Bishop asked hard questions
Anglican Bishop Victoria Matthews asked tough moral and theological questions that few in the secular world ever had to confront until earthquakes changed everything in Christchurch. She asked how a church should serve its public, what its buildings are for and what its priorities should be.
In the public domain, these ideas were most clearly expressed in a remarkable interview with John Campbell that ran for more than 17 minutes on RNZ’s Checkpoint. She wondered if it was moral to spend millions restoring Christ Church Cathedral when there were pressing mental health needs in the city.
‘‘Is the church called to be first cousin to a museum or is it the place for the worship of a living God?’’ Matthews asked. ‘‘To reinstate a very damaged building, so people can say ‘we like the outside of it’ seems to me somewhat misdirected. I wonder what an empty cathedral would be an icon of.’’
She referred the contentious decision to the Anglican Synod and the rest is history. A restored cathedral should be open in 10 years.
Matthews will not see that process unfold. Her decision to resign comes almost 10 years after the Canadian was appointed as the first woman bishop of Christchurch. It is almost quaint to note that when news stories described her as controversial in 2008, it was in reference to her openmindedness on same-sex marriages, an issue then dividing the Anglican community.
The Bishop’s decade of service was dominated by the conundrum of the cathedral. Only former Government minister Gerry Brownlee became more of a lightning rod for grievance and sorrow in the months and years after the 2011 earthquake, but in Matthews’ case, much of the opposition seemed unacceptably nasty and personal. It often crossed over into xenophobia and misogyny. Some owe her an apology.
Matthews was more conciliatory and thought the attacks on her often sprung from a sense of grief.
This is not to say that Matthews did not display a strong leadership and management style. Her sometimes overbearing approach failed to carry wider public opinion with it. But is is also fair to say that no bishop in Christchurch history has faced such challenges and that Christchurch has a more complex relationship with the Anglican Church and its traditions than any other New Zealand city as well as a vocal heritage lobby. It was always going to be a difficult mix to manage.
The cathedral debate has been so dominant that Matthews’ emphasis on community work and social justice has often been overlooked. She said in 2008 that ‘‘it’s all too easy in the First World to live in isolated splendour and I would like every Anglican to be deeply aware that they are brothers and sisters to people living in extraordinarily bad circumstances in other parts of the world’’. This has become even more relevant.
News this month that Anglican Care spent $4 million buying a Christchurch site as a hub for vulnerable youths is a fine example of that community-minded approach.
In years to come there may be an interesting contrast between a beautifully restored cathedral that is empty much of the time and a youth hub and revamped City Mission that are constantly busy.