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| Heather Cook's bishop (left) and presiding bishop (right) both knew their new colleague was three sheets to the wind before her consecration.. No problem. WELS moves their drunks - TEC consecrates them. |
Episcopal bishop indicted on 13 charges, including homicide, in biker’s death
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/episcopal-bishop-indicted-on-13-charges-including-homicide-in-biker%E2%80%99s-death/ar-AA8ZkjH
Episcopal Bishop Heather Cook was indicted Wednesday on 13 charges in the death of a Baltimore bicyclist, including homicide, drunk driving, texting while driving and leaving the scene of an accident.
Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore City State’s Attorney, had announced Jan. 9 that her office was charging the 58-year-old cleric from the Diocese of Maryland with killing Thomas Palermo on a Saturday afternoon in December while he was out for a ride.
Prosecutors have said since January that Cook could face more than 20 years in prison.
Cook, who has been in a treatment facility since the accident, has a court appearance scheduled for Friday, but her attorney David Irwin said it is likely to be procedural and the case continued.
Since the accident, details of Cook’s past drinking have come out, raising questions about what Episcopal officials knew and whether she was receiving any support since becoming the Diocese of Maryland’s first female bishop last year. Cook was charged in a dramatic 2010 drinking-and-driving incident, the bare bones of which top diocesean officials knew when they selected her as a candidate, but which they did not share with the broader body that voted to pick her.
Initially reluctant to share details regarding Cook’s personal life, officials have been speaking more frankly in recent weeks as Episcopalians have demanded answers. Bishop Eugene Sutton has appeared at two public question-and-answer sessions on the case and a third is scheduled for Feb. 11.
On Tuesday, Sutton’s office said they didn’t push Cook to discuss her drinking last spring when her 2010 drunk-driving arrest appeared in a background check, explaining that they were trying to respect her privacy. Cook is technically still the number two bishop in the diocese, though officials have asked for her resignation.
On Monday the diocese set off debate when it posted a new, detailed timeline showing Sutton suspected that Cook was drunk during a pre-consecration dinner two nights before she was officially made a bishop in the fall.
The timeline also says Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, leader of the Episcopal Church, who presided over the Sept. 6 service that consecrated Cook, was also made aware that Cook may have been drunk during the dinner.
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| Joel Lillo: "WELS Document took this article down for some very good reasons. I would expect that you would do the same, Greg, if you were a decent human being. Of course, I've long since given up hope of that." |
GJ - Fox Valley WELS Pastor Joel Lillo is upset about the truth coming out, but he was never bothered by the clergy abuse perpetrated under the influence of booze in his own circuit.
Clergy students who drink themselves blind and brag about their sexual conquests are bound to come to naught in time.
First of all, they have deep-rooted spiritual problems, if they have drink that much, seduce girls dumb enough to be seen with them, and brag about their loutish behavior.
Secondly, if they are drunks in college--as many WELS clergy are--they will become physically addicted to alcohol. As Heather Cook demonstrated, alcohol in the car was not enough. She had a pot pipe during her first DUI in 2010.
Cook was undergoing three forms of therapy for her alcoholism when she was consecrated a bishop. At that point she probably had to drink in the morning to avoid withdrawal symptoms (the shakes - aka the hair of the dog that bit you).
Herman Melville has a poignant description of alcoholism in Moby Dick. He calls it a robber that is invited into the home, robbing everyone of peace and happiness.
Once the physical addition is added to the spiritual problems, the troubles mount. One problem is the cost of alcohol, coupled with the cost of lying. Where is the money going? Where have you been?
Drunks have black-outs, when they forget entire days - terrifying. Drunks also have hallucinations, the pink elephants. One told me in the hospital that Martians were shooting beams at him. He showed me the burns.
Drunks also lose control of their impulse control and fall prey to many more illnesses and accidents. Their livers give out and they develop distended bellies from the alcoholism
Some drunks want to fall asleep, and use alcohol as a liquid pain killer. There are many who are nasty, vindictive drunks. They destroy many relationships with their words and actions. Some of them do not repent until they are utterly alone.
The church leaders are not doing anyone favors by ignoring the symptoms, as they did with Heather Cook. Ecclesiastical meetings continue to be surrounded by the temptations of alcohol, because "everyone drinks" and they all have a good time, right? That only makes things worse for the vulnerable, and it paves the way for the next generation of alcoholics.
How many more victims are needed to make this stop in the Christian Church. The Scriptures forbid ordaining drunks and giving alcoholic laity positions in the congregation. Ah, but the bigger the scandal, the more extensive the cover-up. Ask Mark Schroeder, Matt Harrison, and Pope John the Malefactor.
