A lifetime devoted to Sligo and its people
A native of Rathcroghan, County Roscommon, Christopher Jones was born on March 3rd 1936, the second youngest of a family of eleven. Four of his sisters entered religious life and one of his brothers was also a priest of the Diocese of Elphin.
Following his second-level education at the College of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo (Summerhill College), the young Christopher Jones went to Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he completed his formation and was ordained to the priesthood on 21st June, 1962.
Apart from the first three years of his priesthood, which were spent teaching at Saint Muredach’s College, Ballina, Bishop Jones spent his entire priestly ministry in Sligo.
Having served for three years on the staff of Saint Muredach’s College, the young Father Jones returned to teach at Summerhill College, Sligo in 1965. In 1971 he spent over a year as Archivist at Saint Mary’s, Sligo, while also serving as Chaplain of Saint Columba’s Hospital, Sligo. He returned to Summerhill College as Spiritual Director from 1973-1979.
Having completed a Diploma in Social Administration in UCD, Bishop Jones was appointed first Director of Sligo Social Services, which was established as a co-ordinated faith response to those on the margins of society in the Sligo region.
Having served for six years as Curate at Rosses Point, Father Jones was appointed Administrator of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo.
During his time as Administrator and later as Bishop, he established very warm and fruitful working relationships with the clergy of the various Christian Churches in the Diocese and especially in the Sligo area.
In 1994 he succeeded Dr Dominic Conway and was ordained bishop on 15 August that year, the Solemnity of the Assumption. and served as Bishop of Elphin for twenty years.
During his time as bishop, pastoral gatherings for teachers, for school principals and for school boards were a regular feature.
One of the high points of his ministry as Bishop was the development of a new campus for the College of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo (Summerhill College), where he, himself, had studied in his teens and where he had taught in the 1960’s.
On the occasion of the opening of the new College campus, he said: The Bishop Christopher Jones Learning Centre, a specialised unit catering for students with autism at Summerhill College, was opened, blessed and named in his honour in 2016.
Since the very earliest days of the Church, service to those in need or “on the margins” has always been an integral part of the ministry of deacons.
He was always close to the homeless and the poor and would always have wanted this to be an integral part of the mission of the Diocese. The first six permanent deacons in Elphin were ordained in 2012 and two more were ordained in December 2017.
Bishop Jones valued very highly the significant contribution of religious sisters in the life of the Diocese, not only for their apostolic work, but also for their witness to prayer and simplicity of life. Speaking of the role of religious in education he said:
It was in response to his invitation to Saint Teresa of Calcutta that the Contemplative branch of the Missionaries of Charity established their community in Sligo in the Jubilee Year 2000.
Bishop Jones was made a Freeman of Sligo in February, 1995.