Victoria Matthews (born 1954) is a Canadian

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

bishop. From 2008 until 2018, she served as Bishop of Christchurch in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. 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 2017, the Anglican Church co ...

when she was made a suffragan bishop 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 ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, and 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 ...

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 research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, 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 divi ...

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, founded in 1854, is a seminary of The Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with Andover Newton Theological School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Berkeley is one of the three "Partners on the Quad," ...

. She also holds a

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

degree from

Trinity College, Toronto Trinity College (occasionally referred to as The University of Trinity College) is a college federated with the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Strachan originally intended Trinity as a university of strong Angl ...

, 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 Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...

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. She was bishop-in-residence at

Wycliffe College Wycliffe College () is an evangelical graduate school of theology at the University of Toronto. Founded in 1877 as an evangelical seminary in the Anglican tradition, Wycliffe College today attracts students from many Christian denominations from ...

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

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 / ...

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 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 ...

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 The Cardboard Cathedral, formally called the Transitional Cathedral, in Christchurch, New Zealand, is the transitional pro-cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch, replacing ChristChurch Cathedral, which was significantly damaged in t ...

,' was erected. In March 2018 she announced her resignation as diocesan bishop effective 1 May 2018. She was nominated as one of the candidates for the election of

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

of Toronto. The election was held on 9 June 2018. She lost the election to the Very Reverend Andrew Asbil.

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