Chester Lovelle Talton (born September 22, 1941) was the Provisional

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

of the

Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin (EDSJ) is a diocese of the Episcopal Church (TEC), located in central California with its headquarters in Fresno. It can trace its roots back to the earliest days of American settlement in California. Histor ...

in the Episcopal Church.

Personal life

Born in

El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or kin ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...

, Talton was ordained to the priesthood in February 1971, in the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

-based Diocese of California. He married Karen Louise Warren in August 1963 and has four children from this union. Karen Talton died in 2003. Talton remarried in 2007, to April Grayson, a

lay leader A lay leader is a member of the laity in any congregation who has been chosen as a leader either by their peers or the leadership of the congregation. In most denominations, lay leadership is not an ordained clerical office, and the lay leader's res ...

in the Diocese of Los Angeles. He is

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

, and one of 37 black bishops who have been consecrated by the Episcopal Church.

Education

Talton studied at

California State University, Hayward California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the 23-campus California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 pos ...

, California where he earned his

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in 1965, and

Church Divinity School of the Pacific Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) is an Episcopal seminary in Berkeley, California. It one of nine seminaries U.S. Episcopal Church and a member of the Graduate Theological Union. The only Episcopal seminary located in the Far West, ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, where he earned his

M.Div. For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

in 1970, and ultimately his

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

Positions held

Positions held include Provisional Bishop, Diocese of San Joaquin, 2011 - 2014; Bishop Suffragan, Diocese of Los Angeles, 1991 to 2010;

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

, St. Philip's Church,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

(

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harl ...

), 1985–1990; Mission Officer, Trinity Church Wall Street,

, 1981–1985; Rector, St. Philip's Church,

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

, 1976–1981;

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pr ...

, Holy Cross Church,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

, 1973–1976; Vicar, St. Mathias' Mission, and Curate, All Saints' Church, Carmel, California, 1971–1973; and Vicar, Good Shepherd Church, Berkeley, California, 1970–1971. Talton's consecrators were

Edmond L. Browning Edmond Lee Browning (March 11, 1929 – July 11, 2016) was an American bishop. He was the 24th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Education, ordination, early ministry Browning received his s ...

Orris George Walker Orris George Walker, Jr. (November 5, 1942 – February 28, 2015) was seventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. Educational Achievements Walker was born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 5, 1942. He graduated from Baltimore Cit ...

, and

Robert Marshall Anderson Robert Marshall Anderson (December 18, 1933 - May 3, 2011) was the Seventh Bishop of Minnesota in the Episcopal Church. Early life and education Anderson was born on December 18, 1933, in Staten Island, New York City, the son of Arthur Harold An ...

Bibliography

*''Race and prayer: collected voices, many dreams'' / Malcolm Boyd and Chester L. Talton, editors. Harrisburg, Pa.: Morehouse Pub., c. 2003. xii, 202 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. (pbk.)

External links

Office of Black Ministries: Chester Lovelle Talton

References

Living people 1941 births African-American Christian clergy African-American Episcopalians People from El Dorado, Arkansas California State University, East Bay alumni Church Divinity School of the Pacific alumni Episcopal bishops of Los Angeles Episcopal bishops of San Joaquin 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people {{US-Anglican-bishop-stub