Bishop William Swing, head of the Diocese of California, but he resigned in 2006 after Swing and other officials were pressured by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, which began protesting outside John Bennison's church in Clayton, Calif. Charles Bennison claims he learned of his brother's actions from his former sister-in-law only in late 1977, after it was over and about six months before victim, then 19, told her parents. The victim and her family, along with church officials, claim Bennison knew of his brother's misdeeds as early as 1975, but he said heard only an unsubstantiated rumor that his brother denied. Church attorney Larry White argued Tuesday that the victim could have been spared 17 months of additional abuse had Charles Bennison alerted officials when he first heard about it. "Charles Bennison suffered that abuse to continue," said White, adding that his defrocking will send a strong message that the church will not tolerate such conduct. But Bennison claims he is being railroaded by high-ranking church officials trying to cover up their own involvement in his brother's case, working with factions within the Pennsylvania diocese who have been trying to oust him because of differences over theology and the handling of church finances. "I came here today optimistic, and I remain optimistic about this court reversing the judgment and the sentence of the last court," Bennison said after the hearing. Bennison said he believes the panel can be more independent and objective than the nine-person trial panel of bishops, priests and church members who found him guilty of two counts of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy and said he deserved to be ousted from the clergy. "I guess I'm not excessively optimistic, but I'm very hopeful," he said. Church attorneys urged the panel to uphold the decision of the trial court, arguing, among other things, that the canon law time limit for filing charges does not apply when the charges involve sexual abuse of a minor. "This trial was thorough, and it was fair, and the verdict was just," said church attorney Ralph Jacobs. Pabarue argued that to waive the time limit for filing charges, Charles Bennison himself would have to have been accused of sexual conduct, which he was not. Pabarue also noted that church officials turned over documents from the Los Angeles diocese only in March of this year, even though he had requested such documents more than two years ago. "These files, we believe, contain documents that are extremely important to our defense," Pabarue said, adding that they show the "scheming and plotting that took place to effect this miscarriage of justice." While it's unclear whether the panel will consider those documents, Pabarue said it will be able to review some 200 recently discovered letters between the victim and John Bennison which Pabarue said contradict witness testimony and show that the victim herself tried to hide the relationship.
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