{"id":2408,"date":"2015-01-14T12:04:17","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T18:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/?p=2408"},"modified":"2015-01-14T12:11:19","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T18:11:19","slug":"its-all-about-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/its-all-about-me-2408.htm","title":{"rendered":"It’s All About ME"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Sutton\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a1Pobre de mi!<\/span><\/p>\n

Clerical narcissism is the bane of many, perhaps all churches. It was a major factor in the sexal abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, and Episcopalians are not immune. He Baltimore Brew<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n

With Bishop Heather Cook in a Baltimore jail cell on charges of manslaughter, drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident, the man who presided during her hiring says he didn\u2019t realize how burdened he was by the incident until \u201ca bishop colleague\u201d spoke with him.<\/p>\n

Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton \u2013 Cook\u2019s Episcopal Diocese of Maryland boss, who has acknowledged diocesan officials knew about Cook\u2019s 2010 drunk driving and drug arrest but did not disclose it to the people who elected her \u2013 recounted the colleague\u2019s words of solace in a\u00a0\u201cpastoral letter\u201d<\/a>\u00a0published today.<\/p>\n

\u201cEugene, I am the child of an alcoholic and I\u2019ve spent many years dealing with that and coming to understand the hold that alcohol has on someone who is addicted to it,\u201d the colleague said, according to Sutton\u2019s account.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to tell you that the Diocese of Maryland is not responsible for the terrible accident that killed that bicyclist,\u201d\u00a0the colleague said, according to Sutton\u2019s letter. \u201cYou are not responsible for that; Heather Cook is. It\u2019s not your fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sutton goes on to say the colleague\u2019s words prompted him to \u201cburst into tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t realized how much I had internalized the weight of responsibility for the tragedy, the sense of shame, and the desperate need to make it all better,\u201d Sutton wrote in a letter posted on his Facebook page as well as on the website of Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.<\/p>\n

But the areas where Sutton addresses his personal feelings of culpability \u2013 and seemingly absolves himself \u2013 are also striking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t realized how much I had internalized the weight of responsibility for the tragedy, the sense of shame, and the desperate need to make it all better,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cLater, praying before the Icon of Christ the Pantocrater, I gazed into those piercing eyes of our Lord, asking: What is Christ wanting to say to me? And what did I want to say to him?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter what seemed like an eternity, I was finally able to gaze into his eyes and say: \u2018Lord, it\u2019s not your fault,\u2019\u201d he recounts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, no, the death of Tony Palermo is not God\u2019s fault, although the question of theodicy is the most difficult matter in Christianity, as Pope Benedict admitted once in an interview.<\/p>\n

ButSutton is quick to absolve himself and the diocese of any responsibility.<\/p>\n

Commentators on Baltimore Brew site were spot on:<\/p>\n

The Diocese knew of Cook’s alcohol, and drug, abuse. Yet the church saw her fit to be placed in a position of power. They promoted her (but did not disclose it to the people who elected her) to the second highest position in the church in Maryland. They did this even with her recent horrible choices. In the world of us alcoholics, four years is very recent. The church chose to say marijuana and a .27 BAC wasn’t a huge deal. They chose to say being so drunk that you’re driving with a shredded tired and covered in your own vomit isn’t a big deal. They chose to call this a lapse in judgment. They saw no problems with her as being a leader of Christians. Was she the best choice the Episcopal Church could come up with. How did she make it to the final four? Was the church trying to fill a spot with a politically correct choice? And now, finally, they are going to review that process that allowed her to keep her background private. During the election process she was encouraged to self disclose but chose not to.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another is more direct but also spot on:<\/p>\n

The Bishop’s Super-sized crosier says it all. Bigger than the Pope’s staff!<\/p>\n

No wonder with this culture of the High and Mighty, Bishop Cook lost her basic Christian values and compassion, as well as what is right and wrong!<\/p>\n

This cult mentality of supreme power and elitism\u00a0has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Exodus 32.4 all over again with the Pagan imagery going to their heads and good judgment going out the golden temple door.<\/p>\n

No wonder the High Priestess has a skewed vision of right and wrong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And another give the bishop some good advice:<\/p>\n

Mr. Sutton, there is a reason why you have “internalized the weight of\u00a0responsibility for the tragedy, the sense of shame, and the desperate\u00a0need to make it all better”. You are not responsible for this murder, but your actions in hiding and ignoring Cook’s problems did play a part in causing it. What you are feeling is called a conscience. What you do about it will show who you are as a man. Hiding behind god and your position is not the answer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I do not know Sutton\u2019s involvement in the appointment of Cook, but many people were complicit and were enablers. Also, I doubt that the day of the accident was the first day since 2010 that Cook was blind drunk. Had no one in the diocese noticed her drinking problem? The precise legal liability of the diocese will probably be tested in court, but their moral responsibility in choosing an irresponsible alcoholic for a position of church leadership, an action which gave her the sense of invulnerability from consequences of her actions, is clear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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  \u00a1Pobre de mi! Clerical narcissism is the bane of many, perhaps all churches. It was a major factor in the sexal abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, and Episcopalians are not immune. He Baltimore Brew reports: With Bishop Heather Cook in a Baltimore jail cell on charges of manslaughter, drunk driving and leaving the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[628,46,11,1],"tags":[810,824],"class_list":["post-2408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alcoholism","category-clericalism","category-architecture","category-uncategorized","tag-bishop-heather-cook","tag-bishop-sutton","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2408"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2415,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408\/revisions\/2415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}