Manslaughter charge prompts church to examine relationship with alcohol

With a history of sherries at church coffee hour and wine during Holy Communion, Episcopalians have long endured — and shared — jokes about their drinking. (For example: “wherever two or three are gathered, there’s a fifth.”) Yet the relationship is complicated.

The denomination stood out a century ago for saying alcoholism wasn’t an evil. And Episcopal clergy played a significant role in the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous.

So perhaps it was surprising that this week a top church leader said the case of Heather Cook — the Maryland bishop now accused of killing a cyclist while driving drunk — revealed Episcopalians’ “systemic denial about alcohol and other drug abuse.” Leaders will review church policies on drug and alcohol abuse for the first time in 30 years when they have their once-every-three-years meeting this summer. Keep reading

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My mother's parish (and my church when I was a teenager and for several years when I became an adult) stopped serving wine at church functions and substituted sparkling apple cider and other carbonated fruit juices when my nieces and I attended the church with my mother. One parishioner wanted to know why my mother and I were  allowing my youngest niece to drink wine. My mother and I explained to her that it was sparkling apple cider. The church adopted this policy after it became more actively involved in ministry to recovering alcoholics. But the church eventually fell off the wagon and went back to serving wine at these functions. Newcomers were regularly invited to attend wine and cheese parties in the parish hall on Sundays. At the church where I was senior lay reader for fifteen years, the choir gathered in the kitchen after rehearsals and tippled a glass or two of wine. The choir stored bottles of wine and even small kegs of their favorite vintage in the kitchen refrigerator. I was not comfortable with the practice and went straight home after choir practice. I have no idea how much wine was consumed at these post-rehearsal wine-bibbing sessions. Ephesians 5:18 tells us not to become drunk with wine but filled with the Holy Spirit. Proverbs 23:31-32 warns us not to look on wine when it sparkles in the cup. At the end it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper.