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	Defrocked Bishop Reinstated by Church Despite Failures over Brother's Sex Abuse By Martin Beckford Telegraph August 6, 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7930403/Defrocked-bishop-reinstated-by-church-despite-failures-over-brothers-sex-abuse.html A bishop has been reinstated by America’s Anglican church after being defrocked for covering up his brother’s sex abuse of an under-age girl. The Rt Rev Charles E. Bennison Jr was suspended from his senior post in the Episcopal Church of the USA in 2007 and later removed permanently, over his failure to investigate his brother’s relationship with a 14-year-old. But a church appeals court has now reversed that decision, despite agreeing he was wrong not to look into the case, and restored him as Bishop of Pennsylvania because the events took place 35 years ago. In its ruling, the ecclesiastical Court of Review concluded: “We find that Appellant committed conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy. Because the statute of limitations has run on that offense, we have no choice under the canons of the Church but to reverse the judgment of the Trial Court finding that Appellant is guilty of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy under the First Offence.” When Bishop Bennison was in his first position as a parish priest in California in 1973, he hired his younger brother, John, to help out with youth groups. His brother, who was married and a newly ordained deacon, went on to have an affair with a girl who was then, at 14, under age. “John, wearing his clerical collar, began picking up the minor female at school in his green Porsche automobile,” according to court documents. The couple had “sexual encounters” in Sunday School class rooms but Bishop Bennison failed to investigate when he found them alone together, and only learned about the relationship from other parishioners. He confronted his brother but “failed to separate them, failed to investigate the truth of that which he had been told, and failed to make any contact with the minor female or her parents about this issue”. The court said Bishop Bennison was later told about the “immoral, disgusting” relationship - which continued until 1976 when the girl went to university - by his brother’s estranged wife and by the girl’s mother. But it ruled that although he did not tell the church hierarchy what he knew, others were aware of the relationship by then. It said that although there is no statute of limitations – time limit – on allegations of sex abuse, Bishop Bennison’s failure to investigate his brother did not fall into that most serious category so his defrocking should be reversed. Bishop Bennison, who had been in charge of the 55,000-member Diocese of Pennsylvania since 1998, was suspended in 2007 after his brother’s abuse became public and he renounced his priestly orders. The following year a Court for the Trial of a Bishop ruled that he should be removed as prelate and stripped of his ordained status. Following the appeal decision on Wednesday, the bishop, now 66, will resume his former role and could serve for a further five years. "I am very gratified by the decision of the court; I always thought the charges were without merit,” he said. But Barbara Dorris, outreach director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said: "This is just what shrewd and corrupt church officials do - relentlessly fighting, exploiting every possible legal maneuver, to cling to their precious power, even when their wrongdoing has been so clearly proven. "This is yet more proof that internal church processes are highly flawed and that it's best to report child sex crimes and cover-ups through the criminal and civil justice systems."
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