Lynda Jane Patterson (6 February 1974 – 20 July 2014) was a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

-born Anglican priest who was the 13th

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Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand. She was the first woman to hold that position, serving from 2013 until her death in 2014.

Early life

Patterson was born in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Northern Ireland, to Cedric and Evelyn Patterson. Patterson was educated at Dromore Central Primary School and

Banbridge Academy Banbridge Academy is a grammar school in Banbridge, Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of I ...

. She studied theology at

Mansfield College, Oxford Mansfield College, Oxford is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The college was founded in Birmingham in 1838 as a college for Nonconformist (Protestantism), Non ...

, then lectured there for twelve years. While at Mansfield she served as Junior Dean, Junior Chaplain and later as Director of Studies.

Career

After visiting New Zealand in 2002, she decided to emigrate there, living initially in Auckland where she learned

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

and studied for the ministry. She was ordained by David Coles as a deacon in 2004 and a priest in 2005. The following year, she was appointed assistant dean of ChristChurch Cathedral, and director of Theology House in Merivale. She took over as acting dean following the resignation of

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in December 2011 and officially succeeded as dean on 1 November 2013, becoming the first woman to serve in that role. During the devastating

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

, Patterson was inside

ChristChurch Cathedral ChristChurch Cathedral, also called Christ Church Cathedral and (rarely) Cathedral Church of Christ, is a deconsecrated Anglican cathedral in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It was built between 1864 and 1904 in the centre of the city, ...

with 19 other people. It was considered a miracle that there were no fatalities.

Death

Patterson died of natural causes at her home in Christchurch in July 2014. Two funerals were held for her: one in Christchurch; and one at

Dromore Cathedral Dromore Cathedral, formally The Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer, Dromore, is one of two cathedral churches (the other is Down Cathedral) in the Diocese of Down and Dromore of the Church of Ireland (Anglican Communion, Anglican / Episcopal ...

, Dromore, County Down.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Lynda 1974 births 2014 deaths People from Christchurch Alumni of Mansfield College, Oxford New Zealand Anglican priests People from County Down People educated at Banbridge Academy Deans of Christchurch Anglicans from Northern Ireland