Claude Charles Vaché

Claude Charles Vaché (August 4, 1926 – November 1, 2009) was an American prelate of The Episcopal Church, who served as the seventh Bishop of Southern Virginia.

Born in New Bern, North Carolina, Vaché was the son of the Reverend Jean Andrew Vaché, an Episcopal priest andhis wife Edith Fitzwilson. He served in the U.S. Navy as World War II ended, and then received a Bachelor of Arts with honors from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa society. He graduated from the Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois in 1952 with a Master of Divinity.

He was ordained deacon on June 11, 1952 by Bishop George P. Gunn of Southern Virginia in Johns Memorial Church, Farmville, Virginia. He was then ordained a priest on June 11, 1953 by Bishop Gunn in St Michael's Church in Bon Air, Virginia. He served as deacon-in-charge and later rector of St Michael's Church in Bon Air, Virginia and chaplain to St Christopher's School in Richmond, Virginia. Called as rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1957, he served there until 1976. He came to embrace television, giving weekly theological commentary on a local station, as well as served on the original board of directors of Westminster Canterbury retirement home in Newport News, and numerous other posts in the diocese.

Vaché was elected Coadjutor Bishop of Southern Virginia in 1976 and was consecrated on May 29, 1976 in the Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, Virginia, by Presiding Bishop John Allin, bishop David Rose of Southern Virginia, and William Creighton of Washington, D.C... He the succeeded as diocesan bishop on March 31, 1978 and served in that post till 1991. He initially opposed the ordination of women, but later became an advocate of the practice, ordaining Susan Blount Bowman and Jacqueline Segar Gravatt as Deacons in 1985.

After his retirement from the Diocese of Southern Virginia (and the accession of Frank Vest as his successor), Vaché continued his ministry of reconciliation. He assisted the Diocese of East Carolina (1993-1996) and then the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia (1999-2001)until the election of its seventh bishop. He also served as chaplain of St. George's College in Jerusalem (as well as a trustee for many years, and dean of St. George's Cathedral during a period of especial tension between Jews, Muslims and Christians in the holy city), and Bruton Parish in Williamsburg, Virginia as well as the Church of the Good Shepherd in Norfolk, Virginia.