Melissa Maxine Skelton (born 1951) is the bishop provisional of the

Episcopal Diocese of Olympia The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, also known as the Episcopal Church in Western Washington, is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in Washington state west of the Cascade Range. It is one of 17 dioceses and an area mission that make up Province ...

. She was previously the 9th Bishop of the

Anglican Diocese of New Westminster The Diocese of New Westminster is one of five dioceses of the Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and the Yukon of the Anglican Church of Canada. The see city is Vancouver. The current bishop is the Right Reverend John Stephens. He was ...

, a diocese in the

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, and was the 12th

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of the

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. She was the first woman to be elected a metropolitan and archbishop in Anglican Church of Canada. Skelton was succeeded in her ministry as Bishop of New Westminster by John Stephens on February 28, 2021.

Early life and education

Skelton was born in 1951, and raised in the US South, specifically,

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and

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. She came to faith in the Episcopal Church in her 20s. Throughout her adult life, she worked in the corporate world as well as maintaining a vocation for ministry.

Ordained ministry

Prior to her election as bishop, she was rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church,

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, and also canon for Congregational Development and Leadership – Diocese of Olympia, Seattle, Washington. As canon, Skelton developed a congregational development program that adopts the gather–transform–send model, and this program was established as the core curriculum for the College for Congregational Development in the

, the college that she founded during her nine-year incumbency at St. Paul's. In mid-2016 the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago added the College for Congregational Development to its program roster. As of May 2018, the School was active in four Episcopal church dioceses in the United States and one other diocese in Canada, the Diocese of Ottawa.

Episcopal ministry

On November 30, 2013, Skelton was elected the 9th Bishop of the

: it was on the third ballot and by a substantial majority at an electoral synod held at Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She was consecrated and installed in Vancouver on St. David's Day, March 1, 2014. The consecration event was a three-hour liturgy that took place in different locations, beginning at the Vancouver Convention Centre, followed by a procession through downtown Vancouver and then at the procession's destination, Christ Church Cathedral. Skelton was the first woman, the first American and the first person to have had a career outside of the church prior to ordination to be Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster. April 27, 2018, Skelton was named episcopal visitor to the North American province of the

Society of Catholic Priests The Society of Catholic Priests (SCP) is a religious society of clergy in the Anglican Communion which draws its membership from Anglicans who consider themselves a part of the liberal Anglo-Catholic tradition. Founding and early history The soc ...

, which at the time was predominantly a group within the Episcopal Church in the United States. On May 12, 2018, she was elected

of the

, an office that comes with the title archbishop. She was elected by the members of the provincial house of bishops and the electoral college of the province on the first ballot. She is the first woman to become an archbishop in the Anglican Church of Canada. Skelton was installed as Metropolitan on Holy Cross Day, September 14, 2018, during a celebration of the Eucharist prior to the opening of Provincial Synod in Sorrento, British Columbia. She announced by letter to the diocese on April 21, 2020, that she would be retiring as archbishop on February 28, 2021, as required by the Provincial Canons, under which bishops must retire by age 70. Skelton returned to the Diocese of Olympia as an assisting bishop and in 2023 began serving as bishop provisional following the resignation of Gregory Rickel.

Personal life

Skelton married Seattle-based family counsellor Eric Stroo on August 15, 2015, in Cannon Beach, Oregon. Stroo is also a non-stipendary deacon serving in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia and currently on loan to the Diocese of New Westminster serving at St.Michael's Multicultural Anglican Church in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has three siblings: a brother in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and two sisters in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

References

External links

Biography at diocesan website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skelton, Melissa 1951 births American Episcopalians Anglican bishops of New Westminster Metropolitans of British Columbia Living people