Frank Clayton Matthews (born December 31, 1947) is an

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prelate who served as Suffragan Bishop of Virginia between 1993 and 1998 and later as Director of the Office of Pastoral Development.

Early life and education

Matthews was born December 31, 1947, in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

. He was educated at the public schools of Raleigh. He later studied at

Hampden–Sydney College gr, Ye Shall Know the Truth , established = , type = Private liberal arts men's college , religious_affiliation = Presbyterian Church (USA) , endowment = $258 million (2021) , president = Larry Stimpert , city = Hampden Sydney, Virginia , cou ...

from where he graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1970. While at Hampden-Sydney he was on the Dean's List and was the recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award. He was also a member of

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and

Eta Sigma Phi Eta Sigma Phi () is a collegiate honor society for the study of Classics. It grew out of a local undergraduate classical club founded by a group of students in the Department of Greek at the University of Chicago in 1914. This organization late ...

. Matthews married Martha Hughes in June, 1969 and together had one son. He also studied at the

Virginia Theological Seminary Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the Unit ...

from where he earned his

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 divi ...

in 1973. While at the seminary, he carried out his clinical pastoral education at

Austin Hospital, Melbourne The Austin Hospital is a public teaching hospital in Melbourne's north-eastern suburb of Heidelberg, and is administered by Austin Health, along with the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre. History The Au ...

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. In May 1994 he was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Divinity 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 ...

from the Virginia Seminary.

Ordained ministry

Matthews was ordained deacon in June, 1973 by the Bishop of North Carolina Thomas Fraser, and then as priest in April, 1974, by the Bishop of Atlanta Bennett Sims. From 1973 till 1976 he served as chaplain at

Holy Innocents' Episcopal School Holy Innocents' Episcopal School (HIES) is a PK–12 private, Episcopal, co-educational college-preparatory day school in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States.Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and subsequently served as assistant priest at Holy Innocents Church. In 1976 he became assistant at Christ Church in

New Bern, North Carolina New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to an estimated 29,994 as of 2019. It is the county seat of Craven County and t ...

, where he remained till 1979. In 1980, he was appointed rector of

Emmanuel Church at Brook Hill The Emmanuel Church at Brook Hill, in the historic community of Brook Hill in Henrico County, Virginia, is a historic Episcopal church. History Brothers John and Daniel Kerr Stewart, both born on the Island of Bute in Scotland, emigrated and es ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

where the church membership increased to over 900, from 500 at the time of his installation. He also subsequently served as Dean of North Richmond and chaired the diocesan Commission on Ministry. From 1987 and 1994, he served as Canon to the Ordinary of the Diocese of Virginia.

Bishop

On the third ballot, Matthews was elected Suffragan Bishop of Virginia on May 1, 1993, at a special council meeting which took place at the

. He was then consecrated bishop on September 11, 1993, by Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning in the

Washington National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...

. He resigned the post in 1998 after he was named as Director of the Office of Pastoral Development, a post he retained till his retirement on June 30, 2017.Schjonberg, Mary Frances
"Q&A: Bishop F. Clayton Matthews on helping shape the House of Bishops"
''Episcopal News Service'', 22 June 2017. Retrieved on 4 February 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Frank Clayton 1947 births Living people Episcopal bishops of Virginia