Vote on new bishop to replace Matthews
Canterbury Anglicans will vote this month on a new Bishop of Christchurch to replace Victoria Matthews, who left the post in May and made a failed bid to become a bishop in Toronto, Canada.
Matthews ran to become coadjutor, or assistant, bishop of the Diocese of Toronto in her home country of Canada in June, but lost the ballot. She came second to Rev Andrew Asbil, who won 167 clergy votes and 198 laity votes, compared to 120 and 106 votes for Matthews.
Canterbury Anglicans will gather on August 17 and 18 to vote for her replacement.
Anglican diocesan office manager, Edwin Boyce, said Canterbury members of the Anglican ruling body, the Synod, would be able to vote on the candidates. The number and identity of the nominees were confidential.
Candidates have been asked to answer four questions decided by a committee ahead of the vote.
One question asks candidates if they would allow clergy to bless same sex couples. The Synod voted in May to allow same-sex blessings in Anglican churches. The motion gave each Anglican bishop the power to decide if same-sex blessings are allowed in their diocese. But there were no questions on the future of the earthquakedamaged Christ Church Cathedral – an issue which dominated Matthews’ 10 years as bishop. Matthews favoured demolishing the cathedral and building a modern replacement, saying it was not right to raise money to restore the cathedral when city people were suffering. A Synod vote in September backed restoration. The Synod members will vote in clergy and laity houses, with each house getting a single vote dictated by a majority of their members.
Any candidate who gets less than 10 per cent of both the clergy and laity vote is eliminated from the running. The voting rounds continue until there is a single nomination.
Once a candidate is chosen, they will be put forward for approval by the national Synod and a committee of all New Zealand bishops.