Victor Manuel Rivera (1916 – December 24, 2005) was a Puerto Rican Episcopalian

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

and

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

. He served from 1968 to 1989 as the third bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin.

Education and early career

Rivera was born in Penuelas, Puerto Rico, where his father and four uncles were Episcopal priests. In 1944, he graduated from the

Church Divinity School of the Pacific Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) is an Episcopal seminary in Berkeley, California. It one of nine seminaries U.S. Episcopal Church and a member of the Graduate Theological Union. The only Episcopal seminary located in the Far West, ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

, and was ordained to the priesthood. From 1943 to 1944 he was vicar of Grace Church in

Martinez, California Martinez ( Spanish: ''Martínez'') is a city and the county seat of Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Located on the southern shore of the Carquinez Strait, the city's popul ...

, and from 1945 to 1968, he was rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church,

Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...

. He also held diocesan offices in the Diocese of San Joaquin.

Episcopacy

In 1968, Rivera was elected third bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin. He served until his retirement in January 1989, shortly after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 72. He was succeeded by bishop coadjutor

John-David Schofield John-David Mercer Schofield (October 6, 1938 – October 29, 2013) was a bishop-in-residence in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). Schofield was the rector of St. Columba's Inverness in the Episcopal Diocese of California. He served as ...

, who had been elected in the fall of 1988. By the end of Rivera's episcopacy, the Diocese of San Joaquin was one of only six in the Episcopal Church that had not ordained any women to the priesthood. Rivera opposed the ordination of women and sexually active homosexuals during his episcopacy, describing his diocese as "not willing to do away with biblical teachings and the beliefs of the church." When his daughter Nedi was ordained to the Episcopalian priesthood in 1976, Rivera did not attend her ordination service.

Later life

Rivera is reported to have changed his mind on women's ordination after his retirement as bishop, as he participated with approval in the consecration of Nedi Rivera as bishop suffragan in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. Rivera's wife, Barbara, died in April 2005, and he died eight months later on December 23 in Orinda, California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera, Victor Manuel 1916 births People from Peñuelas, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican Episcopalians Puerto Rican bishops American Episcopal priests 2005 deaths 20th-century American Episcopalians Episcopal bishops of San Joaquin 20th-century American clergy