Victoria Matthews

Victoria Matthews (born 1954) is Bishop of Christchurch in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. In 1994 she became the first ever female bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada.

Career

Matthews became a deacon in 1979 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1980. In 1992, she sat on the bishop's court that convicted Fr James Ferry of disobedience. She served as an educator and a parish priest until 1994 when she was ordained to the episcopate. She was elected Bishop of Edmonton in 1997. Mathews began chairing the Primate’s Theological Commission in 1996 and was reelected in 2004. She also chaired the Task Force on Alternate Episcopal Oversight. Matthews is considered to be a theological conservative and on the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church.^[1] Matthews resigned as Bishop of Edmonton on November 30, 2007. She 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] She was enthroned on August 30, 2008.^[2] Matthews' handling of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake damage to ChristChurch Cathedral earthquake recovery was criticised by a senior church member^[3] and was echoed by letters published in The Press.^[3]

Education

• B.A.(honours) (1976): Trinity College, University of Toronto
• M.Div. (1979): Yale Divinity School and Berkeley Divinity School (recipient of the North American Theological Fellowship 1976–1979)
• Th.M. (1987): Trinity College, Toronto

References

External links

• Candidacy for Primacy in 2004

v t e Bishops of Edmonton (Canada) Henry Gray Arthur Burgett Walter Barfoot Howard Clark Gerald Burch John Langstone Kent Clarke Ken Genge Victoria Matthews Jane Alexander Edmonton portal