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• 1 media/St Christophers Crown Point exterior, 12 Nov 2017.jpg 2019-07-13T11:42:44-07:00 St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Crown Point 32 image_header 2024-03-02T08:29:51-08:00 St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Crown Point, was organized as a diocesan mission in 1958 with a building erected at 12718 Marshall Street. Prior to 1958, Episcopalians in Crown Point had to travel north to Gary, Hobart, Hammond, or Valparaiso to attend weekly Eucharist.  At that time there were at least twelve Episcopalian families in Crown Point. On Easter weekend 1958, those families petitioned Bishop Reginald Mallet to explore the possibility of establishing a church in the seat of Lake County. Bishop Mallet did not initially embrace this church planting for fear that the challenge was too large. However, the will of the people was strong, and they persevered.   

  On August 3, 1958, more than 90 people attended an organizing meeting across the street from the old Methodist Church in Dr. Grey's office to form the church. A few weeks later another meeting in Durfee's side yard was held to establish the name of St. Christopher’s. On September 7, 1958, the first service was held in the Methodist Church on Main Street. 124 people attended the service, and 87 received communion. 47 children joined the Sunday school, which had six teachers, one of whom was Leslie (Les) Heckel. Les remained a beloved member of St. Christopher’s until his death in 2011.

  From the first organizing meeting, the membership of St. Christopher’s was eager for its own church. At the time, Richard Banser worked for Henderlong Lumber Company. During a hunting trip with his boss and friend, Arnold, Banser learned that the property where the church now resides was for sale. The church community began saving money and was able to purchase the property successfully.

  In the meantime, the church held services each Sunday in the Methodist Church. Despite being a newly-formed congregation, music was a priority from its beginning. In fact, for almost the first year of worship the members carried their own organ in and out of the Methodist Church each Sunday. On the first anniversary in 1959, St. Christopher welcomed its first vicar, the Rev. Leslie C. Howell.  

  Mrs. Banser, president of St. Christopher's Women's Auxiliary, served at the anniversary celebration's "beautifully decorated tea table." Mrs. Banser has since passed, but her husband, Dick, still served on the vestry and attended 9 a.m. Sunday services and weekday Eucharist for many years afterward.

  While the mission grew stronger, its members prepared for the future. In December 1961, the congregation broke ground for its current building on Marshall Street. Banser recalled that it was a bitter cold and blustery day with snow "up to the armpits." The weather didn’t slow them down. They marched all around the property, acolytes and all, to consecrate the land that would be the foundation for their new church home. He fondly remembered the nearly frozen fingers and toes from that worship service.

  The following spring, the basement and foundations were poured. Since the founders were eager to avoid debt, they built the church as time and resources allowed. Services were held in the basement for more than a year before the upstairs space was ready for worship. The building itself, as it was constructed, followed a popular style of the time called the Cuckler design. The altar, which is still used today, was built by Wilbur Husemann. The men of the church installed and finished the hardwood floors themselves. The pews were purchased from a church in La Porte and had been stored in Miller’s barn prior to being cleaned and prepared for their current home. Eleanor Miller hand-stitched all of the altar linens. St. Christopher's became a parish on 1 January 1972.

  Since the Rev. Leslie Howell, St. Christopher’s has welcomed a succession of talented priests, including the Rev. Thomas Ray in 1960; the Rev. Charles Dibble from 1964 to 1971; the Rev. William R. Hull from 1971 to 1978 (named the first rector in 1977);  and the Rev. Patrick Heiligstedt from 1979 to 1996. The congregation built a rectory where two different priests lived before it was sold in the 1990s. In 1996, the Rev. Col. Ronald R. Baskin assisted. After Heiligstedt retired, the Rev. George Minnix served as priest from 1996 to 2001.

  At the turn of the millennium, the Rev. Spencer Thiel joined the church and remained priest-in-charge until 2014. In 2011, Thiel welcomed Michael Dwyer to serve as a deacon, enabling him to prepare for his ordination as a priest. Dwyer became the priest-in-charge of the Calumet Episcopal Ministry Partnership (CEMP), which St. Christopher joined in June 2015.
  
  Clergy:
  Leslie Charles Howell, 1959-1961
  Thomas Kreider Ray, 1961-1964
  Charles Ralph Dibble, 1964-1971
  William Russell Hull, 1971-1978
  Patrick Charles Heiligstedt, 1979-1996
  Ronald Russell Baskin, 1996
  George Myers Minnix, 1996-2001
  Spencer Thiel, 2001-2016
  Michelle I. Walker, 2015-2020 (CEMP)
  Kristine Graunke, 2015-2020 (CEMP)
  Michael Dwyer, 2016-2018 (CEMP)
  Pamela Thiede, 2020- (CEMP)
  Cynthia Moore, 2020-2021 (CEMP)
  Charles Strietelmeier (CEMP), 2023-

  Adapted from St. Christopher's website: http://www.calumetepiscopal.org/st-christopher/about.php

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 1 media/Douglas Sparks photo.jpg 2019-08-05T10:52:01-07:00 Douglas Everett Sparks, Eighth Bishop 26 plain 2024-01-10T10:24:58-08:00 Bishop Douglas Everett Sparks, the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Northern Indiana, is the current incumbent. Born on 8 January 1956, he studied Philosophy at St. Mary's Seminary College, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in 1980. Subsequently, he received a Master's degree from De Andreis Institute of Theology in 1984. Ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church in 1984, he served parishes in Missouri, Colorado, and Illinois. In 1989 he was received as a priest into the Episcopal Church, serving as rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Whitewater, Wisconsin, from 1990 to 1995. He also married Dana Wirth and had three children: Christina, Graham, and Gavin.
  
  Sparks later served at St. Matthias Church in Waukesha, Wisconsin, then went to New Zealand to become Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in Wellington. On returning to the United States, he became rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Rochester, Minnesota. From here he was elected bishop on 6 February 2016. He was consecrated at Trinity English Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, on 25 June 2016 by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry.
  
  Bishop Sparks has adopted a five-point plan of mission that will guide his episcopate:
  1. Tell the Good News of the Kingdom.
  2. Teach, Baptize, and Nurture new believers.
  3. Tend to human need with loving service.
  4. Transform unjust structures of society.
  5. Treasure God's Creation and renew the Earth.
  
  Bishop Sparks has reversed previous diocesan policy and approved same-sex marriages being performed in the diocese with the consent of individual parishes. He was personally present for the wedding of South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg to Chasten Glezman on 16 June 2018 in a ceremony at the Cathedral of St. James in South Bend. He also permitted openly gay priests to be ordained and serve in the diocese. He has also formed a strong pastoral partnership with Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows of the Diocese of Indianapolis, marching for social justice issues, against gun violence, and in favor of greater acceptance of all marginalized groups in the Church. He is an "activist bishop" and comfortable in that role, but he is always careful to ground that advocacy in his faith.
  
  On a national level, the Episcopal Church began an initiative under Presiding Bishop Michael Curry to become a "Beloved Community" and to promote racial reconciliation and more loving, Christian relationships. The movement provided materials to individuals and congregations to "help us to understand and take up the long-term commitments necessary to form loving, liberating and life-giving relationships" with one other. "Together," promoters said, "we are growing as reconcilers, justice-makers, and healers in the name of Christ." This effort was also coined "the Jesus Movement" by the Presiding Bishop. Part of that process involved studying and apologizing for sins committed against minority groups throughout the Church's history. During his sabbatical in 2022, Bishop Sparks walked the Potawatomi Trail of Death, traveling on foot from Plymouth, Indiana, to Kansas. He left an account of his pilgrimage. It symbolized the work of the Diocese of Northern Indiana to account for acts of racism in its past.
  
  For several years during Bishop Sparks's episcopate, from 2020 to 2022, the nation suffered under a devastating COVID-19 epidemic. In-personal worship was canceled, and services were conducted remotely online through Zoom, a computer meeting software. When vaccines became available and the virulence of the epidemic eased, congregations met in limited form with enforced masking and social distancing. Bishop Sparks was instrumental in developing protocols that had never been previously considered in diocesan history.
  
  In 2023, the Diocese of Northern Indiana embarked on an exploratory path to discern the possibility of reuniting with the Diocese of Indianapolis. That process remains ongoing at this writing.
  
  Source:
   Episcopal News Service:
  
  https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/09/03/dioceses-reversal-on-same-sex-marriage-paved-way-for-pete-buttigiegs-wedding-at-south-bend-cathedral/?fbclid=IwAR2CIqRZ_yVl25YAkGLdmsXiK7FvvT-s5plIBit3zkHb4yqk7oUPwtqlZ68
  
  
  
  
  Consecration of Bishop Douglas Sparks, 25 June 2016, Trinity English Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne