Hywel J. Jones, who was elected bishop of the diocese of British Columbia in 1980 and retired four years later, died on April 23 of kidney failure. He was 85.
When he was elected, he said the diocese wasn’t “quite ready” for “lady priests” and was concerned about moral decay in society. “The world’s gone a bit loose,” he said. He described himself as a “pastoral priest” and said he aimed to strengthen parish life. Upon retirement in 1984, he commented that he had been a priest for 42 years “of great happiness.”
Born in Wales, Bishop Jones came to Canada as a boy and earned his L.Th. degree from the College of Emmanuel and St. Chad in Saskatoon. The college awarded him an honourary doctor of divinity degree in 1980. He was ordained in 1942 and served as a parish priest in the diocese of Edmonton until the mid-1940s, when he moved to British Columbia. He served parishes in Qualicum Beach and Colwood and had been the incumbent at St. Mary’s, Oak Bay, in Victoria for 24 years when he was elected bishop. His wife, Dorothy Margaret, died in 1985. Bishop Jones is survived by his son, Peter Hywel, his daughter, Margaret Lindsay, six grandchildren, a sister in Wales and a brother in Saskatoon.