Charles Ellsworth Bennison Jr. (born November 30, 1943) is an American bishop. He was the 15th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. Education and family Bennison was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 30, 1943, and was baptized at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Hastings, Minnesota, on December 24, 1943. His father, Charles E. Bennison Sr., was also a priest who went on to become the Bishop of Western Michigan. Bennison received a B.A. degree summa cum laude from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1965. In 1965–66, he studied at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, and then attended Harvard Divinity School, where he received a B.D. degree in 1968 and a Th.M. degree in 1970. He earned his M.A. degree from the Claremont Graduate School in 1977, and a S.T.M. degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1992. He was honored with a D.Div. degree from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1997. Benninson married Joan Kathryn Reahard; they have two daughters, Sarah and Kathryn. 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. Bennison has been a fellow of the College of Preachers and a Masland fellow at Union Theological Seminary. In 1992, he was elected to