Bennison is leaving the priesthood under threat of being deposed over the sexual abuse of a teenage girl in the 1970s.

This was how weeks of turmoil at Saint John's came to a close, as some parish members hugged in the aisles before the 9 a.m. service.

It was the final chapter for a wrong that Bennison admitted but sought to pack away behind a career of spiritual leadership. On Sunday, he recounted his role as a religious adviser to hundreds, an overseer of countless weddings and funerals since he came to Saint John's in the early 1980s.

"God has richly blessed us with the fruits of our labor," he said.

Bennison, who is 58 and married with two children, has declined to discuss a sexual relationship that began in 1972, when he was a 28-year-old assistant at a Los Angeles-area parish. The girl was a parishioner half his age, according to a 1993 letter signed by Frederick Borsch, then bishop of the Los Angeles diocese. The relationship lasted four years, the letter said.

Bennison says he already addressed the relationship with his congregation, that it was "openly dealt with" long ago. He described it last month to a Times reporter as "this old story."

That story was resurrected this spring, when an advocacy group for clergy abuse victims protested repeatedly outside the church.

Pressure came from Bishop William Swing, head of the Diocese of California, and from national church leaders aiming to tamp out a brewing controversy. Two weeks ago, Swing asked Bennison to step down, citing the impact on the church from a campaign to oust Bennison by a national advocacy group, Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests, or SNAP.

Under Episcopal law, bishops cannot depose priests themselves. A group of clergy or laity must initiate the process.

Swing, who oversees 81 Bay Area churches, had supported Bennison since learning of the sexual abuse in 1993, 13 years after the priest came north from Los Angeles. Bennison was a "changed" man, and Swing saw no sign that he was a threat to anyone in the diocese, he wrote in a May 31 letter to church members.

But in an interview with the Times, Swing said the bad publicity came at a fragile time for an Episcopal Church torn over a variety of issues, including gay and lesbian clergy.

"I've heard from a lot of people from around the country who have weighed in on this," he said. "The Episcopal Church is pretty tender right now about matters of discipline. And this is one of those issues that just sends signals that discipline might not be consistent at this vulnerable time in history."

Further, Swing said, until last week he thought that the Diocese of Los Angeles had deposed Bennison in the 1970s, and that he was restored in 1980 and then transferred to the Bay Area.

That misunderstanding colored a decision in 1993, when Swing learned of the molestation, to let Bennison stay in Clayton and in the priesthood, the bishop said. Diocese leaders thought Bennison had already faced church discipline. Bennison said so himself. Removing him would amount to double jeopardy.

"Everybody who looked at this thing in 1993 said you can't try a person twice for the same crime," said Swing.

Last week, the bishop said, he learned that Bennison never was deposed, but renounced his priesthood. He then was reinstated three years later, in 1980. That meant he never underwent a full church accounting of his actions, never received what Swing called "an aggressive judgment."

It also meant no double jeopardy; Bennison could be deposed now.

"I wish that we had known what really happened in terms of discipline," said Swing. "I wish Los Angeles would have told me the whole story before he ever dug in and became a great person."

Joey Piscitelli, a SNAP coordinator, called Swing's claim "a ridiculous statement" and said the bishop made a dangerous bet in allowing Bennison to remain as a priest after knowing of his past.

"Of course they knew he wasn't deposed," Piscitelli said. "They've decided, 'Everybody's digging now, he wasn't deposed but we're going to do it now. The cat's out of the bag and we'd better come clean.'"

Bennison, who never faced criminal charges, told about 120 parishioners Sunday that current and former church members have sent him supportive letters and e-mails, but also some that were "challenging" and "stinging."

A Times reporter was asked to leave and escorted from the church as Bennison spoke.

Bennison has sounded tones of being himself a victim of overzealous advocacy by a group that held protests outside his church and ignited media reports that put heat on church leaders.

The group, Piscitelli said, was simply speaking for the anonymous victim, who saw little justice.

"Her whole high school was having sex with this man," Piscitelli said. "That's not a normal life."

SNAP STATEMENT

By Joey Piscitelli
SNAP Bay Area Coordinator

We are relieved that John Bennison is finally being removed from his position at St. John's Church in Clayton. It is unfortunate that some parishioners have been hurt by the public scandal. We are hoping that the Bishop of California will not place any more admitted, or credibly accused sex abusers in ministry, a policy that should be changed, not only to avoid public scandals, but most importantly to protect innocent children from predators who may potentially sexually abuse again.

As stated before, SNAPs priority was to support awareness in the community to avoid any possibility of putting children at risk, as we know that most child sex offenders are repeat offenders.

It would be prudent for the new Bishop of San Francisco to take future steps to insure the safety of kids in the parish, as well as the surrounding community, by insuring that cover-ups, and shielding of predators is a thing of the past.

It would also be prudent to now reach out to any other victims who may have been abused by Bennison, by addressing the congregation with information as to how to contact the Police, and child protective services, if someone else has been abused by this man. We are sure that the new Bishop would agree that there was potential for risk in the Parish, and that he will feel obligated to address the issue of responsibility now.

END

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San Francisco Chronicle
CLAYTON
Priest to be defrocked over sex charge
Pastor at St. John's has long admitted to relationship

by Matthai Chakko Kuruvila,
San Francisco Chronicle Religion Writer

June 13, 2006

An Episcopal priest who admitted to having a four-year sexual relationship over 30 years ago with a 14-year-old girl at a Los Angeles-area church will be defrocked, the Diocese of California announced Monday, a day after he told his Clayton parishioners he was resigning.

Bishop William Swing, leader of the Diocese of California, which oversees churches in six Bay Area counties, asked John Bennison, 58, on May 29 to resign as pastor of St. John's Parish, which he led for 24 years.

By stepping down, Bennison avoided a trial by church leaders, which would have held him up to further scrutiny and could also have ended with his removal from the ministry.

"He brought it to an end," said Janet Kawamoto, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Los Angeles, which was overseeing the investigation.

Messages left for Bennison at his Walnut Creek home and former parish were not returned. Swing and the Rt. Rev. Jon Bruno, bishop for the Diocese of Los Angeles, did not return requests for comment.

Bennison has for decades acknowledged that he had a sexual relationship with the teenage girl, according to an e-mail Swing sent to members of the diocese. Swing said in the e-mail that Bennison's congregation continued its support for him since 1994, a year after the old charges first resurfaced in Northern California.

Swing said the congregation continued to support Bennison even after protests by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a group of activists that has primarily worked on clergy abuse in the Roman Catholic church.

"I do not believe he is a sexual threat to anyone in the Diocese of California," Swing wrote.

Swing, nonetheless, asked for Bennison's resignation on May 29, saying the publicity surrounding his case was "taking a heavy toll" on an Episcopal church that is already in a fragile state nationwide. The question of the ordination of gays and lesbians has opened the possibility that the Episcopal Church of the United States may be split.

SNAP is not satisfied with Bennison's defrocking. Its members believe the church has covered up the abuse cases of priests like Bennison. They would like the church to publicly urge alleged victims to report the incidents to the police.

"It's a start," said Joey Piscitelli, the Bay Area Coordinator for SNAP.

Piscitelli said other abuse accusations have been made against Bennison. Swing acknowledged those allegations but said the evidence is thin.

Bennison, who is married and has two college-age daughters, was 28 when he began his relationship with the 14-year-old girl. The validity of the girl's claims has not been in question, Swing wrote.

"What is clear is (that) the pain of the former teenager who was victimized ... is beyond dispute," wrote Swing, who has met with the alleged victim.

E-mail Matthai Chakko Kuruvila at mkuruvila@sfchronicle.com.

END