Will be on medical disability leave for a year
Bishop Victoria Matthews of Edmonton has withdrawn from the primatial election after she was diagnosed with breast cancer this week.
“This morning I saw the surgeon who expects to operate within the next two weeks,” said Bishop Matthews in a statement sent to all clergy yesterday (May 19).
“The cancer is in both breasts. Chemotherapy and probably radiation will follow. I have been told I should expect to be on medical disability leave for up to one year.”
She said that she was also withdrawing her name as a nominee for the office of the diocesan bishop of Toronto. (The episcopal election for the diocese of Toronto is scheduled on June 12.) As a formality, Archbishop David Crawley, acting primate, has sent a letter to all bishops asking for their consent that Bishop Matthews withdraw from the election for primate.
If elected, Bishops Matthews would have been the first female primate in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Archdeacon Jim Boyles, general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada, called Bishop Matthew’s announcement “a very sad occasion.” However, he said, “It’s a personal matter in which she takes the necessary steps to care for her health.”
Bishop Matthew’s withdrawal from the election, which will take place on May 31 during the meeting of General Synod in St. Catharine’s, Ont., reduces the number of primatial candidates to three. The other candidates are Bishop Ronald Ferris of Algoma, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison of Montreal, and Bishop Caleb Lawrence of Moosonee.
However, under Canon III of the General Synod Handbook, delegates to General Synod (either lay or clergy) may, “at any time after the second vote is taken,” request the bishops to provide further candidates.
In her letter to the clergy, Bishop Matthews said the diagnosis was “a surprise.” But she added, “I am at peace with what must be done. The love of God is everlasting and I am strong in my faith in Jesus Christ, the great physician, and the healing power of the Holy Spirit.
“Of course I ask and welcome your prayers, and I’ll make sure you are informed, on a timely basis, about my progress,” she said. “There is the expectation of full recovery. As far as I’m concerned I have lots more ministry ahead of me.”
Bishop Matthews said she would meet with leaders of her diocese to see whether their diocesan synod could be postponed until May 2005.
A native of Toronto, Bishop Matthews was the first female bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada and is the country’s only female diocesan bishop. Ordained a priest in 1980, she served as suffragan bishop of Credit Valley, diocese of Toronto, and became bishop of the diocese of Edmonton in 1997. She has also served in various capacities at churches in the diocese of Toronto.
From 2003 to early 2004, she chaired the house of bishops’ task force that examined alternative episcopal oversight for clergy and parishioners who object strongly to church decisions.
Bishop Matthews earned her bachelor’s degree at University of Toronto’s Trinity College in 1976. She was a recipient of the North American Theological Fellowship at Yale University Divinity School, in New Haven, Conn., from 1976 to 1979.
