Diocese of Toronto Elects First Woman Bishop in Anglican Church of Canada
Episcopal News Service. November 23, 1993 [93206]
Seventeen years after the Anglican Church of Canada began ordaining women to the priesthood it has elected its first woman bishop.
The Rev. Victoria Matthews, who serves a parish and is regional dean in suburban Toronto, was one of two assistant bishops elected November 19 for the Diocese of Toronto, the church's largest. She will be the fifth woman bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The election was greeted by Archbishop and Primate Michael Peers with "profound joy and delight." He said that the election was "a natural outcome of years of caring and effective leadership offered by women." In recent weeks Peers has participated in events with the other four women bishops, including the consecration of the Rev. Mary Adelia McLeod as bishop of Vermont, the Episcopal Church's first woman diocesan bishop.
Matthews, who earned her master of divinity degree at Yale University and was ordained to the priesthood in 1980, said at a news conference that many women would view her election as a sign of hope for "those who really want women in the church to have a voice."
"It's an enormous challenge -- and I don't say that simply as a woman," Matthews said in reaction to the election. "If the Holy Spirit has called me to this, then I will go forward -- but they never said I couldn't be scared."