Bishop Doug Sparks

Letter to Indiana Episcopalians Regarding Passage of Senate Bill 1

in

August 6, 2022

Dear People of God in the Episcopal Dioceses of Northern Indiana and Indianapolis:

We are here with Christian leaders from across the world in Canterbury, England, at the Lambeth Conference, a gathering of bishops from across the Anglican Communion. Together, we have been discerning our way forward on many critical issues facing our world, including how we can best support women in all of our countries and contexts. And so to hear about the passage of Senate Bill 1 is a particular heartbreak. We want to assure you that the Episcopal Church and those who follow Jesus in the Episcopal way stand with all women and pregnant people and support their right to make healthcare decisions with dignity and respect.

We want to say very clearly to Hoosier women and pregnant people: Even if it feels like the state has abandoned you, the church has not. We will continue to stand on the side of women who seek to have control over their bodies and the ability to plan their families. We will continue to create profound opportunities for lament and healing that provide safe space for all who come. No matter what, we pledge to pray, advocate, and work for a world where women have safe and available access to the healthcare they need.

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

The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Bishop
Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis

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

The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Bishop
Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis

Statement regarding the death of Representative Jackie Walorski

in

Rep. Jackie Walorski

Dear Sisters, Brothers, Siblings in Christ,

Grace and peace be with you in Jesus, the Risen Christ!

I am saddened by the news of the tragic death of Representative Jackie Walorski along with her Communications Director Emma Thomson and District Director Zachery Potts earlier today. I am sure you know well the sacrifices and challenges that come with serving in public office and I ask that you offer your prayers in thanksgiving for her years of service at the Indiana State House and in the House of Representatives. In addition, please uphold in your prayers Edith Schmucker, the driver of the other car involved in the head-on collision, who also died.

Please uphold in your prayer all those who mourn her death, especially her husband, family members, friends and her colleagues in Congress. May all who mourn these deaths be encircled in Resurrection hope. May Jackie, Emma, Zachery and Edith rest in Christ's peace and rise in Christ's glory.

Doug
(he/him/his)

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

Lambeth Conference 2022 - Day Two

in

On day two of The Lambeth Conference, Bishop Doug Sparks has a conversation with Bishop Charlie Murry, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Newcastle, Australia, and Bishop Matthew Cowden, Bishop Coadjutor in the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia and former rector of Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in South Bend. Watch the video below.

Indiana Bishops Oppose Permitless Carry

in

Last night, Governor Holcomb signed into law House Bill 1296, which eliminates the need for citizens of Indiana to obtain a license in order to carry a handgun. Last week, Bishop Jennifer and Bishop Doug Sparks of Northern Indiana sent a letter to Governor Holcomb asking him to veto the measure.

Dear Governor Holcomb:

House Bill 1296, which would eliminate the need for citizens of our state to obtain a license in order to carry a handgun, has made its way to your desk. This is an ill-considered piece of legislation that will make our state a more dangerous place to live, and we urge you to veto it.

Evidence from across our country confirms that states with stricter gun laws experience fewer gun deaths. Yet this legislation would mean that it would be even more difficult to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them, even as gun violence in our state is on the rise. This is, no doubt, why it is opposed by the Indiana State Police and law enforcement officials across the state.

Indiana’s rate of gun deaths increased 30 percent from 2010 to 2019, compared to a 17 percent increase nationwide, according to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of gun suicides increased 19 percent during that same period, compared to a 13 percent increase nationwide, and the rate of gun homicides increased by an alarming 57 percent compared to a 26 percent increase nationwide. During the COVID-19 pandemic, gun violence continued surging: 2021 was Indianapolis’s deadliest year yet.

This escalating violence takes a particular toll on our most vulnerable communities. Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children and teens in our state. It wreaks vastly disproportionate devastation on communities of color, and during the pandemic, it posed a singular danger to domestic violence victims who were not able to flee their gun-owning abusers, and to people struggling with mental health issues.

We Hoosiers are hardy people, and we do not expect our elected officials to solve all of our problems for us. But we should be able to rely on the state legislature not to make our state more violent and not to place its people at greater risk.

We are participants in Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a network of more than 100 Episcopal bishops working to curtail the epidemic of gun violence in the United States. We acknowledge the importance of Second Amendment rights, but we object when those rights are understood so broadly that vulnerable people are put at risk. The current handgun licensing law does not present an undue burden on gun ownership, and our state will be safer if we keep it on the books.

We strongly urge you to oppose this legislation.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows       The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas E. Sparks
Bishop of Indianapolis                                        Bishop of Northern Indiana

Pastoral Letter Regarding Updated COVID-19 Guidelines

in , ,

December 29, 2021

Dear Siblings in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana,

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

As we face a rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates in our area and the arrival of the new Omicron variant to Indiana, it is important that we revisit our diocesan COVID-19 guiding principles. As you may know, the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana is spread across 31 counties. The Indiana COVID-19 Dashboard and Map advisory level graphic was updated this afternoon. It currently reports that 19 of the 31 counties within our diocese are currently in the red advisory level. Those counties are Lake, Newton, Porter, Jasper, LaPorte, Starke, Marshall, Elkhart, Kosciusko, Wabash, Whitley, Noble, LaGrange, Steuben, DeKalb, Carroll, Howard, Grant, and Jay. The remaining 12 counties are currently in the orange advisory level. 

You may recall that in May 2020, nearly two months after closing all our physical spaces due to the outbreak of COVID-19, I released a pastoral plan, in collaboration with clergy and lay leaders from across the diocese, for how we could begin to regather in-person for worship. Together, we lived into those guidelines for several months. As we have learned more about COVID-19 and vaccines became widely available, we revised and updated our diocesan guidelines. In May 2021, we released guiding principles for each faith community to consider given their particular context. Each faith community has chosen to implement these guidelines differently based on what their clergy and lay leadership felt was right for their situation. 

The missioners and I met last week and discussed any revisions that may need to be made to our plan given our current situation. Therefore,effective January 1, I am requiring that proper masks be worn inside the buildings of our faith communities if the county in which your building is located and/or the county(s) where a significant number of parishioners live are in the red advisory level as shown by advisory level graphic on the Indiana COVID-19 Dashboard and Map. Clergy, readers, and choirs, can continue to remove their mask while speaking or singing if they are fully vaccinated, including having received a booster shot, and are speaking or singing in a location significantly distanced from the congregation as we know being able to read lips helps those with hearing difficulties. In addition, I strongly encourage each faith community to review their current operating procedures and to tighten up their COVID guidelines where they may have gotten a bit lax. Examples could include returning to tracking who is attending each service, reinforcing physical distancing in pews and during hospitality, and ensuring access to hand sanitizer and masks. Please also continue to provide services and formation opportunities in a hybrid format whenever possible.

Lastly, I want to reiterate the importance of getting vaccinated and receiving the booster shot. Doing this lessens your chances of getting sick with COVID-19 and requiring hospitalization. In addition, getting vaccinated and boosted helps to protect those around you who may not be able to receive the vaccine due to their age or other health concerns. Please consult with your doctor and do this at your earliest opportunity. 

As of the 28th of December 2021, 54,144,941 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the United States and 841,984 persons have died. Let’s continue praying for the healing of those who are infected with COVID. Pray for the health care professionals who are taking care of those infected. And pray for all who mourn those who have died. May those who have died, rest in Christ’s peace and rise in Christ’s glory.

Doug (he/him/his)

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

Photo credit: Indiana COVID-19 Dashboard and Map website

Indiana Bishops Oppose Elimination of Gun Licenses

in

On March 9, Bishop Doug Sparks and Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows sent the following letter to Governor Eric Holcomb urging the opposition of House Bill 1369. A copy of the letter was sent to all members of the Indiana Senate.

Dear Governor Holcomb:

The Indiana House recently passed House Bill 1369, which would eliminate the need for citizens of our state to obtain a license in order to carry a handgun. This is an ill-considered piece of legislation that will make our state a more dangerous place to live, and we urge you and the members of the Indiana Senate to oppose it.

Evidence from across our country confirms that states with stricter gun laws experience fewer gun deaths. Yet the House is proposing to get rid of a law that helps to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them, even as gun violence in our state is on the rise.

Indiana’s rate of gun deaths increased 30 percent from 2010 to 2019, compared to a 17 percent increase nationwide, according to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of gun suicides increased 19 percent during that same period, compared to a 13 percent increase nationwide, and the rate of gun homicides increased by an alarming 57 percent compared to a 26 percent increase nationwide.

These are alarming statistics, but they don’t tell the whole story. This escalating violence takes a particular toll on our most vulnerable communities. Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children and teens in our state. It wreaks vastly disproportionate devastation on communities of color, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, it poses a singular danger to domestic violence victims who may not be able to flee their gun-owning abusers, and to people struggling with mental health issues.

If passed, House Bill 1369 would also intensify the danger faced by law enforcement officers across our state. And that, no doubt, is why it is strongly opposed by the Indiana State Police.

We Hoosiers are hardy people, and we do not expect our elected officials to solve all of our problems for us. But we should be able to rely on the state legislature not to make our state more violent and not to place its people at greater risk.

We are participants in Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a network of more than 100 Episcopal bishops working to curtail the epidemic of gun violence in the United States. We acknowledge the importance of Second Amendment rights, but we object when those rights are understood so broadly that vulnerable people are put at risk. The current handgun licensing law does not present an undue burden on gun ownership, and our state will be safer if we keep it on the books.

We strongly urge you to oppose this legislation.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows
Bishop of Indianapolis

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

Cc: Members of the Indiana State Senate

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

View a PDF of the letter here.

We Acknowledge...We Lament...We Repent of the Sin of Racism!

in ,

A Joint Statement from the Bishops of Indianapolis and Northern Indiana Regarding a Phased-in Approach to Regathering

in ,

May 1, 2020

Dear People of God in the State of Indiana,

The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows XI Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis

The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows
XI Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis

As you may have heard, Governor Holcomb this afternoon sketched out a five-phase roadmap that he hopes will return our state to pre-pandemic levels of openness and activity by July 4. Under this plan, communities of faith can return to worship in their buildings beginning on May 8.

In granting this permission, however, the governor made it clear that he would prefer that churches continue to worship online, or outdoors, rather than in person, and he expressly asked Hoosiers over 65 remain at home. We appreciate both the governor’s commitment to freedom of religious expression and his candid admission that gathering to worship in person still poses risks to people of faith and those with whom they come in contact.

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

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

We remain committed to doing everything we can to slow the spread of the pandemic. For that reason, we will not be reopening our church buildings for in-person worship this month. The restrictions that Bishop Baskerville-Burrows announced on March 24 and that Bishop Sparks announced on March 26 remain in effect, and we urge that you continue to observe them.

Like so many of you, we are eager to return safely to our church buildings and look forward to celebrating the Eucharist with the people of our diocese. But we must do so with the utmost care, or else we put the lives of vulnerable people at risk. To help guide us in this endeavor, we will release a detailed plan next week explaining the conditions and sketching out a possible timeline for a return to our church buildings. The plan will require some serious thinking on the part of each congregation about the ways a return to in-person worship might best be achieved, and we urge you to begin giving this some thought immediately.

In his recent Word to the Church, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry wrote: “As our seasons of life in the COVID-19 world continue to turn, we are called to continue to be creative, to risk, to love. We are called to ask, What would unselfish, sacrificial love do?”

We believe unselfish, sacrificial love requires abstaining a while longer from worshipping in person. We invite you to embrace this discipline as a way to express your care for the most vulnerable among us. You are in our prayers, and we will be in touch again soon.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrow
XI Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis

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