Church donates thousands to restore South Dakota congregation

An Episcopal church in Pennsylvania contributed more than $2,000 to a small congregation in South Dakota after their church was destroyed last fall in an act of suspected arson.

Trinity Episcopal Church in Bethlehem donated $2,210 to support the restoration of the Holy Innocents Episcopal Church, which was on the Pine Ridge Reservation in Parmelee, South Dakota, before their historic building was torched last October.

Trinity’s historic building in downtown Bethlehem was similarly rendered unusable in December following a water main break, according to the Episcopal News Service.

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The church’s donation to Holy Innocents was a gift from Trinity’s Centennial Fund, which the church gives each year to a worthy cause. The church chose to award their annual gift to Holy Innocents as a sign of solidarity with a congregation that also suffered catastrophic damage to their building.

“We feel supported by the prayers and hopes of people throughout the Episcopal Community worldwide, and by the people in Bethlehem, for restoring our building,” the Rev. Pamela Payne, who serves as rector of Trinity, said in a statement provided to The Christian Post.

“Our grief has been transformed into generosity to those suffering a similar tragedy. Trinity Episcopal Church has always been a place of service and mercy to the community and the larger world,” Payne added.

The Rev. Lauren Stanley, acting rector of Holy Innocents, expressed gratitude for the gift in a statement provided to CP.

“Your words, prayers and donations will help us build a new church that the entire community can use for worship, family events, and large community events,” Stanley said.

Stanley told CP last fall that she suspected the destruction of their 133-year-old building was an act of arson because the church “had received threats previously from a person p—ed off and said they would burn the church down.”

She also noted that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was involved in the investigation, but that she was not able to disclose the reason why she believes the potential suspect had threatened her church.

Stanley also recounted how the church had been “desecrated” by vandals in December 2022.

“They took things off the altar, threw them on the floor, defecated and urinated on them,” Stanley said. “It wasn’t just ‘let’s break a bunch of windows,’ they actually desecrated the church.”

Parmelee is a town of approximately 600 people on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, about 30 minutes from Nebraska. Established in 1875, the Rosebud Episcopal Mission has 10 active congregations.

Attacks against churches have skyrocketed 800% in less than six years, and more than doubled, according to a report released last month by the Family Research Council. 

The report identified 436 incidents against churches in 2023, more than double the amount reported by the group in 2022 and eight times the number identified in 2018. Some of the acts of hostility include attempted bombing, satanic vandalism, and shootings.