Canterbury United Methodist Church Pastor Resigns

MOUNTAIN BROOK, AL – Rev. Dale Cohen of Canterbury United Methodist church has announced that he would be leaving the Mountain Brook church at the end of the year, according to AL.com. Cohen made the announcement to his congregation on Sunday that he would leave after two years of serving as senior pastor.

Canterbury has been a Mountain Brook community staple since 1867, recently celebrating its 150th anniversary, and is one of the largest United Methodist congregations in the state. It has also been the home church of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones for more than 33 years.

There appears to be no connection between Cohen's resignation and Jones' senate race against Republican Roy Moore, who has been embroiled in sexual assault scandals leading up to the Dec. 12 special election.

A statement from Cohen's social media indicated that a new pastor will be selected by April 2018 and begin serving in July 2018. In the meantime, retired senior pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church Rev. Andy Wolfe will serve in the interim.