The Provincial Council
The Most Reverend Melissa M. Skelton, Episcopal Visitor
The Most Reverend Melissa M. Skelton, 9th Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster and 12th Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of BC and Yukon, is the Episcopal Visitor of the Society of Catholic Priests. Beginning January 1, 2023, she will become the Bishop Provisional in the Diocese of Olympia. You can read her biography here.
The Rev'd Dr. Melanie Rowell, Convener
Melanie Rowell fell in love with the Anglo-Catholic tradition when she began attending an Anglo-Catholic parish near her work as a university music professor. With its incense, bells, beautiful vestments, and shrine to Mary, this small church drew her into the beauty, mystery and immensity of the Word made flesh. Through her regular participation in weekday Masses, God became present to her in a way she had never experienced: in the Word being preached, in the prayers and readings, and most importantly, in the Sacrament. It was her intense experience of Jesus in this place that led her to discernment and then ordination to the priesthood in 2018.
Prior to her graduation from the School of Theology at the University of the South and her subsequent ordination, Melanie taught music and voice in various forms for over twenty-five years, eventually becoming Associate Professor of Music at Southern Wesleyan University. There she taught applied vocal lessons, diction, music history, and directed the yearly student musical. In addition, she maintained an active performing schedule as a professional soprano, singing recitals and oratorio as well as roles in musicals and operas.
Mother Melanie served for over four years as Assisting Priest at St. Columba’s Church in John’s Creek, Georgia, an Anglo-Catholic church plant here in the Diocese of Atlanta that is now 18 years old. Here she participated in every aspect of parish life, celebrating the mass and preaching frequently, and leading Evening Prayer, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, Stations of the Cross, and Compline. In addition, she initiated deeper relationships throughout all age groups through pastoral care, Sunday Christian formation, and parish social events.
Along with her work at St. Columba’s, Mother Melanie served for over four years as Lower School Chaplain at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School, the largest Episcopal day school in the US. In this role she equipped and empowered a group of fourth and fifth graders to serve as leaders at school Morning Prayer services and as servers at the altar for Holy Communion. In addition to teaching religion classes for all students (1 st through 5 th grades), she cultivated deeper relationships by providing pastoral care to students, parents, faculty, and staff.
Mother Melanie was thrilled to be called in January 2023 to be the 12 th Rector of Church of Our Saviour in Midtown Atlanta, which, along with St. Columba’s, is one of two self-identifying Anglo-Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Atlanta.
Melanie enjoys reading, hiking, walking, and traveling. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, Scott, two children, and her sweet dog, Sandy.
Term: 10/2022 through 10/2025.
The Rev'd fr. Tripp Norris, Advisor
Tripp Norris has been a member of the Society since 2011 and most recently served as the Provencial Convener, succeeding Fr. Paul Lillie in 2017. While serving as the Provencial Convener, he was able to represent our Province at the most recent International SCP Conference held in Canterbury in 2018 and preached at the International Conference Mass at Canterbury Cathedral. Tripp attended the General Theological Seminary and was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Atlanta in 1994. In 2004, he was invited by Bishop Neil Alexander to plant an Anglo-Catholic parish in Atlanta, and he continues to serve as the rector of that parish, St. Columba’s in Johns Creek. His Labrador Retriever and sidekick Ezekiel is often found in the parish office with him. In the diocese, Tripp has served on the discernment committee for vocations, chaired the seminarian scholarship committee, chaired the Diocesan Commission on Architecture as well as the Youth Ministry Task Force. He also served as the spiritual director for Happening for over thirteen years. Outside the diocese, he has been a speaker on church planting and parish start-ups. ripp also serves as the state gymnastics judge coordinator for Georgia High School Association. He is a huge Notre Dame fan and has a gigantic passion for college football, cooking, and swimming. He and his wife Terri have been married for over 30 years and they have two adult children, Emma and Ryan.
Term: 10/2022 through 10/2025
The Rev'd Fr. mark Harris, Communications
Fr. Harris has been a member of the SCP ever since his first year of seminary at The School of Theology in Sewanee, TN. His first Annual Conference was at Church of Our Saviour in Atlanta, GA, and he immediately knew that the SCP was a special group that he looked forward to being a part of for years to come.
He currently serves as the Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Searcy, Arkansas. He is married to his college sweetheart, Laticia Harris, and is dad to two young children.
He enjoys working with his hands, as he rebuilds/maintains classic automobiles, builds projects as a hobbyist woodworker, and is a chief blackbelt instructor in Traditional Taekwondo.
Term: 10/2022 through 10/2025
The Rev. FR. Rick Robyn, Treasurer
Rick Robÿn came to the Episcopal Church during his college years at Loyola University New Orleans. While serving as a Lay Eucharistic Visitor and acolyte at his home parish of Christ Church Cathedral, Rick felt a call to the priesthood. He attended the General Theological Seminary in New York City and was ordained to the priesthood in 2008.
Since then, he has served as curate at the Church of the Resurrection, Manhattan, and as rector of Trinity Church Oxford, Philadelphia, and of St. Mary's-in-Tuxedo, Tuxedo Park, New York. He is also a guardian of the Shrine of Our Lady of Clemency at S. Clement's in Philadelphia and a charter member of the SCP (USA/Canada).
Term: 10/2022 through 10/2025.
The Rev’d Canon Mia C. McDowell, Chaplain
Canon Mia C. McDowell is an Episcopal priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina. She currently serves on staff at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral as Canon Catechist. She oversees the ministry of Christian Formation and shares fully in the sacramental and missional life of the congregation at the cathedral. She has recently served as Vicar at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Newberry, SC. During her curacy after seminary, she served in Spartanburg, SC, as Assistant to the Rector at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church and as Curate of the Church of the Epiphany.
Mother Mia was confirmed by the late Rt. Rev’d Rogers Harris on October 19, 2003, at Grace Anderson and sponsored for holy orders at St Andrew’s, Greenville. Mother Mia fell in love with the beauty and mystery of liturgy in the Episcopal Church on Maundy Thursday during Holy Week in 2002 at Grace Church Anderson. S. She has a long devotion to Our Lady in praying and singing the Angelus and praying the Rosary.
Canon McDowell was ordained to the priesthood on January 14, 2016. Mia earned a Master of Divinity from The School of Theology at The University of the South, Sewanee, graduating in May 2015. She currently serves in the diocese on the Board of Examining Chaplains, has previously served on the Bishop’s Nominating Committee, and as diocesan Chaplain for the Order of the Daughters of the King. She served as a clergy deputy to the 80th General Convention in 2022 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Mia is a native of Greenville, SC daughter to Linda and Johnny Lee, sister to Corky, Aunt to Dravon, Carl, and Steven, and Great -aunt to Calyx. She was married to the late Rev. James W. McDowell for eight years. She and her dog, Sonny, a terrier mix, will live on Columbia's west side. Mia enjoys cooking, antiquing, dancing, traveling, and eating great food with great friends.
Term: 10/2020 through 10/2023
The Rev’d FR. Robert Cristobal, Evangelism
A Founding Member of the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Catholic Priests, Fr. Robert Cristobal has been a member of the Society since 2011. Ordained in 2006, Fr. Cristobal has served in both rural and urban congregations. He is the vicar of St. George and St. Matthias Church, an historic Black Congregation in the Diocese of Chicago. Robert also serves as the Dean of the Chicago South Deanery. In Chapter life, Robert has previously served as chapter Secretary, later serving in a leadership capacity as Vice Convener. In preparation for the 2017 Annual Conference in Chicago, he assisted Fr. Ethan Jewett in devising the theme for Annual Conference. As a priest of color, Robert hopes to further assist the Society in its Catholic Evangelism to more intentionally welcome and affirm seminarians, clergy and religious, especially those who are women or persons of color in the Church.
Term: 10/2021 through 10/2024
The very Rev’d Fr. William Ogburn, Secretary
The Very Reverend William Ogburn is the Rector of Saint Paul’s Carroll Street in Brooklyn and is a graduate of General Seminary. Formerly he served as Senior Associate at Saint Luke in the Fields in the West Village of Manhattan. For his curacy, Fr. Ogburn served at Saint Paul’s Wickford, Rhode Island — and was also active in prison ministry. Before being ordained to the priesthood, he worked as a professional musician, serving as Organist-Choirmaster at the Church of the Redeemer in Pittsburgh — and on the staff of the School of Music at Duquesne University. Fr. Ogburn has been a member of the SCP since 2013. He is married to Jonathan Vantassel who works for an advertising firm in Manhattan.
Term: 10/2022 through 10/2025
The Rev’d Dr. Norman Whitmire, Jr., Membership
Fr. Whitmire is the Rector of All Saints Church in Woodhaven, New York, a neighborhood in the Borough of Queens (New York City). He earned an A.B. in Linguistics from Harvard College and an M.D. degree from Yale School of Medicine. After residency, Fr. Whitmire practiced internal medicine in Northern Virginia for nearly ten years. He then earned an M. Div. degree from Virginia Theological Seminary in 2011. Fr. Whitmire was ordained to both the diaconate and the priesthood in 2011. Fr. Whitmire spent his early years as a priest serving parishes in Ashburn, VA, Fairfax, VA, and Washington, DC before being called to serve in Queens. Fr. Whitmire began his association with the Society of Catholic Priests in 2008 while in seminary as a provisional member in the newly forming Mid-Atlantic Chapter, and has been a full member since 2011. Fr. Whitmire enjoys traveling, cooking, opera, and watching mindless reality television.