He served as a member of Venture in Mission Board, the Los Angeles Jewish-Christian-Muslim Trialogue, the Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission, and numerous other bodies.
[1] From 1988 to 1991, he was rector of St. Luke's Church in Atlanta, Georgia, where he substantially raised stewardship giving, broadened the participation of laity in the governance of the parish, and initiated a process leading to the acquisition of significant real estate holdings.
In 1992, he was elected to the faculty of Episcopal Divinity School, where he served as associate professor of Pastoral theology and founded the program in Congregational Studies.
In 1994–1995, seven Anglo-Catholic priests[2] opposed to the ordination of women made an agreement with the 14th bishop of Pennsylvania, Allen Bartlett, known as the "Parsons Plan.
Despite differences in churchmanship, traditionalist leaders in the diocese supported Charles Bennison's election under the impression that he would continue the provisions of the Parsons Plan.
Bennison was a signatory to the "Koinonia Statement", a 1994 letter authored by John Shelby Spong, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark.
"[7] He proposed 24 changes to the sacrament of marriage, some based on a "Visigothic rite,"[8] and wrote, Bennison's statements on salvation and the doctrine of the Resurrection have been cited as a source of controversy.
[13] In 1999, the vestry of St. James the Less voted to transfer the property and assets of the parish to a nonprofit corporation called the "CSJL Foundation," in order to disassociate from the diocese and the Episcopal Church.
[14] In response to St James' attempt to secede from the diocese, Bishop Bennison declared the parish "inactive or extinct" and initiated litigation to seize its property.
[16] Pursuant to the Supreme Court's decision, the diocese assumed control of the St. James property, and the congregation left to form an independent church.
"[18] The charge, however, was disputed by Moyer and by the Vestry of the Church of the Good Shepherd, who insisted that they only advised Bishop Bennison that a visit would not be helpful.
[18] On September 5, 2002, Moyer was received by Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh, as a priest in good standing, although it is unclear whether such reception was permissible under the canon law of the Episcopal Church.
The financial crisis came to a head in 2006, when the Standing Committee of the diocese voted twice to request Bennison's resignation, alleging the misappropriation of approximately $11.6 million from diocesan trust funds.
Meanwhile, the Diocesan Council passed a resolution in support of Bennison, and Bishop Clayton Matthews of the church Office of Pastoral Development was called in to mediate.
At the time John was in graduate theological studies, and Charles had hired him to serve as a part-time youth leader of St Mark's.
[33] However, in a subsequent deposition for Bishop Bennison's trial, the former teen acknowledged her sexual abuse at the age of 14 consisted of a back rub during a youth group meeting when she "felt funny.
In 1979, after meeting all canonical requirements, John was restored to the priesthood by the same bishop, who—according to subsequent trial testimony—was fully cognizant of the prior allegations of misconduct.
[citation needed] Finally, in 2006, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) initiated a campaign calling for John's resignation.
[34] Meanwhile, although there had been these two prior public adjudications of the same matter, first in 1979, then in 1992, Bishop Bennison's critics said that he had concealed the alleged abuse of the minor from church authorities and police.
[36] The girl's mother, June Alexis, disputed this account,[37] based on a 1978 letter from Bennison that she says indicate that he knew that their daughter was being abused by his brother, but did not tell them.
John's ex-wife, Margaret Thompson, produced another letter from 1979 in which Charles Bennison asked her not to visit the parish because of the potential for "a public scandal here which, I believe, could cost me my job.
[38] At the annual diocesan convention on November 11, 2006, Bennison said: "Reading the statements from last weekend's sessions reminded me that it was probably the senior warden, not the girl's mother, who in 1975 reported John's abuse, after which I immediately told him to leave the parish, and that in order to maintain the confidentiality of both John and the girl, I did not tell the parents, who nonetheless confronted me when they had found out four years later.
The two charges contained in the presentment were "contemporaneous failure to respond properly" when he learned of his brother's sexual misconduct and the "subsequent suppression of pertinent information.
According to Bennison's attorney, more than 200 letters, written by the then-teenage female to John, were discovered that contradicted witness testimony at the trial.
While Bishop Bennison's attorney had repeatedly raised the matter of the limitation statute, the earlier trial court had declined to rule on the issue for unexplained reasons.