The source also revealed that litigation expenses run up by Bennison against two parishes - St. James the Less in East Philadelphia and the rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont - totaled nearly $1 million ($956,871.15) with the law firm of Drinker, Biddle, for zero gain to the diocese. St. James has had to close its doors as no one has turned up to two morning services and the temporary priest Fr. Robert Offerle has since left town. The entire congregation left with Fr. David Ousley. Fr. David Moyer is still in his parish, with little prospect of the bishop unseating him. Furthermore, Fr. Moyer has turned the tables on Bennison and is suing him for wrongful dismissal and Bennison's fraud. In addition the Standing Committee recently confirmed the fraud in its presentation to Bishop Clayton Matthews, who heads the Episcopal Church's Office of Pastoral Development.

The three-year audit was done by the prestigious Philadelphia firm of Briggs, Bunting & Dougherty, LLP and showed that in 2002 the bishop reclassified the diocese's net assets as follows. Approximately $26,500,000 which had hitherto been labeled "temporarily restricted" was reclassified to $17,500,000 "unrestricted" with only $9,000.000 "permanently restricted."

The audit firm concluded that the "organizational structure as provided makes no sense operationally or otherwise."

Bennison told the audit firm that he would like everything to be paid by mandatory assessment rather than reliance on voluntary assessments. The idea of increasing mandatory payments was shot down at the 2005 Diocesan Convention.

One sensitive issue the auditors addressed was the diocese providing postretirement health benefits to its retired clergy. "We recommend that the Diocese review its policy with respect to providing postretirement benefits to determine the long term cost to the Diocese and if it is feasible to continue providing this benefit."

The audit firm also scored the diocese for what it called "significant deficiencies" in the operation of its internal controls and said the diocese does not record all of its activity in its general ledger.

The expenditures to keep camp Wapiti open in the State of Maryland has resulted in the decimation of church house staff, most recently with the departure last week of the Canon for Vocations and Deployment Susan Mayer and, most recently, the Chief Financial Officer Patricia Difiore! The question might fairly be asked, who is really in charge in Bennison's office?

See the full audit report (2002 - 2004) here.

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/content/management_papers.pdf

BREAKING NEWS: Budget Cuts Force Cancellation of The Pennsylvania Episcopalian.

The Diocese of Pennsylvania will not publish any further issues of the monthly newspaper, The Pennsylvania Episcopalian, in its continued efforts to reduce spending.

Readers of the newspaper, which has a circulation of more than 20,000, are urged to visit this website for information about the diocese.

For the on-line version of Episcopal Life, visit
www.episcopal-life.org