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{{BLP sources|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = bishop
|honorific_prefix= [[The Most Reverend]]
| name = Melissa Skelton
| title = [[Anglican Bishop of New Westminster|BishopArchbishop of New Westminster]]
| image = Bishop Melissa M Skelton (cropped).jpg
| alt = Archbishop Skelton in 2014
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| church = [[Anglican Church of Canada]]
| province = [[Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon]]
| diocese = [[Anglican Diocese of New Westminster|New Westminster]]
| see =
| term = 2014–present2014–2021
| predecessor = [[Michael Ingham (bishop)|Michael Ingham]]
| successor = [[John Stephens (bishop)|John Stephens]]
| other_post = [[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitan]] of [[Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon|British Columbia and Yukon]] <small>''(2018–present2018–2021)''</small><br/>Bishop provisional of [[Episcopal Diocese of Olympia|Olympia]] <small>''(2023–present)''</small>
<!-- Orders -->
| ordination = 1993
| ordinated_byordained_by =
| consecration = March 1, 2014
| consecrated_by = [[Fred Hiltz]]
| rank =
<!-- Personal details -->
| birth_date = March{{Birth date and age|1951|03|14}}
| birth_place = [[Columbus, Georgia]], [[United States]]
| death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_date =
| death_place = <!-- as birth_place -->
| buried = <!-- or | tomb = -->
| previous_post =
| spouse = {{marriage|Eric Stroo|2015}}
}}
'''Melissa Maxine Skelton''' (born March 14, 1951) is the current [[provisional bishop]] of the [[Episcopal Diocese of Olympia]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hornbeck |first=Josh |date=2023-02-01 |title=Successful Canonical Consent for the Most Rev. Melissa Skelton |url=https://ecww.org/successful-canonical-consent-for-the-most-rev-melissa-skelton/ |access-date=2023-02-19 |website=The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia |language=en-US}}</ref> She was previously the 9th Bishop of the [[Anglican Diocese of New Westminster]], a diocese in the [[Anglican Church of Canada]], and iswas the 12th [[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitan]] of the [[Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon]].<ref name="prem_Firs" /> 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 (bishop)|John Stephens]] on February 28, 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/archbishop|title = Bishop | Anglican Diocese of New Westminster}}</ref>
==Early life and education==
Archbishop Skelton was born in 1951, and raised in the US South, specifically, [[Alabama]] and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. She came to faith in the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] in her 20s. ThroughoutShe herstudied adultat lifethe [[University of Georgia]] from where she workedgraduated with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] in English in 1973, and then at the corporate[[University worldof asSouth wellCarolina]] where she earned a [[Master of Arts]] in English in 1989, after which served as maintaininga teaching assistant. Years later she got a vocation[[Master of Business Administration]] in Marketing and Finance from the [[University of Chicago]]. She enrolled at the [[Virginia Theological Seminary]] from where she got a [[Master of Divinity]] in 1990. She was for ministrya time brand manager at [[Procter & Gamble]] between 1992 and 1993.<ref name="vancouver">{{cite web|first=|last= |url=https://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/news/the-reverend-canon-melissa-m-skelton---a-brief-biography |title=The Reverend Canon Melissa M Skelton - A Brief Biography|publisher=Diocese of Vancouver |date=December 23, 2013 |accessdate=February 27, 2024}}</ref>
==Career and Ordained ministry==
PriorSkelton towas herordained electiondeacon in 1991 and priest in 1993. She served as bishopassociate priest at [[Trinity Church (Manhattan)|Trinity Church]], she[[New York City]] from 1993 to 1994; associate priest at St Andrew's Church in [[Trenton, New Jersey]] between 1994 and 1996; vice president for administration at the [[General Theological Seminary]] from 1993 to 1997; vice president of Brand and Systems Development at [[Tom's of Maine]] from 1997 until 2001; congregational development consultant for the Diocese of Maine between 2002 and 2004; and rector of Trinity Church in [[Castine, Maine]] from 2002 to 2005. She then was Rectorrector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, [[Seattle, Washington]] from 2005 to 2014, and also Canoncanon for Congregational Development and Leadership -– Diocese of Olympia, Seattle, Washington from 2008 to 2014. Then-CanonAs canon, Skelton developed a Congregationalcongregational Developmentdevelopment program that adopts the GATHER-TRANSFORM-SENDgather–transform–send model, and this program was established as the core curriculum for the College for Congregational Development in the [[Episcopal Diocese of Olympia]], the college that she founded during her nine-year incumbency at St. Paul's. In the summer of mid-2016 the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago added the College for Congregational Development to its program roster. As of May 2018, the School iswas active in four Episcopal Churchchurch Diocesesdioceses 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 [[Anglican Diocese of New Westminster]]: it was on the third ballot and by a substantial majority at an Electoralelectoral Synodsynod 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 iswas 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 Episcopalepiscopal Visitorvisitor to the North American province of the [[Society of Catholic Priests]], which at the current time iswas predominantly a group within Thethe Episcopal Church in the United States.<ref name="thescp.org" />
On May 12, 2018, she was elected [[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitan]] of the [[Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon]];, 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. Archbishop Skelton was installed as Metropolitan on Holy Cross Day, September 14, 2018, during a Celebrationcelebration of the Eucharist prior to the Openingopening of Provincial Synod in Sorrento, British Columbia.
She announced by letter to the Diocesediocese on April 21, 2020, that she would be retiring as Archbishoparchbishop on February 28, 2021, as required by the Provincial Canons, under which bishops must retire by age 70.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/news/archbishop-skeltons-retirement-and-episcopal-election, retrieved|title=Archbishop Skelton's Retirement and Episcopal Election |website=www.vancouver.anglican.ca |access-date=April 26, 2020}}</ref>
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]].<ref name="provisional">{{cite web |title=Bishop Provisional Announcement |date=6 October 2022 |url=https://ecww.org/bishop-provisional-announcement/ |publisher=Episcopal Church in Western Washington |access-date=6 February 2023}}</ref>
==Personal life==
Archbishop Skelton married Seattle-based family counsellor, the Reverend Eric Stroo on August 15, 2015, in Cannon Beach, Oregon (Deacon. 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, BC)British Columbia. She has three siblings: a brother in [[San Francisco]] and two sisters in [[Atlanta, Georgia]].
== References ==
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{{s-rel|ac}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Michael Ingham (bishop)|Michael Ingham]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Bishop of [[Anglican Diocese of New Westminster|New Westminster]]|years=2013-present2013–2021}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Stephens (bishop)|John Stephens]]}}
{{s-inc}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Privett]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Metropolitan of the Province of [[Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon|British Columbia and Yukon]]|years=2018-present2018–2021}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Lynne McNaughton]]}}
{{s-inc}}
{{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Skelton, Melissa}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:Anglican bishops of New Westminster]]
[[Category:LivingMetropolitans peopleof British Columbia]]
[[Category:FemaleWomen Anglican primatesbishops]]
[[Category:University of Georgia alumni]]
[[Category:University of South Carolina alumni]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:Virginia Theological Seminary alumni]]
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