Ralph Matthews

The Rt Rev Ralph Vernon Mathews (3 April 1928 - 4 March 1983) was the 11th Anglican Bishop of Waiapu whose brief Episcopate spanned a four-year period during the third quarter of the 20th century.

He was educated at Napier Boys' High School and the University of Auckland and ordained in 1956. He embarked on his ecclesiastical career with a curacy in Hastings after which he was Vicar of Waipukurau then Taupo. From 1976 to 1979 he was Archdeacon of Waiapu before his elevation to the Episcopate as its Diocesan Bishop.