Clergy and Staff

Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, a native of New York City, holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture with a minor in urban studies from Smith College, an M.A. in historic preservation planning from Cornell University, and an M.Div. degree from Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) in 1997. Before being elected bishop in 2016, she served in the Dioceses of Newark, Central New York and Chicago. She is the first black woman to be elected a diocesan bishop in the Episcopal Church.

Bishop Jennifer’s expertise includes historic preservation of religious buildings, stewardship and development, race and class reconciliation, and spiritual direction. She is an accomplished distance runner and triathlete and a passionate chef and baker. She and her husband, Harrison Burrows, are parents to Timothy.

A defining experience of her ministry came when she found herself near the World Trade Center the morning of September 11, 2001. In the midst of a fearful situation, her own faith and that of others who sought shelter alongside her gave her a renewed perspective of faith vanquishing fear. “The Episcopal Church teaches me that the world is filled with incredible beauty and unspeakable pain and that God is deeply in the midst of it all loving us fiercely,” she says.

>>Click HERE<< to learn more about Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows.

The Rev. Dr. Hilary E. Cooke moved to West Lafayette with her husband Greg Buzzard, a math professor at Purdue University, in the fall of 2005. With special funding from the Diocese of Indianapolis, Hilary served as the Associate Priest at both Chapel of the Good Shepherd and St. John’s in Lafayette from January 2006 through December 2007. When diocesan funding ended, Hilary remained at St. John’s, with a variety of responsibilities, leading to her most recent role as Associate Rector. She returned to Good Shepherd as Chaplain in October of 2019.

Hilary was born and raised in the green mountains of Vermont. She attended Bryn Mawr College outside Philadelphia, where she graduated with an A.B. in Mathematics. After returning to Vermont for a year, Hilary attended Princeton Theological Seminary and received her M.Div. in 2002. She was ordained to the priesthood in 2006. Hilary worked at St. John's while attending Christian Theological Seminary, where she received a Doctor of Ministry in Psychotherapy and Faith in 2012.

Locally, Hilary has served on the board of the Montessori School of Greater Lafayette, is a member of the Interfaith Leaders of Greater Lafayette, and takes part in a wide range of local events, including the Hunger Hike, Outfest, and the Cover Indiana Bike Tour.

Hilary and Greg have two sons, Isaac and Ezra, and a dog, Lana. Hilary enjoys singing, running, reading, cycling, and binge-watching "Murder, She Wrote".