Clergy and Staff

Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis

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.

Hilary Cooke, Chaplain

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".


Mark Thomas, Parish Administrator

Mark Thomas has been parish administrator at Good Shepherd since August 2001—the same year he was confirmed in the Episcopal Church.  He’s been attending Good Shepherd since about 1997.

Mark was born in Laurium, Michigan, on the Keweenaw Peninsula, part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  When he’s not parish administrating, Mark teaches English composition at the Lafayette campus of Ivy Tech Community College. 

He received his bachelor’s degree in history (1982) from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, and received his master’s degree in rhetoric and technical communication (1989) from Michigan Technological University in Houghton.  He’s also done graduate work at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis.

In addition to his “official” job at Good Shepherd, Mark sings tenor in our choir and serves as a lay Eucharistic minister.  He coordinates our book group as well as our annual presence at Lafayette’s OUTfest.  He’s also Good Shepherd’s representative to the board of directors of Lafayette Urban Ministry, where he has served four terms as board president.

Mark is proudest of his role in helping to bring Bishop Gene Robinson to Good Shepherd and the Purdue campus in October 2013.

He knows way too much Monty Python and Mel Brooks by heart for his own good.  Groucho Marx is (arguably) his patron saint.  Favorite movies: Casablanca, Some Like It Hot.  Favorite books: Voltaire’s Candide; Helene Hanff’s 84, Charing Cross Road; and anything ever written by Frederick Buechner, Barbara Brown Taylor, or Rachel Held Evans.