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PHILADELPHIA: Diocesan Convention Will Seek to Sell Camp Wapiti without Bishop Bennison's Consent
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
November 1, 2011
If delegates to the 228th annual Diocesan Convention on November 5 have their way, the $10 million Episcopal albatross hanging around the diocese's neck known as Camp Wapiti that is costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain even as parishes close, will be sold without the consent of its Bishop Charles E. Bennison.
A proposed Canon 13.5 reads as follows: "Notwithstanding any other provision of these Canons, (1) The Wapiti Property may be encumbered, unencumbered, sold or otherwise alienated with the joint consent, written or otherwise, of the Standing Committee, the Diocesan Council and the Committee on Finance and Property; (2) the sale, conveyance or mortgage of the Wapiti Property may be undertaken and completed without the consent of the Bishop Diocesan, Charles Bennison; and (3) the proceeds of any such sale or conveyance shall be placed in a temporarily restricted fund and, in accordance with the wishes of Convention and subject to the approval of the Bishop and Standing Committee, shall be used to replenish the funds depleted to purchase and maintain the property (per the Fifth resolve of Resolution R-11 adopted at the 2008 Convention). This Canon 13.5 shall not apply to any Bishop Diocesan other than Charles Bennison, and will become null and void upon the retirement of Bishop Bennison."
Bennison has fought bitterly and hard to keep the property even though a prior convention voted in 2008 to sell it. On returning to the diocese, following charges that he failed to expose his brother's sexual abuse of a minor, he managed to rescind the sale keeping the property that many believe he wants to retain as a monument to his own colossal ego. (His father, the Bishop of Western Michigan built a cathedral in Kalamazoo that was sold after his death at a financial loss to the diocese.)
In February 2011, the diocese received a cash offer of $6,636,007. The offer reflected the current real estate market (which is not expected to climb in the foreseeable future) and would allow funds currently dedicated to maintaining the property (over $150,000/year) to be used for ministry in the Diocese. Expenditures will increase significantly by the end of the year when the $3 million loan from Wilmington Trust comes due. After discussing the offer with Bishop Bennison, the Standing Committee voted unanimously to accept the offer.
However, Bennison made it plain that he would not accept the offer to purchase the Wapiti property, nor would he would sell it. Despite the votes of Convention and the elected bodies governing the Diocese to the contrary, the Bishop said he intended to run Camp Wapiti funding it from the sale of closed church properties as well as from other Diocesan resources as yet unidentified. He removed the property from the market and cancelled the listing agreement with the real estate broker.
In May, Bennison used a Mother's Day address to the diocese to make a pitch for keeping Camp Wapiti. (The camp has already cost the diocese $6.7 million with another $3 million needed to pay off the loan.) "We need nearly $10 million," noted Diocesan Treasurer Kylius Jones at the time.
The Wapiti Farm property is located on Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, some 62 miles from Church House. Bennison described the camp as a 432-acre wilderness tract far from city lights, with more than a mile of waterfront, and within two hours travel time of every congregation in the diocese.
Bennison used his Mother's Day address to tug at the heartstrings of Pennsylvania Episcopalians, some of whom have finally woken up to the fact that a sociopath is running the diocese.
In other news, the Diocese of Pa discovered (gulp) that it has no common vision. So a resolution is on the table to have one...after 228 years. "During our mandated process of review, engagement and consultation, we found that there was no common vision for the diocese, no fully shared understanding of who we are or why we are here, beyond being the place "where it all began"."
For many suffering in the diocese under Bennison it is too little too late. The diocese is withering under the revisionist and pathetic leadership of Charles E. Bennison.
UPDATED.
Delegates to the 228th Diocesan Convention voted on Resolution 8-2011 "Concerning the Sale of the Wapiti Property" and passed it by a vote of 222 for with 149 against.
