Skelton breaks ground with Anglican Church of Canada
For decades, Melissa M. Skelton straddled the secular and spiritual worlds.
She did her masters in divinity at the same time she completed her MBA. She was ordained as a priest in 1992 and worked at a parish, while working as a brand manager for Procter & Gamble. Later, she juggled working as a rector with a consulting business in product marketing.
Skelton’s unorthodox background made her historic election as the 12th archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of B.C. and Yukon on the first ballot — the first female archbishop in the Anglican Church of Canada — all the more unexpected.
“Given that background, I was rather astonished to be elected,” Skelton said, still in shock a day after the election Saturday when the church’s provincial electoral college chose her among three bishops who had agreed to stand for election.
There may be a stereotype that people elected bishops have served with the church their whole life, she said. “But that has not been my story.
“It’s been such a privilege to be able to be elected at this level of leadership within the church with a less traditional background. I love how these two worlds speak to and enrich each other.”
Skelton succeeds former archbishop John Privett, who is also the bish- op of the diocese of Kootenay. She assumed the position immediately, with a formal installation to be held at the provincial synod in September.
“I am honoured, humbled, elated. It feels like an honour for the diocese, too, and for that I’m very grateful,” said Skelton, who will continue to serve as the bishop for the diocese of New Westminster, a role she was elected to in 2013.
Skelton grew up in the southern U.S., the granddaughter of a sharecropper and cotton-mill factory worker and the child of civil-rights advocates.
She is married to the Rev. Eric Stroo, a vocational deacon at St. Michael’s Multicultural Church in Vancouver.
In addition to her duties as bishop of the archdiocese of New Westminster, Skelton is now responsible for providing pastoral care to the bishops in B.C. and Yukon and for fostering unity and harmony within the ecclesiastical province, one of four that make up the Anglican Church of Canada.
Administering to a broader flock is one of the things Skelton said she is most excited about.
“It’s quite diverse geographically in terms of the kinds of people and communities,” she said. “The diocese (of New Westminster) felt plenty big for me, but now I get to broaden the community beyond that. That part is inspiring.”