The Anglican Church in the US remains mired in a 'system of denial and helplessness' over alcohol abuse among its senior clergy, a damning commission has concluded.
It found the Church had done little to tackle the issue after a Baltimore cyclist was killed in a hit-and-run incident by the former bishop in the Maryland diocese, Heather Cook, who was drunk-driving.
Cook was jailed for 10 years in 2015 after she pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Tom Palermo, 41. She was found to have three times the legal blood-alcohol limit.
But a report, commissioned by The Episcopal Church's bishops, examined a number of case studies and in almost every case found 'the ecclesial structure and polity of our church proved to contribute negatively to the situation'.
'Clericalism, a misunderstanding of hierarchy, the canonical autonomy of parishes and dioceses, and a polity that hinders the enforcement of expectations all contributed to inactivity by responsible persons and bodies,' the report, published this week, said.
'The commission has discovered that in many instances, church polity has impeded the ability of the church to intervene, assess and treat impaired people and care for the injured community.'
The commission exposed a fear of exposure to liability, friendships between church officials, the autonomy of dioceses and a 'culture of forgiveness' as reasons for why there was a failure to address alcohol abuse among clergy.
The Cook case rocked TEC to the core after it emerged she had previously been arrested for drunk driving and the bishop of Maryland, Eugene Taylor Sutton, admitted he thought Cook was drunk at a dinner two days before her consecration as bishop.
Following the case the Church's House of Bishops condemned its 'longstanding tolerance for the use of alcohol' that, it said, 'contributed to its misuse and has undermined a climate of wholeness and holiness for all'.
The report criticised the Church's failure to hold a central database to record the employment history and disciplinary profiles of clergy saying it has 'no capacity for verification'.
It said: 'There is no clarity about who should see background checks or read the self-report questionnaires. Once again, people who are not qualified to analyze the data are often in a position of making process and outcome determinations.'
However it added systems would not create 'the great culture shift' needed in the Church.
