After processing through the cathedral Bishop Charles E. Bennison began the service pleading, "I am aware there is a lot of anxiety here...give it to God."

In his sermon, Bennison publicly acknowledged that presentment charges had been filed against him for "mismanaging the diocese" but then publicly denied he had done any wrongdoing, saying, "I have never spent any monies without obtaining the approbation of the requisite governance body."

Bennison then addressed newspaper and Internet reports of his brother John's sexual abuse acknowledging his failure to forward to civil and ecclesiastical authorities reports of his brother's abuse, adding that transcripts he had read of three forums held in the diocese about the abuse were "excruciatingly painful".

He said that the statements flowing from the forums jogged his memory, "reminding me that it was probably the senior warden, not the girl's mother who reported John's abuse." He then told the warden to leave the parish, "in order to maintain the confidentiality of both John and the girl. I did not tell the parents who confronted me when they found out four years later."

Bennison then publicly said his efforts to maintain confidentiality were "misguided, born of my mistaken idea that while I viewed John's behavior as highly immoral...I had no idea of how extensive, pathological, and damaging it was."

The bishop acknowledged that the newspaper stories "had shaken many in our diocese, especially those who had been impacted by sexual abuse."

To calm and perhaps allay diocesan fears, Bennison then offered to meet with laity and clergy at two separate meetings and places in the diocese.

Bennison then ripped his brother: "The real scandal and unfathomable tragedy of an abuser's behavior is its hypocrisy, standing as it does in absolute contradiction to the gospel he is ordained to proclaim." But at no time did Charles Bennison offer to resign because he covered up his brother's sexual sin and for not reporting it to the civil authorities.

"In the past week I have had painful moments of self-judgment as I have pondered the extent to which my failure in the 1970's to act more assertively with regard to my brothers, his victims, and the church," he said.

Perhaps anticipating the upcoming dust-up at convention and calls for his resignation, Bennison cited the passage from Scripture, "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account..."

Citing the conflict, Bennison then began to sing a solo:

"So high, you can't get over it, So low, you can't get under it, So wide, you can't get around it, You've got to go in through the door."

Delegates were astounded and visibly embarrassed.

During the time of the in gathering of the pledges the Rev. Marek Zabriskie, St. Thomas's Whitemarsh called on the bishop to resign as he approached a makeshift altar, saying "it is time for you to stand down". The bishop just smiled.

As the convention got underway, clergy and laity began to express their true feelings.

One woman rose and said to Bennison, "Some of the things you said in your address I can't get them out of my mind, we need to deal with this and we have the responsibility to respond."

Mr. George Whitfield, Diocesan Council Executive Committee said: "We have processes..."

Zabriskie then rose to say, "things are not remotely normal, we need an end to the spin."

Layman Charles Rogers rose to say, "We need to radically adapt to the situation. We should allow this body the flexibility and vote on those issues."

Another layman, Richard Johns said, "We have due process and civilized behavior. Some here are hijacking this convention."

Another delegate said: "I believe this is not the proper format [to talk] about the bishop...the proper format is the House of Bishops. We do need to have this discussion...in another time and day." Using procedure and Roberts Rules, Bennison through his attorney Bullitt chewed up the bulk of the day on irrelevant resolutions despite frequent interruptions by the Rev. Zabriskie calling on the bishop and delegates to speak to the central issue of the bishop's address.

By 3pm, and with an hour left it was clear a filibuster was taking place with a lengthy Finance and Property report, but clergy and laity anger finally erupted, with the Rev. Bill Wood, chairman of the Standing Committee getting the ball rolling by telling the assembled delegates that on the advice of Bishop Clay Matthews, and on advice of the chancellor payment was sought for independent legal council from the diocese, but the bishop declined to make that disbursement.

Jeff Moretzsohn, a lay delegate from the Church of the Good Samaritan and a leader of Concerned Pennsylvania Episcopalians rose to say, "there is an elephant in the room, we need to begin to acknowledge the evil in the room in light of your speech Bishop Bennison."

Zabriskie again took the microphone and in an impassioned speech said to the bishop; "You have lost your office, you have no authority. You said (in your report) that this issue is about power and money, but that is not true. It is about holiness, telling the truth and engendering trust and you have lost all three. You have wasted millions of dollars. The Roman Catholics had their Cardinal Law and Philadelphia has its Charles Bennison. Your arguments that this all happened a long time ago does not hold up. There were clear moral offenses, this is not a scandal this is a crime. You broke the law. You covered up your brother's sex abuse. You broke the law. Now we need to find out all the truth. We found out that Bishop Hopkins talked to you here prior to your running for bishop and asked you about this issue and you said you would do something very different today. But Jesus was upfront, he said people who abuse children that it was better that a millstone be tied around their necks and they be dumped into the deepest part of the ocean. Your brother allegedly raped a 19-year old, and you lied about it to newspaper reporters, and to the media."

At this point Zabriskie was called to order by Bullitt and several delegates shouted the priest down.

A woman priest, the Rev. Sunny Hallanan, describing herself as left of center liberal, said she was a mother and a victim of date rape herself. "After listening to the bishop telling us a whole lot of untruths it brings back memories of hurt, fears and betrayal. I have kept my Past a secret till today. But my feelings have not gone away and I don't think they ever will. Abuse stays with you forever. I relived my experience when I heard the bishop talk. What has stayed with me is the violation of trust and lies... someone with power used that wrongly. Abuse is a misuse of power. A man who would lie about other things as well would violate trust as well. We all need to learn about more about power and abuse. Clergy sexual abuse and cover up is more profound and devastating because it tampers with our very motions of God and the holy. It is about victims and. The world is looking at this case and watching what the Episcopal Church is going to do. Anything less than [Bennison's removal] is cheap grace. The cost of discipleship is the road to the cross."

Dr. Pamela Nesbitt a clinical psychologist says she works with victims of sexual abuse. Addressing Bennison she said: "You spoke movingly and implied you would do it all differently, you implied there was nothing you can do. You can do two things in the healing of this issue. The first thing you can do is to resign (cries and cheers erupted from delegates). Bishop, your career was bought at a price...your ex-sister in law, Julia's child and all the other women who were exploited by your brother 30 years ago You chose to please your brother. The second thing is to seek out all of these women who were exploited by your brother, and if they will speak to you, sit down with them and tell them what happened, what is has cost you and is costing you still, then you can apologize. I believe that is a significant step in your own healing."

Zabriskie then called for an amendment to the resolution and said he would accept Bennison's immediate resignation.

Bullitt: "Your amendment is not germane."

Zabriskie: "It is very germane."

Bullitt: "We need to conduct a full study by the diocese and enter into a study process on sex abuse in..."

Zabriskie: "It is germane and to the main point...."

Bullitt: "We need to study and expand on the effects of these matters."

A vote was taken and because a two thirds majority was needed, the motion calling for Bennison to be removed was defeated. A second motion to "educate" the diocese on sex abuse passed.

The Rev. Gregory Brewer, Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, Pa the evangelical/charismatic rector of the largest parish in the diocese rose to say; "I serve a congregation where many of the women are the victims of clergy sexual abuse in the parish. They asked me if I would be like him. Would I be complicit in the cover-up. I said I cannot do it. I support fully that you must be accountable. Your remarks that you misspoke are inadequate. You never addressed your responsibilities and the ongoing pain in the lives of those victimized by these acts." Brewer told VOL that Bennison's address was "entirely inadequate".

But a supporter of Bennison, the Very Rev. Richard Giles, Dean of the cathedral and a one-time ardent English Anglo-Catholic, rose to support Bennison and said, "I am not sure what has gone wrong here...the allegations are deeply serious and distressing as is the abuse of power, but I believe there is an abuse of power and manipulation that is being orchestrated by those who brought these events to Philadelphia. I have seen absolute glee by the opponents of the bishop. I beg you to vote against it."

A priest from a parish in Ardmore stood up and said he had had 30 years as a teacher of adolescent kids prior to becoming a priest, "and I knew what was inappropriate behavior of children in the 70s and I knew to report those things. I don't believe you didn't know," he said.

The Rev. Timothy Stafford rose to say that in 1972 he was also a victim of rape. "It was not by a priest but an employee of an adjunct Episcopal institution. I feel very strongly that the issues of confidence as well as holding Bennison accountable for events 30 years ago. What is happening here is that a referendum on being a bishop of the diocese has morphed into training on sexuality issues. You cannot combine them. Either you are hear to have talk about training or a referendum on Bennison. It cannot be both. The referendum on Charles Bennison is the true agenda."

Joy Mills, pastor and psycho-therapist, said she went to the last of the three forums at St. Georges and said the speakers spoke with vulnerability. "I took the training. The damage is life long. How could you not realize within those 30 years what you did," she said directly to Bennison.

Another woman, clearly disturbed, rose to defend the bishop. "This bishop has made a huge difference in this diocese and there is no basis for this inquisition in this diocese. Has no one ever made a mistake in this diocese? Who is prepared to cast the first stone?"

Moretzsohn then rose again and read a moving letter from Carol Kuniholm, Director of Ministry to Youth and their Families. This is what he read: "Our young people have seen their church leaders mock the authority of Scripture, abuse power for personal purposes, squander resources intended for the good of the poor, and fail to protect the young people in their care. No wonder 35% of ECUSA youth say that 'most or all the adults' in their congregations are hypocrites. Bishop Bennison, you dared to suggest that this current plea for your resignation is motivated by "a power struggle over money and power in the diocese." Far from it. It is motivated by a desire to salvage broken pieces of a church that has lost its way. This is not about one family harmed by your failure to speak out about your brother's sin, but about whole generations of youth who were not protected from harm and subjected to the example of leaders who cared more about themselves and their positions of power than the good of those they served. You can do the right thing and resign. Please, for the sake of the youth of this diocese do so quickly, without further misdirection of the church's time, energy, and financial resource."

A priest from Rockdale, Pa said that Bennison's argument that if he had known what we know now he would have acted differently, didn't wash with him. "One thing hasn't changed. In the 70s, 80s 90s and 2000s having sex with a 14-year old is called statutory rape. Our bishop covered up a felony, he covered for his brother, he facilitated the crime beyond that point."

Paul Harris from St. Dunstan's said that as a therapist, Bennison betrayed everyone. "In the mid 1990s when we talked about sex abuse by clergy, you told us we should be open and identify it to the authorities. You had every opportunity to do it then and you did not. I feel as betrayed as anyone here."

Bennison then addressed delegates saying that he was trying to contact victims through an agency of the church, not personally, but the young girl has never brought charges, he said. "My brother went to the bishop and renounced his orders. He was going through a divorce. Having been deposed on admittance of his guilt he was readmitted. I am making efforts to contact his first victim... if the victims receive me through Barbara Blodgett, a diocesan employee. I want to do it in a non invasive non abusive way."

But questions remain. How can Bullitt be Bennison's attorney when he was the attorney for the Standing Committee as well as Bennison when he was chancellor? Isn't the parliamentarian supposed to be impartial? Who is paying Bullitt? If the elephant in the room was Bennison and whether he should go, why couldn't that be decided by a simple majority vote? Who is paying for Bennison's legal fees in the three lawsuits against him -two by Fr. David Moyer of Good Shepherd, Rosemont and one by the insurance company for the diocese?

Once again Bennison has survived by manipulation of the system. But the day of reckoning is coming when Bennison will have to face a jury and try to explain his fraud and bad faith in his persecution of Fr. Moyer. In the meantime, will the Standing Committee now finally have the courage to say that churches should refuse to receive Bennison and cut off the monies that support him?

IN OTHER news, delegates were told that 55% of the clergy are being paid below the mid point range in the salary area and that 59 congregations, or approximately 38 percent of the diocese's congregations are at serious risk of closing in the next five years.

END