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Top female Episcopal bishop defrocked four months after her DUI arrest in bicyclist’s death
Top female Episcopal bishop defrocked four months after her DUI arrest in bicyclist’s deathActs of Faith
By Michelle Boorstein May 1 at 4:55 PM
Facing a manslaughter trial next month in the drunk-driving death of a bicyclist, a top Maryland bishop was defrocked Friday by the Episcopal Church. Heather Cook was the first female bishop in the Diocese of Maryland, which also announced Friday that she has lost her position there.
Cook’s resignation as an employee of 44,000-person diocese ends what was an embarrassing employment issue for the diocese. Bishop Eugene Sutton, the diocese’s leader, had asked in January for her to step down and thousands of Episcopalians were on Facebook pages calling for her to leave her job and to face tough criminal charges.
On Friday, the national denomination announced she had been “deprived of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority of God’s word and sacraments conferred at ordination.” Despite criticism of how other top church officials handled Cook in the run-up to her election last year, the Episcopal Church’s internal probe focused only on Cook and there is no independent investigation of other church leaders. Neva Fox, a spokeswoman for the denomination, declined comment.
While Cook, a 58-year-old lifelong Marylander whose father was a well-known Baltimore priest, has been in treatment since her January arrest and out of public view, the fact that she was still the No. 2 bishop in the diocese was a concern for the church.
By Michelle Boorstein May 1 at 4:55 PM
Facing a manslaughter trial next month in the drunk-driving death of a bicyclist, a top Maryland bishop was defrocked Friday by the Episcopal Church. Heather Cook was the first female bishop in the Diocese of Maryland, which also announced Friday that she has lost her position there.
Cook’s resignation as an employee of 44,000-person diocese ends what was an embarrassing employment issue for the diocese. Bishop Eugene Sutton, the diocese’s leader, had asked in January for her to step down and thousands of Episcopalians were on Facebook pages calling for her to leave her job and to face tough criminal charges.
On Friday, the national denomination announced she had been “deprived of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority of God’s word and sacraments conferred at ordination.” Despite criticism of how other top church officials handled Cook in the run-up to her election last year, the Episcopal Church’s internal probe focused only on Cook and there is no independent investigation of other church leaders. Neva Fox, a spokeswoman for the denomination, declined comment.
While Cook, a 58-year-old lifelong Marylander whose father was a well-known Baltimore priest, has been in treatment since her January arrest and out of public view, the fact that she was still the No. 2 bishop in the diocese was a concern for the church.