Victoria Matthews (born 1954) is a Canadian

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

bishop. From 2008 until 2018, she served as Bishop of Christchurch in the

Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, formerly the Church of the Province of New Zealand, is a Anglican province, province of the Anglican Communion serving New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands. Since 1992 ...

. In 1994, she became the first woman ordained bishop in the

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2016, the Anglican Church of ...

when she was made a

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led b ...

of the Diocese of Toronto. She then served as the Bishop of Edmonton from 1997 to 2007.

Education

Matthews was educated at Bishop Strachan School in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree with honours from

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, in 1976. She was the recipient of the North American Theological Fellowship from 1976 to 1979, and completed a

Master of Divinity 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 ...

degree at

Yale Divinity School Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...

and

Berkeley Divinity School Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, founded in 1854, is a seminaries, seminary of Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with Andover Newton Theological School and the Yale Institute ...

. She also holds a

Master of Theology Master of Theology (, abbreviated ThM, MTh or MTheol, or ''Sacrae Theologiae Magister''; abbreviated STM) is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a ...

degree from

Trinity College, Toronto Trinity College (occasionally referred to as the University of Trinity College) is a University of Toronto#Colleges, federated college of the University of Toronto located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Down ...

, which she completed in 1987. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from

in 2017.

Ordained ministry

Matthews upholds a generous orthodoxy (calling for a radical, Christ-centered orthodoxy expressed as missional faith and practice) and is on the

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...

wing of the church. Matthews became a deacon in 1979 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1980. She served as an educator and a parish priest until 12 February 1994 when she was ordained to the episcopate. 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.

Episcopal ministry

From 1994 to 1997 she was Suffragan (Assistant) Bishop of Toronto, for the Credit Valley area. She became the first woman to be a bishop in the

. She was elected Bishop of Edmonton in 1997, and held the position until her resignation in 2007. In 2004, she was a nominee for the posts of Bishop of Toronto and Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada but had to withdraw from both slates in order to undergo treatment for breast cancer. She was bishop-in-residence at

Wycliffe College Wycliffe College () is an evangelical Colleges of the University of Toronto, graduate school of theology of the University of Toronto located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded i ...

, Toronto, from January to April 2008. In February 2008, she was elected Bishop of

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, and she was enthroned on 30 August 2008. During her time as the Bishop of Christchurch, there were over 12,000 earthquakes and aftershocks in the city and surrounding area. The Diocese had 220 buildings badly damaged or destroyed including the iconic

ChristChurch Cathedral Christ Church Cathedral, also called ChristChurch Cathedral and (rarely) Cathedral Church of Christ, is a deconsecration, deconsecrated Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It was built between 1864 ...

which is central to the history of the city and province. Recognising the length of time before a new Cathedral in Cathedral Square would be built, the Transitional Cathedral, also known as the ' Cardboard Cathedral,' was erected. In March 2018 she announced her resignation as diocesan bishop effective 1 May 2018. She was a nominee in the election of

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of Toronto. The election was held on 9 June 2018. Andrew Asbil, then Dean of Toronto, was elected.

References

External links

Candidacy for Primacy in 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Victoria 1954 births Living people Anglican bishops of Christchurch Anglican bishops of Edmonton Anglo-Catholic bishops Berkeley Divinity School alumni Canadian Anglo-Catholics Women Anglican bishops Clergy from Toronto Trinity College (Canada) alumni University of Toronto alumni Yale Divinity School alumni 20th-century Anglican bishops in New Zealand 20th-century Anglican Church of Canada bishops