Victoria Marie

On October 11, 2024 Victoria "Vikki" Marie died at home at Samaritan House in the company of friends. She had spent the last few months continuing to paint and visit with friends, supported by the Pender Clinic Community Palliative Care team. Vikki was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 07, 1945 and grew up with her grandparents Rose and Dan Udint. She moved to Montreal in her early twenties and settled permanently in Vancouver in the 1980's.

As a mature student, she spent the rest of her life learning and studying and achieving post-secondary degrees in Sociology (BA) and Anthropology (MA) at SFU, Anthropology of Education (PhD) at UBC, Pastoral Studies (MPS) and Divinity (M.Div.) at Vancouver School of Theology, as well as Ministry of Walking Prayer at the Center for Sacred Studies. Vikki joined a small community of Franciscan women in 1997, taking final vows in 2000.  In 1998 she co-founded the Vancouver Catholic Worker community and moved into Samaritan House. In 2012 Vikki was ordained as a Roman Catholic Woman Priest, being called to serve the community of Our Lady of Guadalupe Tonantzin until she retired last year.

Through her life, Vikki experienced barriers and exclusion. As a young person she aspired to a life of faith-filled service but her skin colour and family status blocked that from happening. In spite of this, she found and connected with community everywhere she went. When she re-started her scholarly pursuits and found a welcoming church community in her 40's, all of that energy burst forth in so many ways. The thread through all of her personal, professional and spiritual persuits was always healing and community, always finding ways to eliminate barriers and undo exclusion. You can find this in her scholarly and poetic writing, in her practice of healing arts including crystal healing, drumming and prayer, in her solidarity with indigenous struggles for peace and justice, and in her building of a faith community specifically meant to welcome all who felt like outsiders. The last chapter of this journey of Vikki's was an explosion of creativity resulting in hundreds of paintings done in the last 5 years. Those who followed her on social media got to go on some of that journey with her.

Vikki Marie leaves a legacy far broader than can be contained in this short account of her life. We call her sister, friend, Elder, scholar, mentor, priest, artist, comrade, teacher, partner, witness-bearer, nature lover, justice warrior and many other things.

On December 12 at 5:30pm, a memorial Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated at Samaritan House and over Zoom, led by Bishop Jane Kryzanowski, Roman Catholic Women Priests Canada. Space is very limited for in person attendance. Email vancouvercatholicworker@yahoo.ca for a Zoom link.

On December 14 at 2:00pm a Celebration of Life will take place in the hall at St. James Anglican Church - 303 E Cordova St. Vancouver. All are welcome. Many of Vikki's paintings will be on site and all are encouraged to take them to share with the world. 

In lieu of flowers in Vikki's memory, contributions can be made to the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust or to the continuing support of the Vancouver Catholic Worker community.