Bishop convicted of concealing abuse

PHILADELPHIA, June 26 (UPI) -- An Episcopal Church court has found a Pennsylvania bishop guilty of concealing his brother's sexual abuse of a minor during the 1970s.

Bishop Charles Bennison Jr. could be suspended or removed permanently from ministry, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday.

Bennison's lawyers said they planned to appeal the decision. A sentence is not likely to be handed down before late August, the newspaper said.

Bennison, 64, became head of the five-county, 55,000-member Diocese of Pennsylvania in 1998. He was suspended in October after a special review committee of the Episcopal Church USA charged him with two counts of "conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy."

A church committee alleged that as the young rector of St. Mark's parish in Upland, Calif., in the early 1970s, he had failed to protect a teenage girl from the sexual predations of his younger brother John, who served as the parish youth minister.

Bennison testified he had been unaware of the abuse, but the alleged victim, now 50, testified Bennison had twice ignored obvious signs she and John Bennison were having sexual relations.

The case marks the third time a bishop was tried before the church court in the 232-year history of the Episcopal Church USA.