Charles Bennison - Ministerial and Academic Career

Ministerial and Academic Career

Ordained a deacon in 1968 and a priest in 1969, Bennison began his full-time ministry in 1971 as rector of St. Mark’s Church in Upland, California, where he was founder of St. Mark’s Episcopal School, St. Mark’s Homeless Shelter, and new congregations in Rancho Cucamonga and Chino, California.

In the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, he chaired the Program Group on Social Relations and the Standing Committee, served as president of the Corporation of the Diocese, taught at the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont Graduate School, and was a frequent reader of the General Ordination Examinations. He served as a member of Venture in Mission Board, the Los Angeles Jewish-Christian-Muslim Trialogue, the Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission, and numerous other bodies. In 1987, he was recognized by the Pomona Valley Council of Churches for outstanding leadership in ecumenical affairs. That year he was also among the nominees considered to replace Robert Rusack as bishop of the diocese, a position that ultimately went to Frederick Borsch.

From 1988 to 1991, he was rector of St. Luke’s Church in Atlanta, Georgia, where he substantially raised stewardship giving, broadened the participation of laity in the governance of the parish, and initiated a process leading to the acquisition of significant real estate holdings. In 1991 Bennison was involuntarily terminated from St. Luke's."

Bennison has been a fellow of the College of Preachers and a Masland fellow at Union Theological Seminary. In 1992, he was elected to the faculty of Episcopal Divinity School, where he served as associate professor of Pastoral theology and founded the program in Congregational Studies.