Nicholas Cooke Resigns from Priesthood
Episcopal News Service. June 21, 1995 [95-1154]
(ENS) Nicholas T. Cooke, husband of Ellen Cooke, the former treasurer of the Episcopal Church accused of embezzling $2.2 million in church funds, has resigned from the priesthood.
Bishop Peter James Lee of the Diocese of Virginia reported in a document released June 12 that, in consultation with the diocesan standing committee, he had accepted Nicholas Cooke's "voluntary resignation and renunciation of the ministry of this Church." The action, the document states, "is taken for causes not affecting his moral character." Nicholas Cooke's written resignation was received June 5, he said.
Lee offered no explanation for the resignation. No statement about the resignation was available from the attorneys representing Ellen Cooke.
Nicholas Cooke, former rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Montclair, New Jersey, became rector of St. John's, McLean, in the Diocese of Virginia in late January, shortly before the embezzlement of national church funds was discovered. He subsequently resigned his rectorship at St. John's, citing his need to focus on providing support for Ellen Cooke and their family.
Neither of the Cookes have been charged in connection with the embezzlement. However, the standing committee on clergy ethics of the Diocese of Newark conducted an investigation following revelations that some national church funds apparently were deposited in Nicholas Cooke's discretionary account at the Montclair parish, and that the parish received a questionable national church grant, according to Dale Gruner, diocesan public relations officer.
The final report from the committee was submitted to Bishop John Spong of Newark about the time the resignation was announced, said the committee's chair, the Rev. Franklin E. Vilas of St. Paul's in Chatham, New Jersey. He said he did not know that Nicholas Cooke was resigning from the priesthood when he submitted the report.
According to Vilas, the committee members met with St. Luke's vestry May 31 and invited Nicholas Cooke to meet with them as well "but he chose not to do that." Vilas said he felt the committee's work was incomplete "in that we didn't have the opportunity to meet with Nick Cooke," but said with Nicholas Cooke's resignation, "I feel our involvement has come to an end. It's all been somewhat settled by his resignation."
The most severe punishment in an ecclesial trial that might follow an ethics committee investigation would be deposition, or removal from the priesthood, he said.
The committee, which Vilas stressed is "not a court" but a "council of advice and recommendation to the bishop," was "in touch always with the bishop" even before submitting the final report. He did not say what recommendations the committee made to Spong, citing the requirements of confidentiality, but said "most of the information that was available to us had to do with financial transactions," and was provided by the audit conducted of St. Luke's accounts. He added "we did not uncover any information that was not already in the possession of someone else."
Lee said that he consulted with Spong "to assure that any action in the Diocese of Virginia (on Nicholas Cooke's resignation) would not compromise the Diocese of Newark, and I received that assurance."
Since no formal charges have been brought against Nicholas Cooke, "his voluntary renunciation and removal from the ministry were appropriate," Lee said. "It in no way limits future criminal or civil action, or further investigation by church authorities of Mr. Cooke's financial practices."