..Sutton said he got to know Cook over the summer before her consecration. “Having worked with her for a couple of months,” he said he suspected she was drunk at a private dinner given two days before her scheduled ordination.
“At that moment something clicked. There was this, and there was her DUI in 2010,” he said, referring to her arrest for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia as well as drunk driving in Caroline County, Md.
He said he did the “only thing I could do, canonically” ”“ he shared his suspicions with Bishop Jefferts Schori, who had also attended the private dinner party with her husband.
“Clearly the presiding bishop agreed with my assessment that. . . we want to make sure that this is nipped in the bud before it becomes a problem,” Sutton said last night.
A Lavish Ceremony
But by all accounts, Heather Cook’s suspected alcoholism was not mentioned on September 6 when 10 bishops and nearly 1,000 worshippers participated at her ordination at the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore.
During the lavish ceremony, Bishop Jefferts Schori spoke out the words: “If any of you know of any reason why we should not proceed, let it now be made known.”
With no objections made, Jefferts Schori then announced it was the will of the people for Cook to be made bishop. Sutton followed later with an official welcome to the new bishop.
Bishop Sutton is right to say he didn’t know as much as he should have about alcoholism. But he did know she’d had a DUI in her recent past and he was concerned enough about her being drunk at the dinner two days before the consecration to refer the matter to the Presiding Bishop. Either he or the PB should have pulled the plug on the consecration. Instead, the excuse for both of them is that it “would have caused an uproar.”
Basically, Sutton is saying he kicked up upstairs and didn’t have the strength to face a serious problem. The national office doesn’t seem to have done anything effective. Naturally the major person at fault here is Cook herself, but this excuse that the church didn’t want to make waves is morally repellent.
What? What?!? +Sutton knew, +KJS knew, but didn’t “know” her alcoholism was a problem? Or they did, and they didn’t think they should do anything about it? OR saying they didn’t have any authority to do anything about? Are you kidding me? This is beyond reprehensible. If they are this incompetent, then +Sutton and +KJS have no business being Christian leaders, let alone bishops. The more of the story that comes out, the worse the Diocese of Maryland, +Sutton, and +KJS look. Where are the calls for them to resign too? This is gross, arguably criminal malfeasance.
#2 they aren’t
Christian leaders. They are part of TEC. Just a simple reminder!
No Harry Truman-esque reality on these desks: “The buck stops here.”