Leontine T. Kelly - Episcopal Ministry

Episcopal Ministry

Although a member of the Virginia Annual Conference in the Southeastern Jurisdiction, Leontine was elected to the Episcopacy by the Western Jurisdictional Conference of the U.M. Church in 1984(only the second woman, and the first African American woman, to become a Bishop in any major Christian denomination in the World). She was assigned to the San Francisco Episcopal Area where she served until her retirement in 1988. Bishop Kelly also served on the U.M. General Board of Church and Society, as the President of the Western Jurisdictional College of Bishops, and on the Executive Committee of the Council of Bishops.

Bishop Kelly was the 2002 recipient of the Thomas Merton Award. She was also inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.