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Bishop Christopher Jones
Born March 3rd, 1936
Died May 18th, 2018
Christopher Jones, the retired Bishop Emeritus of Elphin, who has died, aged 82, was instantly recognisable for his white mane and towering physique throughout his west of Ireland diocese which straddles counties Sligo, Roscommon, Westmeath and Galway.
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Popularly known as Bishop Christy, he was a socially-caring prelate, dedicated to providing person-centred services and pastoral care of Travellers.
A native of Rathcroghan, in the parish of Tulsk, Co Roscommon, which had close associations with St Patrick, he studied for the priesthood at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and was ordained on June 21st, 1962, just months before the opening in Rome of the Second Vatican Council.
During his first three priestly years he taught at Saint Muredach’s College, in Ballina, Co Mayo, from where each weekend he journeyed from the River Moy along the scenic Atlantic Way to Galway, to study for a Higher Diploma in Education.
In 1965 he moved to the teaching staff of Summerhill College, Sligo. In 1971 he became Elphin diocese’s archivist, while also serving as chaplain of Saint Columba’s Hospital. From 1973-1979, he returned to Summerhill College as spiritual director. For a time, he was promoter of priestly vocations,
By 1992 as the reign was closing of the ageing bon vivant bishop, Dominic Conway, a former rector of the Pontifical Irish College, Rome, Jones was well placed for the succession from within the inner diocesan elite as the Very Revd Canon Jones, administrator of St Mary’s, Sligo, member of the diocesan chapter and, of course, chaplain to Travellers.
His social commitment was known to the new Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh, Cahal Daly, who cooperated with Archbishop Emanuele Gerada, the papal nuncio, dubbed by Labour’s Rúairí Quinn as “the Maltese falcon”, to take over the ancient See of St Asicus.
News conference
The frugal Jones chaired the Bishops’ Committee for Family Welfare and Children and helped found the Bishops’ Council for Marriage and the Family, of which he was its first chairman. From 2010 to 2014, was President of Accord, the Catholic Marriage Care Service. In 2010 he was among the bishops summoned to Rome to meet Pope Benedict XVI and heads of the Curia, to work out the Irish Church’s response to the Ryan Murphy Reports into clerical child abuse and church cover-ups. Around this tempestuous time he famously lost his temper at a news conference in Maynooth when he rebuked journalists for accusing the Church of covering up abuses which had permeated all layers of Irish society for centuries.
At the Requiem Mass in Sligo’s Mary Immaculate Cathedral his lifelong friend, Monsignor Gerard Dolan, extolled how Bishop Christy discharged his ministry “at a time of seismic and rapid change both in civil society and in the church family”.
Describing him as “a people’s bishop”, Dolan recalled his saying in August 2010 at the Marian shrine in Knock that he “believed totally” in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, especially its emphasis on the role of the laity in the Church.
He was closely involved in the Rockwood Parade Sligo Youth Project and, as a champion of Catholic education, he developed a new campus at Summerhill College, where a suite of rooms is named after him. He also amalgamated two diocesan colleges in Athlone.
Eighth Amendment
An advocate of rural development west of the Shannon, he was a founder with Bishop Eamonn Casey of the Bishops’ Council of the West and he regularly visited emigrants in the UK.
Following his retirement in 2014, he enjoyed a four ball at Rosses Point Golf Club, and last year he travelled to Rome with the Irish bishops on their ad limina visit to Pope Francis.
According to Bishop John Fleming of Killala, Jones loved to recall on his many visits to Ballina his time at St Murdeach’s.
One of 11 children, five of whom entered religious life, he is survived by his sister, Sister Eileen, a member of the Jesus and Mary convent in the Sligo seaside resort of Enniscrone, sister-in-law Pauline and many nephews and nieces
Having been distressed by the passing of the 2015 referendum recognising same-sex marriages, Bishop Christy died a week ahead of voters repealing the Eighth Amendment of which he was a staunch defender but which was supported by a majority of Catholics in his diocese.
His successor, Bishop Kevin Doran, a Dubliner, likened news of his death after a long illness to “the loss of a grandparent”.
In tributes, Primate of All Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin lauded his 56 years of priesthood and 24 years as bishop, while former president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, described him as “one of nature’s gentlemen, most faithful friend, a lovely gentle pastor”.