MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun
By Jonathan Pitts
The Baltimore Sun
The leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland suspected that the Rev. Heather Elizabeth Cook — now facing drunken driving and manslaughter charges in the December death of a local bicyclist — was intoxicated at a dinner two days before she was installed as bishop last year, according to the diocese.
The Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, head of the Maryland diocese, quickly shared his concerns about Cook’s behavior that night with the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, the diocese said in a timeline posted on its website this week.
“Bishop Sutton suspects that Cook is inebriated during pre-consecration dinner and conveys concern
The timeline does not say whether Schori in fact talked to Cook — who church officials were aware had been arrested four years earlier on a charge of driving under the influence.
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