While the statute of limitations has run out for civil prosecution, the ecclesiastical and moral consequences of his acts live on. The long chronology of John Bennison's sexual sins and his brother's complicity in them, erupted with full force this week in Philadelphia when family members, victims of John Bennison came to town to tell their stories.

But now Charles faces Presentment charges, unanimously brought by the Standing Committee for financial mismanagement. It will be the new Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's first test of leadership. Sources tell VOL that she will act quickly and none too favorably against Bennison. We shall see. Even if he does resign he will still face the two lawsuits brought by Fr. David Moyer.

Roman Catholic prelates have had to deal harshly with wayward priests, and have themselves suffered at the hands of civil authorities and been disgraced in public eyes. There is no reason why it should not be done in the case of Bishop Bennison despite his "heartfelt apology." Lives have been ruined and Bennison must ultimately be held accountable. His failure to report his brother to the authorities means that he exposed children and parishioners to open and further danger.

And all this while The Episcopal Church says it has mandatory workshops for The Prevention of Child Abuse and The Prevention of Adult Sexual Misconduct in Church. It must have slipped 'Chuck's' mind. Ironically attendance at these workshops is mandatory for all employees (including clergy) and for all volunteers who regularly supervise children and youth outside Sunday morning.

Julia, the mother of the daughter, blasted the bishop in an open letter, saying she had a "paper trail" of letters from a number of bishops and from Bennison himself to prove he covered up his brother's sexual sin. "I have the witness of my daughter that when you unexpectedly walked in on compromising scenes in a Sunday school room and the church office, you must have suspected something. If you were, as we thought, our pastor and friend, you should surely have told us. But as you wrote later on March 30, 1978; 'I have to be, not a pastor, but John's brother in this situation'; so please don't deny your part in this."

In a series of forums across the Diocese of Pennsylvania, culminating in the church sanctuary of St. George's in Ardmore on Sunday, Bennison's detractors, some followers and a number of attorneys got an earful about the salacious world the Bennison brothers inhabited for more than 30 years with the family's dirty laundry and the deep, dark secrets exposed for all the world to hear. What they told was a horrible litany of cover-up and denial.

Bennison himself said he knew nothing about his brother's sexual activities till a year later, but he's a liar. He knew all along, and the mother of the girl flew 3,000 miles from California to tell Pennsylvania Episcopalians her story, because Bennison keeps lying to the media about what happened and won't tell the truth. He apologizes then says he didn't know anything. His behavior is sociopathic.

Bishop Bennison has winked and nodded over past sexual misbehavior in the diocese. In the Diocese of Pennsylvania he was informed about another priest who had pushed the sexual boundaries and he did nothing, allowing him to move from one parish to another in the diocese, till he was fired and left for another diocese.

He glibly brushed off another priest who was arrested and paid a fine of $300 dollar for masturbating in a public park in front of two park rangers. He was out leading a youth group at the time. The priest is still in his parish; and at a theological level has allowed a Wiccan priestess to carry on in her role as a priest in The Episcopal Church even though she admits dabbling in the occult world. Her husband became a full-fledged Wiccan and left the priesthood.

Bennison is not able or willing to uphold the faith of the church, and when asked to affirm a number of doctrines by a traditionalist priest could not do so. He has written a Visigoth Rite for same-sex marriages and said Jesus was a sinner who forgave himself. He said the church wrote the Bible and could rewrite it to include homogenital behavior. He has had Jack Spong, former Bishop of Newark mislead the faithful in the cathedral with his 12 Theses, all the while he plans to file lawsuits against two orthodox priests to seize their properties because they don't want to have anything more to do with him.

But Bennison's day is coming. This Saturday he must face his whole diocese at the annual PA Diocesan Convention and calls for his resignation will be the first order of business, VOL has been told. He now faces presentment charges raising the ante against him.

The Standing Committee wants him gone and has repeatedly called for his resignation. They hired former Newark Diocesan attorney Michael Rehill who filed formal charges with the Title IV Review Committee. A group calling themselves Concerned Pennsylvania Episcopalians also wants him gone saying that his mismanagement of the diocese's finances, the purchase of Camp Wapiti has put the diocese in serious financial straits. An orthodox priest has two law suits filed against Bennison, and even his own liberal camp followers have called him "untrustworthy". The Diocesan Council made up of party hacks and failing parish priests still believe in his "mission" but even there support for Bennison is waning.

Bishop Bennison is now seen fighting for his ecclesiastical life. Bennison says repeatedly that he will not resign. For the moment it is a Mexican stand off to see who will blink first. But he now faces civil and ecclesiastical action.

While it is difficult to fire a bishop, it is not impossible. The grounds must be gross immorality. Jo Mo Doss, the theologically feather-weight and worthless Bishop of New Jersey got a large pay off to go away. He was accused of racism, but was basically incompetent. This was engineered by PB Frank Griswold. Montana Bishop "Cy" Jones was forced to step down over allegations of adultery.

If Bennison is tossed out with a large payout, it will sadly not be for the right reasons, that is, his inability to uphold the faith once delivered to the saints, but for a tawdry period in his life when he failed to do his duty to bring his brother to account.

In the end Bennison must face the fact that bad morals flows from bad theology and now he faces the consequences.

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