By George Conger
Religious Intelligence (United Kingdom)
June 10, 2009
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4544
A gag order has been issued against the former Bishop of Pennsylvania forbidding him to make public evidence he believes will exonerate him from charges of conspiracy to cover up sexual abuse.
On April 17, attorneys for the Rt Rev Charles E Bennison, Jr, filed a motion with the Episcopal Church's Court for the Trial of a Bishop asking that it set aside its guilty verdict. The court found that the bishop, when he was a parish rector in California, had committed of two counts of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy for conspiring to cover up the 1973 affair between his brother John Bennison, his parish youth minister, and a 14-year-old member of the congregation.
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In 2006, John Bennison was deposed from the ordained ministry, and on June 26, 2008 the court held Bishop Bennison was guilty of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy and recommended that he be defrocked. Bishop Bennison appealed the finding and remains suspended from office pending the case's final disposition.
The April motion states that new evidence --- 200 letters written by the victim to the bishop's brother, John Bennison, had been unearthed that impeached the victim's testimony.
The victim swore under oath that she wanted Charles Bennison to break up the relationship, but the new evidence, his lawyers claimed, shows the victim had sought to hide the affair from Charles Bennison. The victim's motive was not outrage for having been abused, but revenged for having been abandoned by John Bennison for another woman.
"John Bennison ultimately left his wife, not for [the victim], but for another woman. It was after John married the second woman that [the victim] lodged her allegations of a cover-up against Bishop Bennison, 17 years after the relationship with John Bennison ended," the bishop's lawyers claimed.
On May 19 the court directed Bishop Bennison not to release the letters. "The complainant has submitted a sworn declaration from a psychologist who opines that public release of the materials underlying the respondent's motion could inflict trauma on the victim," the court noted.
"It is astounding that the church attorney, who on June 26, 2008, issued a statement to the press praising The Episcopal Church for using 'an open and transparent process that allowed the truth to come to light,' now seeks to suppress the truth and hide the process from the public," attorney James Pabarue told the Living Church magazine.
"We believe that the court – having reviewed the contents of the letters – should throw out the conviction and restore the bishop to his position. The bishop has already suffered unjust damage to his reputation and career. The church can do the right thing and avoid the further embarrassment that might ensue with the release of the letters."
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