Executive Council members who gathered in Providence, R.I., Feb. 13, for a mission discernment retreat prior to their regular meeting, wound up with some shocking news to ponder. The Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning, Presiding Bishop, told council members he had received evidence that appears to "indicate misuse of church funds" by Ellen Cooke, former treasurer of the Episcopal Church.

Bishop Browning told council members he was informed Feb. 7 by the staff of the treasurer's office at the Episcopal Church Center that "evidence of certain irregularities in the management of the church's financial affairs" had been discovered.

Mrs. Cooke, who was treasurer for nine years, resigned that position Jan. 6 in order to move to Virginia with her husband, the Rev. Nicholas Cooke, who accepted a call to a parish. She had been retained as a consultant for a brief period following her resignation.

Bishop Browning said in a statement released to council members, diocesan bishops and Episcopal Church Center staff that "this evidence appeared to indicate misuse of church funds by Mrs. Cooke during some portion of her tenure as treasurer.

"I immediately retained legal counsel to assist me in an investigation into these and other possible financial improprieties," Bishop Browning said in the statement. "Preliminary results of that investigation disclosed sufficient grounds for concern to inform Mrs. Cooke, which I did in a meeting in Virginia with her and her husband on Feb. 9, and also to engage the services of an independent accounting firm to conduct a full review."

Bishop Browning said he was unable to reveal anything more about the investigation, but added he expected it would take a matter of weeks and that he would report to the council, the staff and others at that time.

When he delivered his address from the chair on the opening day of the council meeting, Feb. 15, in a downtown Providence hotel, the Presiding Bishop spoke to the matter again.

"We have had a great deal to swallow, to absorb, in a very short time," Bishop Browning said. "I think it's been difficult for some of us to get it down, to believe it. Though our picture is fragmentary, and an investigation is only beginning, we already have something very painful to deal with. Funds appear to have been misused. And our response, given our fiduciary responsibility, is governed by procedures appropriate to our role. We have a sacred charge to act on behalf of the church, to protect our assets and our integrity as an institution, and we will do so."

The revelation followed a sizable cutback in staff at the church center in 1994 when apportionment income from some dioceses dwindled.

"We have learned some valuable lessons from other sad and difficult things we have faced when those who have been part of our faith community have erred and strayed," Bishop Browning said in his address. "I daresay these hard lessons will serve us now.

"First, we have learned that we must speak nothing but the truth, in spite of our shame, and our own difficulty in accepting the part of the truth that we have learned. We don't yet know the full truth, and cannot speak it. However, we must say nothing that is untrue. Speculation is unwise, irresponsible, and possibly destructive."

Bishop Browning told the council that he returned to New York City the morning of the opening of the council meeting in order to discuss with staff members at the church center the news of "this tragic moment."

Council members broke into small groups following the Presiding Bishop's address, which was received with a standing ovation by members and a large delegation of visitors from the Diocese of Rhode Island.