Episcopal Press and News
Anglican Church of Canada Consecrates Its First Woman Bishop
Episcopal News Service. February 24, 1994 [94027]
Carolyn Purden, Editor of Anglican Journal/Journal Anglican.
In a service that included more than 2,300 people, the Rev. Victoria Matthews became the first female bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada on February 12. Her consecration occurred 18 years after the first women were ordained as priests in the Anglican Church of Canada.
Matthews was elected in November 1993 in the second of two back-toback elections for suffragan bishops in the Diocese of Toronto. Dean Michael Bedford-Jones of the Diocese of Ontario, the other suffragan elected, was consecrated alongside her.
The consecrations took place without any sign of dissent. When Archbishop Percy O'Driscoll, metropolitan of Ontario, asked in the words of the consecration service if there were any objections, there was only silence. It was a marked contrast to the 1988 consecration of the first woman to become a bishop in the Episcopal Church. On that occasion two people voiced objections to the consecration of the Rev. Barbara Harris as suffragan bishop of Massachusetts.
The Toronto consecration service combined the pageantry of church and state as a lengthy procession, punctuated by brilliantly colored banners, made its way down the aisle of St. Paul's Anglican Church.
Leading the way was the Queen's representative in the Province of Ontario, Lieutenant-Governor Henry Jackman, accompanied by his scarlet-jacketed military aide de camp. Following him were most of the Canadian bishops, who had just concluded a House of Bishops meeting in Toronto, and Bishop Michael Johns, retired bishop of the Church of South India. At the end of the procession came the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Michael Peers, and Archbishop Simon Kim, primate of the Anglican Church in Korea.
Ecumenical guests included Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop John Knight and Chicago Bishop Vic Esclamado of the Philippine Independent Church. Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Old Catholic Church, the Polish National Catholic Church and the British Methodist Episcopal Church also attended.
During his sermon, Bishop Frank Griswold III of Chicago quoted the advice he had received from a Benedictine abbot whom he had consulted prior to his own consecration: "'Be yourself,' (the abbot) said. 'Others will show you your weaknesses. Don't become a perfectionist; God will reveal his glory through your weaknesses. Don't become dejected by your failures. If God wants you to be a bishop, God will be with you in spite of everything.'"
Griswold said that the core of episcopal ministry is the disposition of one's heart. He quoted Brazilian Bishop Dom Helder Camara who, emphasizing that the bishop belongs to all, said, "My door, my heart, must be open to everyone, absolutely everyone."
Griswold said that he had experienced the costliness of these words. They meant transforming a heart of stone into a heart of flesh, and living through the pattern of Christ's death and resurrection. He added, "To open the door of one's heart is to relinquish certitude in favor of living the questions and to see Christ in all who knock 'on the right or the left.'
"It means to embrace and take into the inner chamber of one's own being seemingly irreconcilable and passionately held points of view, submitting them to the truth who is Christ and then remaining steadfast, even in the very midst of hell, without despair," Griswold added.
He said the bishop reconciles divergent points of view by "making room for them in one's own heart and being able to say deep within, 'Progressive and conservative are met together; pro and con have kissed one another."' When this occurs, the bishop becomes a living sign of unity, Griswold said. Addressing the two bishops-elect he concluded, "May your door, may your heart be open to everyone, absolutely everyone."
As O'Driscoll said the prayer of consecration, the Canadian bishops moved forward to lay their hands on the heads of the kneeling candidates. Joining them were Archbishop Kim, Bishop Griswold and Bishop Johns. After the two new bishops were vested and presented to the congregation, they received a standing ovation.
The service ended with the Eucharist, and at its conclusion Bishop Matthews and Bishop Bedford-Jones blessed the people. The congregation once again broke into prolonged applause as the recessional began and the two new bishops led the procession up the aisle and out the massive doors of the church.