The Rt. Rev. Mark Sisk

Being Bishop of New York presents a new challenge every day. Bishop Sisk encounters people of all walks of life, frames of reference and religious backgrounds or none. It's fascinating work that stretches his talents. His favorite part of the job, he says, is Sunday visitations. Each of the diocese's three bishops visits a different parish in the diocese almost every Sunday. 

It is Bishop Sisk's wish that people grow to understand what Episcopalians profess in faith; that is deliverance of fear, not inoculation in fear.

Bishop Sisk's episcopacy is focused on

Worship: The people giving thanks to God.
Nurture: Helping the community understand God's gifts.
Mission: Spreading the Word to our neighbors and others outside our community.

Ministry

• Bishop Sisk was installed Sept. 29, 2001 at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.  
• Bishop Sisk was consecrated the diocese's Bishop Coadjutor in 1998, serving the Mid-Hudson Region.
• Prior to his election as Coadjutor, Bishop Sisk served as President and Dean of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill, from 1984 through 1998. Under his leadership, Seabury established new models of theological education for seminarians and continuing education of the clergy, and the first doctoral degree in congregational development in the Episcopal Church. 
• From 1977 through 1984, Bishop Sisk served as the diocese's Archdeacon of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties, dedicating himself to special projects assigned by the Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, the 13th Bishop of New York. He started the Metropolitan Japanese Ministry and he nurtured the first Latino congregation in Yonkers.
• In 1973, Bishop Sisk was named rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Kingston. During his four-year tenure, he co-founded the Religious Council of the City of Kingston. Prior to that position, Bishop Sisk served three years as an associate to the rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Bronxville and three years as curate to the rector at Christ Episcopal Church, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Commitments
Bishop Sisk is the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cathedral Church of St. John The Divine, and serves on the boards of the General Theological Seminary, Episcopal Social Services, St Luke's Hospital, Seaman's Church Institute, Diocesan Investment Trust, Episcopal Charities, and various religious orders and communities.

He is a member of The Third Order of the Society of St. Francis and is the Episcopal visitor to the Order of the Holy Cross. He was also a member of the Council for the Development of Ministry (of The  Episcopal Church) a member 1988 - 1994 (member of Executive Committee, 1991 - 1994); the Presiding Bishop's Committee of Bishops and Deans, 1995 - present; the Leadership Academy for New Directions, Member of the Executive Committee, 1990-1993; The Anglican Theological Review, President of Board of Directors, 1985 - 1997; The Council of Seminary Deans, 1984 - 1997; The Common Council of the Association of Chicago Theological Schools, Member 1984 - 1997, President 1989 - 1991; The Conference of Diocesan Executives, Member 1977 - 1984, Chair 1980 - 1983; and the Religious Council of the City of Kingston, co-founder and member, 1973 - 1977.

Hobbies
Bishop Sisk is fond of carpentry. For the past 35 years Bishop Sisk has been building a house in the Catskills, doing almost all of the work himself. It started as one little shell of a house and has now become a two-story, three bedroom home with porches upstairs and down. Bishop Sisk also is fond of horses; and learned to ride when he was fifty.

Personal
Bishop Sisk was born in Takoma Park, Maryland in 1942. In 1963, he married Karen Womack Calvert. He and his wife have three adult children, Michael, Heather and Bronwyn, and five grandchildren.