{"id":1656,"date":"2025-11-20T14:22:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T20:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/?p=1656"},"modified":"2025-11-30T15:03:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T21:03:20","slug":"historical-marker-at-st-augustine-episcopal-church-not-without-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/?p=1656","title":{"rendered":"Historical marker at St. Augustine Episcopal Church \u2013 not without controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marker was installed without permission of Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we do, when we are faced with roadblocks; we know how to pivot and go around them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Paula DeBois tells it, that\u2019s what her church \u2013 Gary\u2019s St. Augustine Episcopal Church, 2425 W. 19th Avenue \u2013 had to do as it nears its 100th anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August, the church installed an Indiana State Historical Marker. \u201cAnyone reading that marker will have a snapshot of who we are, what we meant to this community,\u201d DeBois said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those roadblocks are coming to the surface now, says DeBois, because they came from her community, the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana. \u201cWe were having trouble getting support from our own diocese regarding the marker that tells our history and celebrates our story,\u201d DeBois said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they come at a time when the Diocese\u2019s Bishop Doug Sparks was the keynote speaker at Tuesday\u2019s Urban League of Northwest Indiana\u2019s Leadership Luncheon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When DeBois heard that Bishop Sparks was the speaker, she emailed a letter to Vanessa Allen-McCloud, President & CEO of the Urban League expressing her \u201cdismay when he doesn\u2019t match what they consider their goals and values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told her I was troubled by their selection. And the reason I am troubled by their selection is because he gave absolutely no support with signing off on the site permission form for the marker,\u201d DeBois said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeBois forwarded her letter to the National Urban League President Marc Morial and to the President of the Chicago Urban League Karen Freeman-Wilson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bishop Sparks said he was aware of DeBois\u2019s marker initiative over the last 2 years. \u201cI was included in every communication that Walter Hampton, the Senior Warden at St. Augustine and DeBois were in conversation about the marker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTime and time again, I said, \u2018Paula, I’m in support of what you want to do, but you have to bring the paperwork for its review to the legitimately elected members of the congregation who are the wardens and vestry.\u2019 And she refused,\u201d Sparks said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMs. Dubois decided never to come in person. All she did was send paperwork and say please sign this. That’s not how our polity works,\u201d Sparks said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeBois is a member of the church, not an officer, the bishop said. \u201cHer lack of attention to abiding by the rules that are established by the Episcopal Church regarding not speaking on behalf of a church that you’re not an officer of has caused deep conflict with the members of St. Augustine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe’s basically told lies about me to the former mayor, she has sent emails, and I’m considering bringing these questions before the chancellor of our diocese about the possibility of taking legal action against Ms. DeBois,\u201d Sparks said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeBois said Bishop Sparks was unresponsive to her multiple requests, and those from Indiana Landmarks and the Indiana Historical Bureau. \u201cActually he was holding up the project. That project could not go forward because he would not sign that site permission form.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had to come up with another location and another way to put the marker in the ground. I had to pivot,\u201d DeBois said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Indiana State Historical Marker is not inside St. Augustine\u2019s property line; it was placed in front of the church on the City of Gary\u2019s easement.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marker was installed without permission of Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana \u201cThat\u2019s what we do, when we are faced with roadblocks; we know how to pivot and go around them.\u201d As Paula DeBois tells it, that\u2019s what her church \u2013 Gary\u2019s St. Augustine Episcopal Church, 2425 W. 19th Avenue \u2013 had to do as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-architecture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1656"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1661,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656\/revisions\/1661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}