A nine-judge panel has ordered the Bishop of Pennsylvania be removed from the ordained ministry for conspiring to cover up the sexual abuse of a minor.The Rt Rev Charles E Bennison, Jr displayed a "fundamental lack of professional awareness" of the consequences of his actions, which represented "very significant failure to fulfill his responsibilities" as a priest, the Court for the Trial of a Bishop said on Sept 30.
Even now, Bishop Bennison has “not shown that he comprehends the nature, significance and effect of his conduct and has not accepted responsibility and repented for his conduct and the substantial negative effects of that conduct,” the court ruled.
On June 26 a trial court convicted Bishop Bennison on two counts of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy. The bishop was found guilty of having failed to respond appropriately in 1973 after having learned his brother, whom he had engaged to be his youth minister, had “engaged in a sexually abusive and sexually exploitive relationship" with a 14-year-old girl.
Bishop Bennison was also found guilty of having conspired to cover up the abuse. As a result of the guilty verdict, the “court finds that [Bishop Bennison] should no longer serve as a member of the clergy of the church.”
Lawyers for the deposed bishop said they were disappointed by the court decision, and charged the proceedings had been a show trial designed to oust the “prophetic” bishop. Attorney James Pabarue said the sentence was "utterly immoral" and "completely wrong,” and his client would appeal.
The family of the victim of the abuse, now over 50 years of age, welcomed the sentence telling the Philadelphia Inquirer it sent a “welcome signal that the church doesn't tolerate the kinds of misconduct that were described so compellingly at trial."
Under American canon law, Bishop Bennison has 30 days to file a petition requesting a modification of the sentence. If the petition for review is denied, he then has 30 days to file an appeal with the Court of Review of the Trial of a Bishop --- a second panel made up of nine bishops. Pending the final adjudication, Bishop Bennison remains an ordained clergyman of the Episcopal Church, but is suspended from exercising ministerial office.
Bishop Bennison’s legal woes are far from over however, for on Oct 20 trial begins in the civil court case brought by the former president of Forward in Faith USA, the Rt Rev David Moyer.
In a legal first, a Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, court has permitted Fr Moyer --- now a bishop in the Traditional Anglican Communion --- to pursue a trial for damages by a priest against his bishop for having "fraudulently" defrocked him without benefit of a church trial.
Should he lose the Moyer case, Bishop Bennison will be liable for substantial damages, and will have created a legal precedent that allows the civil courts in Pennsylvania to sit in judgment on ecclesiastical disputes.
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(Source: RI)