Welcome to the

Bishop Clarkson Episcopal Foundation

The Rt. Rev. Robert Harper Clarkson

Bishop of Nebraska 1865-1884

When the Rt. Rev. Robert Harper Clarkson was consecrated in 1865 as Missionary Bishop for the territory of Nebraska and the Dakotas, he was 39 years old and had a reputation as a man who made things happen. He came to Nebraska Territory, with its thirteen parishes and its circuit-riding preachers who, as Bishop Clarkson wrote, preached “in the schoolhouses and in the taverns and, if need be, in the barns.”

When Nebraska became a state in 1867, the church was vital enough to petition General Convention for diocesan status. Its request was approved by both Houses, making Robert Clarkson the first bishop of the Diocese of  Nebraska.

Within the first years of his episcopate, he had established the Nebraska College and Divinity School, a church academy in Fremont, and the Childrens' Hospital in Omaha — an institution that later was to become a general hospital and to bear his name.
  
He was tireless in visiting the parishes and missions, many of which he himself had founded, and even in those days of slow and often dangerous travel, he went to the most remote parts of the diocese.

He died in 1884 at age 58, so well known and respected that a fellow bishop wrote of him: “No episcopate in the American Church affords a nobler illustration of the    highest ideal of a missionary bishop.”

Our Mission

The Mission of the Bishop Clarkson Episcopal Foundation is to provide resources to grow the Episcopal Church in Nebraska and to help the Diocese and its parishes fulfill God's Mission.

Characteristics of the Foundation

The Foundation is an independent functioning body of Episcopalians with expertise in financial and program management. The Bishop is a voting member on the Foundation Board.

The Foundation maintains a long-range perspective. Our vision is focused not on the short-term day-to-day, but on building the long-term health and vitality of the Episcopal Church in Nebraska.