Fr. Smart, 66, suffered a brain seizure recently after Bennison unilaterally announced he was merging two parishes St. Mary's and St. Paul's both in Chester. "What he was really doing was forcing Fr. Smart and Fr. George Karney out as mission priests where their salaries of $82,000 which includes medical and pension, would be eliminated and then Bennison could turn around and pay them $30,000 as retired priests, thus freezing their pensions, so the Church Pension Fund would end up subsidizing the diocese," said Dangerfield.

The debacle began last spring when Fr. Karney of St. Paul's told Fr. Smart of St. Mary's that Bennison had talked to him about merging the two parishes. This was the first time Fr. Smart heard anything about it. Mission San Pueblo, a Spanish-speaking congregation also meets at St. Paul's.

Fr. Smart had a scheduled pre-visitation appointment with Bennison to discuss Bennison's upcoming visit to "Mission San Pablo." It was then that Bennison informed Smart of his plans to merge both parishes.

Prior to this at the November Diocesan Convention a resolution was passed that all mission churches should be funded from the Diocesan budget through 2006. Convention members felt they had protected the mission churches for at least a year, said Dangerfield.

A number of interested Episcopalians later wrote Bennison giving their reasons why St. Mary's should not be closed. They all received back a form letter from Bennison which did not address their concerns.

Despite their concerns Bennison initiated a series of actions to promote a merger. First, he requested that St. Mary's members worship on a particular Sunday in January at St. Paul's instead of their own church. They refused. Then Bennison asked a number of members of both churches to meet with him to discuss how the two parishes could merge.

Bennison then did something really underhanded. He decided that the problem was racism and sent two persons from the Diocesan Committee to Combat Racism to facilitate the meetings. "It was clear that neither of the persons appointed had any knowledge of the ministry being carried out in Chester, nor of the work being done between both churches," said Dangerfield.

One of the Diocesan representatives dared the group to make an "adult decision." A member of St. Mary's asked "what is the bishop's 'adult decision?'" The representative called and put the bishop on a speaker phone, where the bishop stated that he planned to close St. Mary's by April 1st and that he would ask Fr. Smart to retire by that date. This was the first time Fr. Smart heard about his future. The church members told the Combat Racism committee not to return.

A decision was then made by a committee from the churches to reverse the bishop's decision. Within two weeks 500 signatures were collected.

On February 7 a group from four parishes met with Bennison, where they were forced to listen to a 15-minute monologue that failed to address their concerns. "Bennison was evasive, ignoring critical facts and was unwilling to consider alternative proposals about how to balance the budget," said Dangerfield.

Bennison criticized the group saying that new building was happening in the area and St. Mary's was not growing. The group responded saying the new public housing was simply the government replacing decrepit public housing. It did not mean new people were coming into the city.

"St. Mary's may not be growing but it has remained stable at a time when other established churches in Chester were shrinking. In fact the church that is dying is St. Paul's which was once a wealthy white church, but is located in a black neighborhood without a strong black constituency," she said.

Dangerfield then lit into Bennison accusing him of duplicity. "The bishop is determined to force St. Mary's to move to St. Paul's because St. Paul's is independent with a sizable trust fund, while St. Mary's is dependent on the diocese for their rector's salary. Furthermore, we believe that Bishop Bennison's plan is to force the retirement of all mission priests eligible for retirement to reduce the financial outlays of the diocese."

Once retired, the bishop, could if he chose to, rehire them for $30,000 a year, an amount retired priests can make without penalty to their pensions, but he would not have to pay any benefits and additional retirement contributions. Priests would end up working full time but not increasing their pensions - a particular burden on mission priests who salaries tend to be at the bottom of the pay scale. It might be good for the diocese but grossly unfair to the priests, said Dangerfield.

"There is real irony here. Bennison wants to force an excellent black priest to retire when the diocese is having a campaign to increase the name of black "MALE" priests! This is also an insult to our wonderful black female priests. And Bennison had not even thought about the Spanish-speaking parish of St. Pablo which is also under the care of Fr. Smart.

Dangerfield accused the bishop of misrepresenting the facts. "He told the group in February that the Episcopal Church is the only mainline church still in Chester, when in fact there is a Roman Catholic Church, four Methodist, a Presbyterian and at least six Baptist Main Line churches plus the Society of Friends!

"He was inaccurate on this item, how can we rely on him to do due diligence on critical issues, such as church closings?"

Bennison then said that by merging the two parishes, the outreach ministry of St. Mary's could be expanded on the present site while St. Paul's could become a Black church. "How can you make a house of worship into a storage are for food and tell the congregation they must worship a mile away. "That is in fact closing the church," she said.

Dangerfield then blasted Bennison. "St. Mary's is not a dying church. It is a vibrant community of loyal members of all ages who do a tremendous amount of good in their depressed community. It is a viable mission church. It has a good man who has the confidence of his parishioners as its priest. We need to keep St. Mary's running and Rev. Smart at its helm."

In a letter to Bennison, Dangerfield said she was appalled to learn that he wanted to close down St. Paul's. "I am a member of Trinity Church, Swarthmore and our two churches have had a very close relationship for many years. We have provided assistance in the form of money and goods, our members have done volunteer work, sorted food stuff, filled bags of food, kept records and taught in after school programs. I am aware the diocese is having budget problems but shutting down a mission church goes against Jesus' command to "do it unto the least of these and you do it unto me."

Then she ripped into Bennison. "It is more important to take care of the needy in our own backyard, than to worry about a retreat for those who can afford to take care of themselves or to have another paper pusher in the office! What sort of message is the Diocese of Pennsylvania sending out into the community? Are Episcopalians to be once more accused of being a church only for the elite?

Dangerfield poured scorn on Bennison accusing him of being patronizing. "You are not facing reality. Do you really believe that the St. Mary's people will attend St. Paul's? Memories last a very long time. St. Paul's was the church for rich, WHITE folks, and St. Mary's was for the African Americans. Now that St. St. Paul's has a diminishing congregation, you expect St. Mary's congregation to help save St. Paul's. How patronizing can you get!"

She said that the closure of the church would mean the end of the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and youth groups throughout the area that have depended on St. Mary's. "What a shame that the opportunity will be lost if you succeed in carrying out your plan."

Dangerfield then tore into Bennison over his haste in another church closure where, if he had been patient, it would have worked out and paid off.

"You prematurely closed Calvary-St. Paul's on South Broad Street. I personally called your office and told you that the church would receive a legacy of $700,000 from the estate of Janet Tuttle if you kept the church open. You closed it. Six months later she died at 92. You were quite aware of the existence of money in the near offing that could have turned the church around. So instead of Calvary-St. Paul's bearing a Christian presence on South Broad Street (the heart of Philadelphia) for the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, the money went to the Philadelphia Presbytery, with the advice of the judge that it be used south of Broad Street."

Dangerfield pleaded with the bishop: "Do not destroy another church in an effort to save money for much less important projects."

In early December Bennison wrote to Dangerfield saying that rumors of St. Mary's closing were very unfortunate, and were undermining its ministry. "St. Paul's can become a Black church, and the overall ministry of the Episcopal Church in Chester," he wrote.

Dangerfield wrote back to the bishop saying that his "form letter" did not address the issues and accused the bishop of undermining the ministry of St. Mary's as a direct result of his announced "plan" for their church.

In a note of sarcasm, Dangerfield told Bennison; "how nice that there is no thought of closing St. Mary's doors and selling the property. That is small comfort to the parish members that love to worship in their church. If you close the house of worship, you are in fact closing the church. Your form letter did not allay my fears, just added to them."

"I was always under the impression that, unlike our friends the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church was not run as a dictatorship, but more on democratic principles," she said.

Dangerfield then wrote to the Rev. William Wood, chairman of the Standing Committee telling him that it was clear to everyone that Bennison had definitely made up his mind to balance the budget by closing St. Mary's. She accused Bennison of spending large sums of money on the (Maryland) retreat and to the large increase of employees in the diocesan office.

"Fr. Smart has five or six years before he reaches mandatory retirement. What a shabby way to treat Fr. Smart, to force him to retire after 32 years of ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church with such a small pension."

Other voices were equally critical of Bennison. The Rev. Sunny Hallaran, rector of St. James' Church in Collegeville, west of Valley Forge, a priest who tried to start a Diocesan Credit Union and was told by Bennison to put it "on hold" for Bennison's "visioning process." Hallaran wrote to Bishop Clayton Mathews, the Presiding Bishop's mediator and said, "the conflict with Bishop Bennison is not just about budget and finance. It is also about disabling significant ministries, both passively and actively turning the focus of the church away from the least and the lost, further displacing the marginalized, and wasting or belittling the gifts and expertise of people who would like to feed Christ's sheep with a sense that the church cares."

Bennison also took a hit from the Union of Black Episcopalians and in a passionate plea to Bennison, Jane R. Cosby, President Philadelphia Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians in the Diocese of Pennsylvania wrote, "Don't punish people who have little because they have little". She ripped the Bishop saying his actions have caused consternation amongst the clergy and great fear and doubt amongst the lay people, both those in affected parishes and parishes not directly involved.

"Why is it that ministries with so little are required to document their lives more than other ministries? Why isn't the Parochial Report sufficient? Are the "marginal" ministries also included in the required "additional documentation? What is the background of these people who will make value judgments about these ministries that have such a long history and whose people work so diligently to keep the ministries alive? Have these committee/commission people experienced the anti-racism training offered by the diocese or the national church? Are you aware of the message this action sends? Are you aware of the interpretation we have given this whole process?"

Then she tore into Bennison: "We worry that you may not be aware of the racial implications in this matter. For people whose responsibility it is to 'crunch' numbers...race is not an issue. But for you as the Diocesan here in Pennsylvania to have the majority of Black ministries be in that number, for you to either allow or order this to happen...is problematic. You will put yourself in the position to bear the burden of being labeled "racist.""

END