Victoria Matthews

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Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews
Senior posting

Denomination	Anglican Church of Canada
See	Edmonton
Title	Bishop of Edmonton
Period in office	1997 — 2007
Predecessor	Ken Genge
Successor	Jane Alexander
Religious career
Priestly ordination	1977
Previous post	Bishop
Personal
Date of birth	1954
Place of birth	Toronto

Victoria Matthews is a bishop of the Anglican Church. She was the first ever female bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada.

Matthews became a deacon in 1979 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1980. She served as an educator and a parish priest until 1994 when she was ordained to the episcopate. She was elected Diocesan Bishop of Edmonton in 1997.

In 1992, she sat on the Bishop's Court that convicted Fr James Ferry of disobedience for living in a domestic partnership with another man.

Aside from heading her diocese, she had sat on many important Anglican committees that have helped to decide the church's stance on issues. She chaired the Primate’s Theological Commission starting in 1996 and was reelected in 2004. She also chaired the Task Force on Alternate Episcopal Oversight, which studied the issue of same-sex marriage.

Matthews was a candidate to become Primate of the ACC in 2004 until she had to withdraw from the race after being diagnosed with cancer. She was renominated for the 2007 primatial election, which saw Bishop Fred Hiltz become primate instead.

Matthews is considered to be a theological conservative and on the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church. At General Synod of 2007, she spoke favourably about same-sex blessings on the floor and voted in favour of a resolution acknowledging that "the blessing of same-sex unions is not in conflict with the core doctrine of the Anglican Church of Canada", while voting against permitting such blessings.

On August 3, 2007, Matthews announced her intention to resign as Bishop of Edmonton effective November 30, 2007. Matthews was bishop-in-residence at Wycliffe College in Toronto, Ontario, from January to April, 2008. In February 2008, she was elected Bishop of Christchurch, in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia. [1]

Education