When he was old enough to search for better ways to convey what he felt when the love of God came upon him, he would tell his mother and father and minister and anyone else in Nicholasville, Kentucky, that it was like butter, liquid-warm, luminous, drizzled atop his head and descending over and through him in a seamless golden coat to his feet.
Yesterday was the final day of the presentations to the trial court convened to rule on charges of misconduct against Bishop Charles Bennison. The trial concluded with closing arguments and a not unexpected move by the defense to dismiss all charges. The verdict is expected in 30 days or less.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh has moved its yearly Diocesan Convention forward by a month so as to be better positioned to respond to the expected action by the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops following the Lambeth Conference.
Bennison admitted he was also concerned about his own future. “Any disturbance in the parish would reflect poorly on my leadership in the parish at that time.”
…poverty is not only about the lack of financial resources, but more centrally about an absence of opportunities and choices which allow people to build decent lives for themselves and their families.
Ann Allen, a former rector’s warden at the parish, told the court that she learned of the abuse when Alexis was about 15. … Allen recalled how one of her teenage sons had told his parents that Alexis was “John’s woman.” When she apprised Charles Bennison that there might be “something going on” between the girl and his brother, Bennison “just kind of shrugged and said, ‘That’s the way it is,’ or, ‘That’s the kinds of things that are happening.’ ”
…today, nine judges from around the country are beginning to consider whether this … prelate, suspended from office in the fall, improperly concealed his brother John’s sexual abuse of a minor decades ago.
Bishop Michael Smith writes to his diocese: I am pleased to announce that Bishop Carol Gallagher has accepted my invitation to assist in providing episcopal pastoral care in the Diocese of North Dakota. She has agreed to reach out especially to congregations and clergy who feel alienated and hurt by me due to different understandings of human sexuality.
The Rt. Rev. Stacy Sauls writes to the House of Bishops that the procedures used for consent to deposition of a Bishop for abandoning the
We actually anticipate that we will be in a situation within 24 to 36 months in which . . . a separate ecclesiastical structure in North America within the Anglican Communion will exist as a united reality. – Bishop Duncan