2017 Fall Convocation

November 8, 2017

Alumni and esteemed guests visited New Haven last month to celebrate Berkeley’s annual Fall Convocation. 

   In addition to recognizing the 50th reunion of the Class of 1967, members of the Berkeley Graduate Society held their annual meeting and The Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews ‘79, Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand delivered the Pitt Lecture.

   During Evensong, the Board of Trustees awarded The Doctor of Divinity degree honoris causa to Bishop Matthews and to The Rt. Rev. Griselda Delgado del Carpio, Bishop of Cuba.

  Bishop Victoria, among her multiple distinctions, was the first woman ordained as bishop in Canada, where she also served two terms as Chair of the Primate’s Theological Commission of the Anglican Church of Canada. Not long after her election as Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand, a 2011 earthquake devastated the region, including the Cathedral. Her leadership in establishing a new interim cathedral building, the famous “Cardboard Cathedral,” epitomizes the resiliency and hope that Bishop Victoria has inspired in her diocese.

  A native of Bolivia, Bishop Griselda moved to Cuba for seminary in 1982 and was ordained to the deaconate in 1986 and to the priesthood in 1991, one of the first women ordained as priests in Cuba. In 2010, she was elected Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Cuba. From literally grassroots priesthood in small villages to leadership of 46 church communities throughout Cuba, Bishop Griselda has committed her ministry to community development, meeting the most basic sustenance needs of impoverished areas and growing church membership through a focus on youth ministry.