Type: | Bishop |
Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Reverend |
Douglas Sparks | |
Bishop of Northern Indiana | |
Church: | Episcopal Church |
Diocese: | Northern Indiana |
Elected: | February 6, 2016 |
Term: | 2016–present |
Predecessor: | Edward S. Little II |
Ordination: | April 9, 1983 (Roman Catholic deacon) June 2, 1984 (Roman Catholic priest) |
Ordained By: | Jesus Dosado |
Consecration: | June 25, 2016 (Episcopalian) |
Consecrated By: | Michael Bruce Curry |
Birth Date: | 8 January 1956 |
Previous Post: | St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Rochester, Minnesota |
Religion: | Anglican (prev. Roman Catholic) |
Residence: | South Bend, Indiana, U.S. |
Children: | 3 |
Alma Mater: | St. Mary's Seminary College |
Douglas Everett Sparks (born January 8, 1956) is an American Episcopal bishop. He is the eighth and current bishop of Northern Indiana in The Episcopal Church.
Sparks studied Philosophy at St. Mary's Seminary College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in May 1980. He attended the De Andreis Institute of Theology, from which he graduated with a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree in June 1984.
Sparks was ordained in the Roman Catholic Church as a deacon in April 1983 and to the priesthood in June 1984. He then served as a priest in Missouri, Colorado, and Illinois.[1]
On June 4, 1989, Sparks was received as a priest into the Episcopal Church.[2] Sparks served as Rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Whitewater, Wisconsin from 1990 to 1995.[1]
After a further incumbency at St Matthias in Waukesha, Wisconsin, he spent eighteen months serving as Dean of Saint Paul's Cathedral, Wellington, New Zealand.[1] Upon his return he became Rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Rochester, Minnesota.[3]
On February 6, 2016, Sparks was elected as the next bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana.[4] On June 25, 2016, the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, he was consecrated a bishop by Michael Curry.[2]
Sparks is married to Dana Wirth Sparks; the couple has three children Christina, Graham, and Gavin.[5]