Martha Alexis continued her testimony Tuesday morning about seeking restitution in vain for many years after she broke off sexual relations with John Bennison. His brother, the Rt. Rev. Charles Bennison, Jr., Bishop of Pennsylvania, is on trial this week on charges of not responding adequately when learning of the sexual relations, and of suppressing the information about his brother since then.

Ms. Alexis has expressed frequently her disappointment that Bishop Bennison had not talked directly with her about what his brother did to her while working on the staff of St. Mark’s Church, Upland, Calif.

On Tuesday morning, however, Ms. Alexis also described her shock at how fiercely the Rt. Rev. William Swing, as Bishop of California, rose to the defense of Mr. Bennison during an attempted pastoral intervention in 1993. “It was a disaster,” Ms. Alexis said of the intervention, which occurred in Minneapolis. “From the very beginning, Bishop Swing was very confrontational, very argumentative with me and my mother, very disrespectful.”

Ms. Alexis added, “I didn’t ask for restitution, but Bishop Swing goaded me. He said, ‘So I suppose you want some money.’…I wanted this resolved within the church. I wanted my church back.”

Instead of asking for money, Ms. Alexis said, she had sought truth-telling, in this case open disclosure at her childhood parish and at a parish in Bishop Swing’s diocese where John Bennison was rector. She also sought accountability in the form of removing the abusive priest from his ministry. She said she did cite some financial needs because she was angered by Bishop Swing.

Ultimately there was an open session of disclosure at St. Mark’s, but at Mr. Bennison’s parish in the Diocese of California, only the wardens and vestry were told of his earlier actions. During the open session at St. Mark’s, she testified, one parishioner asked, “So, did John Bennison put a gun to your head?”

As for restitution, Ms. Alexis said, the Rt. Rev. Frederick Borsch, Bishop of Los Angeles, gave her $1,400 to help cover therapy costs. “That was a very gracious thing for him to do,” she said. “He didn’t have to do it.” Earlier in her testimony, Ms. Alexis described Bishop Borsch as “very sympathetic, kind, warm, and receptive” to hearing her account of being pressured into beginning sexual relations with Mr. Bennison and being bullied into continuing those relations for four years.

The defense also asked Ms. Alexis if she ever sought to bring charges against Bishop Bennison. “No, I have sought healing,” she said. “I have wanted Charles Bennison to acknowledge his failure to protect me, and his failure to help my family.”

Most of the afternoon was devoted to the nine-member court watching a video deposition of the Rt. Rev. David Richards, director of the Office of Pastoral Development at the time when Mr. Bennison, who had renounced his vows, sought and gained reinstatement to the priesthood. Bishop Richards frequently said he could not remember the details of letters he exchanged with Mr. Bennison. The bishop said he thinks that he agreed to offer help to the estranged priest at the request of the Rt. Rev. John Thornton, who had served as a rector in California before becoming Bishop of Idaho.

Defense attorney James Pabarue methodically walked Bishop Richards through 12 letters that showed that several bishops, including Bishop Richards, had varying levels of knowledge about the sexual scandal. None of these bishops brought charges against Bishop Bennison or sought to prevent him from being consecrated after he was elected bishop coadjutor for the Diocese of Pennsylvania.

The court has estimated that it will continue daily sessions until Thursday. It then has a month to decide whether Bishop Bennison is guilty of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy.

Douglas LeBlanc

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