It gives me great sadness to pass on this report: Bishop Charles Bennison of Pennsylvania is to face an ecclesiastical trial on June 9.
The charges were that he concealed his younger brother's continued sexual abuse of a 14 year-old girl.
John Bennison, Charles' younger brother, resigned from the priesthood when a Los Angeles TV station reported his sexual abuse. Charles apologized later that year, in public, for his inaction.
Charles Bennison is theologically liberal, so he's one of 'us'.
Sexual abuse, then, is everybody's problem. We must be on our guard against sexual abuse, and must pray for healing for the abusers.
Frankly, healing comes very hard, and sexual attraction to minors may be a relatively immutable characteristic, like sexual orientation. However, unlike homosexuality, there is no healthy expression for pedophilia.
We must pray for abusers, and for the abused. And we must be on our guard.
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