Diaconal Transitions

Deacon Clay Berkley

Grace and peace be with you in Jesus, the Light for all people!

As I began my eighth year of Episcopal ministry last summer, I entered into a time of discernment regarding possible diaconal transitions.  I would like to share those transitions with you.

Having served at St. David's Elkhart since his ordination in April of 2014, through the challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic and three clergy transitions which included conversations most recently with Father Robert Armidon; Deacon Clay Berkley and I agreed that it was time to discern a new diaconal ministry for him in our diocese.  As of 1 January 2024, Deacon Clay will be assigned to the Cathedral of St. James and become the Missioner for Deacons. His duties will include accompanying me, based on his availability,  on selected visitations especially to those faith communities in our diocese who have not experienced Diaconal Ministry.  This will provide an opportunity to highlight the ministry of Deacons in their unique liturgical role as well as conversation during coffee hour about the various ministries our deacons are engaged in throughout the diocese.  He will also assume a role, yet to be determined, in the EDNIN School for Faith and Ministry, working alongside The Rev. Canon Terri Bays and The Rev. Canon Ted Neidlinger.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Deacon Anne Wietstock who has served as the Missioner for Deacons since September of 2016. She was elected by her deacon colleagues to serve in this new ministry which I introduced to the diocese. I am grateful for the gifts of her hospitality, compassion and pastoral care for our deacons engaged in various ministry sites throughout the diocese and those in local formation for the diaconate and as well as her service on the Commission on Ministry which will continue.

Deacon Anne and Deacon Clay will work with Dean Brian Grantz and me in discerning how best to serve the Cathedral community and surrounding South Bend community and its needs.

I invite you to uphold both of these faithful servants in your prayer during this time of transition.

Every blessing,

Doug 
(he, him, his)

Update from Reunification Discernment Committee Following July 28 Meeting

in

The Reunification Discernment Committee held an in-person meeting on 28 July, 2023 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Kokomo, IN. In attendance were the twelve members of the committee which consist of both clergy and laity along with Bishop Doug Sparks of the Diocese of Northern Indiana and Canon Brendan O’Sullivan-Hale who represented the Diocese of Indianapolis as Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows is currently on sabbatical. The meeting was facilitated by the Reverend Jennifer Adams who is serving as consultant for our process.

Bishop Sparks offered an opening prayer and reflection. The committee then spent some time reconnecting through conversation around what each member has enjoyed most and what has been most surprising in their work to this point. They reviewed their charge and the discernment process and next steps before breaking out into their four working teams (Programmatic; Organizational; Episcopate; Other Dioceses & Our History). 

Each team was asked to:

  1. Summarize the team’s work to this point.

  2. Discuss what stands out from the work done thus far. Are there themes emerging?

  3. Discuss next steps.

  4. Organize any questions the team may have for the committee.

After lunch the teams reported back to the committee and then walked through an exercise naming “Positives,” “Potentials,” and “Concerns” in response to these team reports. It was noted that within both dioceses there are “myths” about the other that it will be important to address and that there is significant opportunity to learn from each other.

The committee discussed how “listening sessions” might best be organized and scheduled and began to plan for presentation to and engagement with this Fall’s diocesan conventions . It was decided that members of the committee (representing both dioceses) will present at both of the Diocesan Conventions this Fall in order to experience one another’s gathering and offer mutual learnings and support while also enhancing communication among members of the dioceses.

We ask for your continued prayers as we continue the work of discernment and look forward to our upcoming conventions.

Faithfully, 

The Rev. Clay Berkley, At-large Ms. Joan Amati, At-Large
Mr. Evan Doyle, Diocesan Council The Rev. Canon Jodi Baron, At-Large
Mr. Paul Kincaid, Standing Committee Mr. George Eastman, Standing Committee
The Rev. Canon Ted Neidlinger, Diocesan Council  Mr. Greg Seamon, Executive Council 
Ms. Brenda Rigdon, Diocesan Council The Rev. Allen Rutherford, Executive Council
Ms. Stephanie Pawlowski, At-large   Ms. Katherine Tyler Scott, At-Large
The Rt. Rev. Douglas Sparks, Bishop

(The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville Burrows, Bishop is on sabbatical)

Update on Church Buildings for Collaborative Partership

in

August 1, 2023

Submitted by Brendan O’Sullivan-Hale, Canon to the Ordinary for Administration and Evangelism, Diocese of Indianapolis and Linda Buskirk, CBCP Project Director

With a final flurry of tours and community meetings at Episcopal churches all over the state of Indiana, the Church Buildings for Collaborative Partnerships (CBCP) project reached a major milestone at the beginning of May. Teams from congregations, diocesan staff, Indiana Landmarks, and Partners for Sacred Places have now visited and documented the shareable spaces of every Episcopal church building in the state of Indiana.

The goal of the project, funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc. through its Thriving Congregations initiative, is to encourage congregations to open their buildings deliberately, seeing them as assets to be shared with the wider community. The site visits were the culmination of a process that helped congregational teams invite community leaders into their buildings to think creatively about how they can fill gaps in each church’s geography.

The tenor of the visits was as varied as the buildings themselves. At St. Thomas/St. Tomás in Plymouth, the CBCP team invited representatives offering diverse perspectives from government, social service agencies and the arts. Since the Site Visit, St. Thomas/St. Tomás chose to partner with a local performing arts school to use its historic parish hall and downstairs rooms to offer music lessons, recitals, and “Mommy and Me” classes. Also, the local health department will schedule quarterly health fairs targeted to the Hispanic community.

Often in CBCP, the Site Visit experiences revealed the power and blessings of convening community conversations. That was true at St. Paul’s Mishawaka. Community stakeholders who came to that Site Visit discussed the needs of women and families in crisis, food insecurity, and education. Mishawaka Mayor David Wood and others helpfully clarified the advantages and assets of St. Paul’s location as new neighbors, including the United Way, move in and make long-term investments nearby.

CBCP is now offering practical tools to make it easier for congregations and potential space sharers to connect. The dioceses of Northern Indiana and Indianapolis are partnering with Venuely, a non-profit provider of a web-based tool for scheduling and managing space sharing. Its functions include calendar, reservation, and payment services that make it easy for churches to let potential users know what spaces are available and when. The CBCP partnership is the first time Venuely has offered its services outside the New York City metro region. The service will be offered to all congregations at no charge, beginning with a pilot group of nine churches, including two in EDNIN: St. Augustine’s, Gary, and Trinity, Michigan City.

Recently, CBCP attracted national media attention. In a Slate.com article about the growing problem of empty and abandoned churches, CBCP offered a counterpoint to a fatalistic view about the future of church-owned properties. “We owe a debt to our ancestors,” Indianapolis Canon Brendan O’Sullivan- Hale is quoted as saying, “The church did a good job of acquiring prime real estate, and there’s value to communities in real estate being controlled by an organization without a profit motive.”

For more information about CBCP, contact Project Director Linda Buskirk.

Reunification Discernment Leadership Team

in ,

15 February 2023

Dear Sisters, Brothers, Siblings in the Episcopal Church in Northern Indiana!

Grace and peace be with you in Jesus, the Light for all people!

As Bishop Jennifer and I promised in our video shared with all of you on Monday, 30 January 2023, regarding a discernment process focused on the possibility of reunification with the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, it is with a sense of joy and hope, to announce the leaders who will be part of the discernment team from our diocese.

The Rev. Clay Berkley, St. David's, Elkhart (member at large)

Mr. Evan Doyle, Gethsemane, Marion (Diocesan Council)

Mr. Paul Kincaid, St. Paul's, Munster, (Standing Committee)

The Rev. Canon Ted Neidlinger, Christ the King. Huntington, (Diocesan Council)

Mrs. Stephanie Pawlowski, Trinity, Logansport (member at large)

Mrs. Brenda Rigdon, St. Anne's, Warsaw, (Diocesan Council)

I also want to take this opportunity to share with you those leaders in the Diocese of Indianapolis that Bishop Jennifer has appointed:

Mrs. Joan Amati, St. David’s, Bean Blossom (Executive Council)

The Rev. Canon Jodi Baron, Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis (member at large)

Mr. George Eastman, St. Paul’s, Richmond (Standing Committee)

The Rev. Allen Rutherford, St. John’s, Mount Vernon (Executive Council)

Mr. Greg Seamon, Trinity, Lawrenceburg (Executive Council)

Mrs. Katherine Tyler-Scott, St. Paul’s, Indianapolis (member at large)

Our joint discernment will be facilitated by the Rev. Jennifer Adams, who serves as rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Holland, Michigan. Rev. Jen, as she prefers to be called, brings a wealth of experience serving and leading as a priest in the Diocese of Western Michigan and the wider church and Anglican Communion.  Bishop Jennifer and I believe she will guide us well as she has experienced the collaborative relationship between the dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan and as she is facilitating a reunification discernment between the dioceses of Bethlehem and Central Pennsylvania.

The first meeting of the Reunification Discernment Team will take place on 17-18 March.  Bishop Jennifer and I will participate in this initial retreat time along with the leaders of both of our dioceses, facilitated by Rev. Jen.

I invite you to continue to pray for all of us…as we open our lives to the new possibilities that God may be inviting us to consider.  I conclude with a sentence from scripture that has helped to form and fashion me as a follower of Jesus,

“Glory to God whose power, working within us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine:  Glory to God from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever.  Amen.”  Ephesians 3:20,21

Every blessing,

Bishop Doug

(he/him/his)

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas E. Sparks
VIII Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana

Letter from Bishop Doug Regarding Reunification Discernment

in ,

Dear Sisters, Brothers, Siblings in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana,

Grace and peace be with you in Jesus, the Light for all people!

After more than a year since initial conversations with members of the Standing Committee and Diocesan Council, Diocesan Missioners and with Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, I want to share with all of you via a press release and a video, news about the forming a discernment group for the purpose of exploring the possibility of reunification into one diocese and Episcopal presence in the State of Indiana.

Bishop Jennifer and I have been committed to working together since we began ministry as bishops in 2016 and 2017 respectively.  It seems right at this time, to move the conversation and discernment into a public space, inviting others into the work of discernment, to imagine what the Holy Spirit may be calling us to do as we continue to engage God’s Mission throughout the state of Indiana.

Please uphold this initiative in your prayer and know that as the discernment group is formed, Bishop Jennifer and I, along with our Missioners and Canons are committed to keeping you informed along the way.

Every blessing,

Doug

(he/him/his)

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas E. Sparks
VIII Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana

Read the full press release.