Bishop Greg Rickel will be installed as assisting bishop for the Episcopal Church in Southeast Florida on April 4. Photo: Diocese of Olympia

[Episcopal News Service] The Rt. Rev. Greg Rickel, who served as bishop of the Diocese of Olympia from 2007 until his resignation on Dec. 31, 2022, will be installed as the assisting bishop for the Episcopal Church in Southeast Florida  on April 4 during the diocese’s Chrism Mass at Trinity Cathedral in Miami .

According to a news release posted by the diocese to Facebook, Rickel will serve as a consultant to the diocese’s congregational vitality and stewardship ministries and also as supply clergy in churches on Sundays.

An assisting or assistant bishop is someone who has been a bishop who is appointed to assist the bishop of another diocese, with the approval of the diocese’s standing committee, for a set period of time.

Rickel announced in July 2022 his plan to retire after leading the Seattle, Washington-based Diocese of Olympia for 15 years. In October, the standing committee called the Most Rev. Melissa Skelton,  from the Anglican Church of Canada, to serve as bishop provisional of Olympia while the diocese conducts a search for Rickel’s successor. On Jan. 31 the diocese was informed that both Skelton’s reception from the Church of Canada and her appointment as bishop provisional had received the necessary consents.