Redemption Draws Near
Bishop Heather Cook  

 

What she did none can condone or can we look beyond the clouds of  excuse, or blame it on her  addiction to alcohol.  Neither can we fault the Palermo family for their grief/anger, not rendering forgiveness.

 

In April of this year I wrote to Bishop Heather Cook offering a hand of friendship.  She promptly replied but I put the letter aside; however, two weeks ago she wrote again seeking that fellowship.
 
Bishop Cook committed vehicular manslaughter and now resides in a Maryland prison. In her  letter, she wrote that many of her clergy friends have abandoned her, others have  turned away. As an Episcopal-Church-Bishop, not one of her fellow-Bishops has  written or came to see her. A few loyal friends have written and made the journey; but not  her fellow-clergy. The  EC defrocked her and casted her aside from clergy.  But as I told her in my return letter, that as a Bishop, none can take that from her. What God ordain is right.

 

It is with this measure-of-love, as we have done in  many cases traveling to prisons across the country (including-death-row), that we applied to the Maryland Department of Corrections to visit our sister  and will go to her on January 3, 2017.  We will spend as much time as allowed and extend a hand of ACW-fellowship for the five years remaining and beyond.

 

Many, as they did in the case of my visit to death row in Texas, have asked WHY?  To us, no matter what branch of the Anglican  Faith we belong, we are still Anglicans and children of God, who forgave all around him. But in Bishop Cook's case my decision was based on the humility she showed when judgment was being passed and when given the chance to speak.  Addressing the family, said she "I am so sorry for the grief and the agony I have caused... THIS-IS-MY-FAULT. I accept complete responsibility." Then turning to the Judge, "I believe God is working through this, I accept your judgment."

 

I shall not dwell on the story (goggle it if you will) but the ACW stands at the  gate of judgment with grace and the ever present thought “there-but-by-the-grace-of-God go-I”.  We feel for the family of Tom Palermo and the many souls she disappointed.  Nothing can change the facts, but the ACW stands firm in our acts of kindness.

 

The facts are:
  --She was drunk
  --Was texting 
  --Hit an innocent cyclist
  --Left the scene
         But she returned
  --She pleaded guilty
 
She is our Anglican sister who sought redemption; thus sharing the mercy of God, we go to her with our prayers and thoughts assuring her “Redemption draweth nigh.”

 

ACW Office of the Patriarch