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NEW HOPE FOR ORTHODOX PRIESTS IN COURT RULING AGAINST PA BISHOP
Special Report
By David W. Virtue
PHILADELPHIA, PA (7/5/2005)--The Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Pennsylvania has handed down a ruling requiring Pa Bishop Charles E. Bennison to answer the Third Amended Complaint of Fr. David Moyer, Rector of The Church of the Good Shepherd over a suit filed by Fr. Moyer alleging fraud and collusion in Bennison's "deposition" of the orthodox priest.
Bennison had objected to the complaint, saying he was above the law and that the First Amendment to the Constitution required that the Court dismiss the Complaint without Bennison being required to answer it. Bennison argued that a civil court has no jurisdiction over issues relating to "discipline" of priests.
The Court, however, rejected Bennison's argument and said that the case should proceed so that a full factual record is developed. This ruling should be valuable precedent for other orthodox priests being persecuted by revisionist bishops. It is a significant victory since it requires those bishops provide the documents and testimony that will show what really happened. Hopefully, there will be other similar decisions.
In March of 2002, Bishop Charles Bennison "inhibited" Fr. David L. Moyer and in September, the bishop "deposed" him.
Since Fr. Moyer had been denied a Church trial, his only alternative was the civil courts. After many months of motions and Orders by the Court, Bennison was finally forced to produce documents showing what really happened.
All of this is summarized in the Third Amended Complaint, which details the seven frauds of Charles Bennison. It can be viewed in the following PDF formatted 144 pages. It is very large, almost 5 Mbytes and your patience is requested when downloading it.
Below is The Third Amended Complaint in Moyer v Bennison.
