Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
6/12/2008

Sometime during the next 30 days, it will be Judgment Day for Charles E. Bennison, the inhibited Bishop of Pennsylvania. This is just the third Court for the Trial of a Bishop in the 232-year history of the Episcopal Church, USA. His four- day trial is over and, by most reckonings, he will be found guilty. What the degree of that punishment will be is speculative, but even his most ardent supporters believe that Bennison will never again be allowed to return to the See of Pennsylvania.

In a few weeks, he faces a civil court trial where he will be grilled even harder than the dose of medicine he got at his ecclesiastical trial. If he is found guilty there, he will have to pay huge fines, which his wealthy wife, Joan, who is estimated to be worth $30 million, will have to write the check to pay. In the last day of his trial, Bennison showed his true colors. A woman priest who watched it all described him as a "narcissistic sociopath".

"As poorly as I handled it," he said, "if I had applied today's protocols then, things might have turned out worse." No guilt. No shame. No admission of his own wrongdoing, and no apologies, just bad judgment about his brother John's sexual abuse of a minor. When pressed, he declared he had amnesia. "I can't remember what I've forgotten," he answered during questioning by church attorney Ralph A. Jacobs. "I do think I have an amnesia problem," he later stammered. "I don't remember a lot of this." His response elicited a few soft chuckles from the crowd inside the Center City Marriott.

As he has done repeatedly, Bennison continued to defend himself against charges that he concealed his brother's sexual abuse of a minor decades ago, saying that he acted within the standards of the times.

That he engaged in "conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy", by failing to protect the girl or report his brother's misbehavior, is written into the archives of the diocese and the national church, forever a part of the church's history.

The church alleged that Bennison did so in order to advance his career. Bennison said he was trying to guard the teenager's reputation by not alerting her parents when he heard "rumors" of the sexual relationship. Most adults, including the girl's parents, would have viewed her, not as an abuse victim, but as guilty of immorality. That would have caused her shame, he said. "I was trying to protect her," Bennison said.

The truth is he was protecting himself and his precious career where he was a disaster at two parishes - St. Mark's in Upland, CA and St. Luke's in Atlanta - where he extracted an order from the Vestry not to say why he was being tossed out. Typical of his blindness, when he was asked by a judge whether he had been aware then of statutory rape laws, he said he was "not familiar" with the term in the 1970s and had "never heard the word minor" used in connection with sexual misconduct in those days.

The hubris is too much. The denial, the lies, the willingness to sacrifice others for his own career - are all trademarks of a man totally absorbed with his own position, his own reputation, not giving a damn about anyone else but himself. That he concealed his past to the Search Committee, when he ran for Bishop of Pennsylvania, reflects his own narcissism. When asked why he didn't tell anyone, he said he wanted to protect the family and victim in California.

The language he couched it all in, while appearing solicitous of others, was always really about himself and the need for self-protection. This didn't stop Bennison's public relations machine from churning out a statement at the end of the trial which reading, "We believe that Bishop Bennison will be vindicated and allowed to return to serve the Diocese of Pennsylvania."

The question before the Court is simple: Should Bishop Bennison's actions, more than thirty years ago, be judged by today's standards and continuing revelation? "We believe the Court will agree that the answer is no." The issue of "continuing revelation" is interesting. It is the notion that is burying the diocese, a diocese that has Wiccan priests, a priest convicted of masturbating in front of park rangers. All are continuing in office, while a half dozen orthodox priests have been turned out of their parishes, and properties stolen. It is where more than 25% of the clergy are homosexuals or lesbians. The diocese is lowly rotting financially morally and spiritually.

Not even the Rev. Bill Wood, former head of the Standing Committee, turned up at the trial in defense of his old boss, a point that was made very strongly and loudly by James Parabue, Bennison's attorney. Wood is a pathetic figure, but even he has had enough of his old boss's pathology and blew him off. You can read my daily reports of the trial and the full transcripts at the website or hit the links from today's digest.

JUST to make the point about how sick this diocese is, a story in last week's digest about the Rev. Michael Ruk, an Episcopal priest at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Bristol Township, and All Saints Episcopal Church in Falls, who was allegedly selling sex on Craigslist, resigned. The priest was supposedly offering massages with an extra bit of pleasure --"sensual bodywork". NBC10 got hold of the story forcing Bishop Pro tempore Allen Bartlett to investigate it. This week, Ruk voluntarily agreed to leave his post. The Diocesan Review Board of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania gave him his marching orders, but would not issue any further comment. I suppose trying to get rid of Bishop Bennison is enough to handle for one week.

*****

VirtueOnline attended the 140th Annual Diocesan Convention of the DIOCESE OF ALBANY last weekend where this courageous diocese passed two canons. One prohibited same-sex blessings and the other provides for ordaining and licensing only those clergy who are married to a member of the opposite sex or "celibate and abstinent." It was a resounding victory for the orthodox bishop of that diocese, the Rt. Rev. William Love, who saw his diocese vote overwhelmingly to support traditional and biblical values on the sanctity of marriage and the sacredness of marriage or celibacy for those wishing to enter the ministry. They enshrined this in Canon Law so no succeeding bishop, who might not get consents from the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops, will ever be considered a candidate, unless he or she signs off on these two canons.

A smart move indeed, which had the few Via Media types grinding their teeth and wearing white baseball caps with the insignia of the Episcopal Church pasted on in black to signify, no doubt, the death of the national church's position on the subject. They were outflanked and outnumbered. In his address to the convention meeting at Camp of the Woods in Speculator, New York, Bishop Love said the canons "are consistent with past and current diocesan policy and are not in violation or contradiction" with the Episcopal Church's canons.

The new canons "are not intended to be divisive, although some have come to see them that way," he said. "But rather, they are intended to provide clarity, in a time where there is great confusion within the Episcopal Church as well as the Anglican Communion concerning marriage and sexual relations outside of the confines of marriage between a man and women."

He noted that the canons "apply to everyone, regardless of one's sexual orientation. There is one standard, concerning sexual relations, by which we are all called to live. While recognizing that many heterosexual couples have chosen to engage in sexual relations outside of marriage, the Church will not bless such unions."

One downside is that parish attendance is low. According to the Canon to the Ordinary average parish attendance is 43, well below the national average of 70. Liberalism has no future but dead orthodoxy equally has no future. Most of those parishes are graying. The bishop has his work cut out for him.

You can read two stories I wrote about this event in today's digest.

*****

In the DIOCESE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA there was a victory for orthodoxy when their Diocesan Synod voted at their 92nd Synod "That the Synod not entertain two previous motions (one to vote for same sex blessings and the other that it was out of order) previously put forward related to the approval of same sex unions until the matter has been considered and decided upon by General Synod which will be held in 2010." The vote was: FOR 95, AGAINST 88 the motion passed.

*****

If you wonder just who is popping in and out of the Episcopal Church these days, consider this. Three former Episcopal bishops have left TEC and gone to Rome. From the DIOCESE OF BETHLEHEM comes this news. Two former RC priests have been received as priests of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Bethlehem. Bishop Paul V. Marshall received former Roman Catholic priests Bruce Baker and Michael Metro recently at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem. It will bring to 13 the number of former Roman Catholic priests now serving in or associated with the 14-county Episcopal Diocese. Others, including a former bishop of the Diocese of Bethlehem, served here in earlier years. "The movement of clergy between our churches is not new," said Diocese of Bethlehem communication minister Canon Bill Lewellis. "I was a Roman Catholic priest for 18 years and became an Episcopalian in 1982. Over those 26 years, I have known some 20 former Roman Catholic priests, now Episcopal priests, including our former bishop, who have served in the Diocese of Bethlehem. During those same years, only one local Episcopal priest has become a Roman Catholic priest. The movement to the Episcopal Church has become so common that it is usually not accompanied by the fanfare given to the "man bites dog" story when one moves in the other direction."

Contrary to the practice of the Roman Catholic Church requiring Episcopal priests to be re-ordained, the Episcopal Church recognizes the ordination of Roman Catholic priests and receives them into its community with a service titled "The Reception of Priestly Orders."

*****

SUFFOLK, England. For more than 100 years, the eight bells of St Peter and St Paul's Church have rung out for three hours at a time, once a month. The ringing of the peal could be silenced after locals complained about the noise on sunny afternoons. Around 20 residents in the seaside town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, have signed a petition claiming that they are deafened by the bells when they open their windows or sit in their gardens in the summer months. Council officials have now warned senior figures at the 14th century church that enforcement action could be taken if the tradition is not halted in June and July each year. The peals are not sounded in August. There are more than 5,000 churches in England where bells are rung.

*****

Next week several members of THE CONVOCATION OF ANGLICANS IN NORTH AMERICA (CANA) will embark on a journey to the Holy Land, where they will come together with a diverse group of over 1,000 Christian leaders representing 17 provinces in the Anglican Communion. They will gather for the first Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), being held from June 22-29, 2008, in Jerusalem. "Attendees of GAFCON represent the present and future of the Anglican Communion. GAFCON is an unprecedented development in the life of the Anglican Church. It will allow orthodox Anglican Christians from across the world a time for fellowship and to proclaim the transforming love of Christ. We need to start reclaiming Biblical roots and our heritage for global missions, and this conference is the catalyst for our renewed focus," said CANA Missionary Bishop Martyn Minns.

The conference will feature a variety of programs to address poverty, HIV/AIDS, secularism and other moral and theological issues. Worship services will be held. Attendees will visit Biblical sites such as the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane while in Jerusalem. They will also travel to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Nativity and Shepherds' Field and then on to Galilee.

Over 300 bishops from the Anglican Communion will attend the conference, along with their wives, other clergy and lay leaders. The attendees represent 35 million church-going Anglicans. Some of those attending from CANA include Missionary Bishop Minns, Suffragan Bishops David Bena, Roger Ames, David Anderson, Amos Fagbamiye, and Nathan Kanu. Some members of the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV), a part of CANA, are also attending, including ADV Vice-chairman Jim Oakes, The Rev. Dr. John Yates, rector of The Falls Church, The Rev. Richard Crocker of Truro Church, The Rev. Patrick Ware of The Falls Church, Bishop John Guernsey, rector of All Saints' Church, and CANA Trustee and member of The Falls Church Sam Thomsen. ADV is an association of Anglican congregations in Virginia. They will all join other U.S. bishops within the Common Cause Partnership.

For more information, visit www.gafcon.com.

*****

On Monday I leave for the Middle East. I will be writing and posting stories from there. Please go to the website www.virtueonline.org for the latest stories and news. We will continue to post stories from around the Anglican Communion, as they appear. I ask your indulgence and patience in answering personal correspondence and "thank you" letters as my associate has undergone recent heart surgery.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to Virtueonline, we would be most grateful. The news always comes to you free, but it costs us in time and money to bring it to you. Please consider a donation to help defray costs to attend GAFCON and LAMBETH. We do need your support. Our promise to you is we will receipt ALL donations. We are an annually audited as a 501(c)3 ministry. We aim to objectively report the news and let you make the decision. Thank you for your support. You may help by sending a donation through PAYPAL at www.virtueonline.org or by sending a snail mail check to:

VIRTUEONLINE
1236 Waterford Rd.,
West Chester, PA 19380

All Blessings,

David W. Virtue DD