The Right Rev Alwyn Rice Jones

Alwyn Rice Jones, priest: born Capel Curig, Caernarvonshire 25 March 1934; ordained deacon 1958, priest 1959; Director of Education, Diocese of Bangor 1965-75; Diocesan Warden of Ordinands 1970-75; Vicar of Porthmadog 1975-79; Examining Chaplain to Archbishop of Wales 1970-79; Honorary Canon, Bangor Cathedral 1974-78; Prebendary of Llanfair 1978-79; Dean of Brecon Cathedral 1979-82; Bishop of St Asaph 1982-99; Archbishop of Wales 1991-99; died St Asaph, Denbighshire 12 August 2007.

There were many occasions where the characteristic bushy eyebrows of Alwyn Rice Jones, former Archbishop of Wales, were raised in patient puzzlement or outright bewilderment at the problems he faced within the Church. But there was one notable occasion this year when they were positively dancing on his face as his eyes sparkled with joy. That was in January at a service at St Asaph Cathedral to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood in the Church in Wales.

It was little wonder the service meant so much to him. The ordination of women had been a campaign he had adopted as his own when he became Archbishop in 1991. It had by no means been easy - many of his colleagues opposed what was then such a radical departure for the Church. It required determination, strength of character, diplomacy and courage of conviction - all qualities that the archbishop possessed and had honed during the decades of his ministry.

After the first attempt failed in 1994, Jones brought the measure before the Church's governing body once more. This time it succeeded in gaining the necessary two-thirds majority in all three houses. Ten years on, those women whose ministry he began celebrated with him in style at the service in January.

In 1996, not a single cleric left the Church in Wales as a result of the bill, and that in no small measure was due to the way in which he handled opponents. Although he received a number of unpleasant letters about the issue, Jones was always gracious and courteous in his responses and that won him the respect and even the affection of those who vehemently disagreed with him on the issue. It was also during his time as Archbishop that divorced people were allowed to remarry in church, ending years of uncertainty and dispute as to whether the Church in Wales could allow such a step.

Those two things alone make his archiepiscopate memorable. Under a different archbishop, neither might have happened, since they engendered, and still engender, controversy, not only in Wales but in other provinces of the Anglican Communion. That is not to say that Bishop Alwyn relished controversy or wanted to leave his mark; simply that these were issues that needed resolution, and he was willing to give time to make that possible because he believed that these were the right steps for the Church to take.

Alwyn Rice Jones was born in Capel Curig in Snowdonia in 1934 and after attending the grammar school at Llanrwst, read Welsh at St David's College, Lampeter, a Welsh Church College, as it was then, where he graduated in 1955. In 1957 he graduated in theology from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and went on to train for the ordained ministry at St Michael's College, Llandaff. In 1958 he was made deacon in his native diocese of Bangor.

After an initial curacy, he served with the Student Christian Movement in Wales and then became Director of Education for the diocese of Bangor for 10 years from 1965. He was to retain a keen interest in education, serving as a school chaplain at St Winifred's, Llanfairfechan, and youth chaplain of the diocese. When St Mary's Church College, Bangor closed, and a trust set up with the proceeds of sale, he became its secretary, since one of its aims was to foster religious education in Wales. He also served as joint secretary of the Standing Committee on Theological Education, an inter-denominational body.

The then Bishop of Bangor, Gwilym Williams, himself later to become Archbishop of Wales, spotted Jones's talents and came to rely on him increasingly, appointing him in turn Warden of Ordinands, his examining chaplain and a canon of Bangor Cathedral.

It was 1973 that Jones became a member of the religious advisory panel on the Independent Broadcasting Authority and this served him well when he became chair of the Religious Advisory Committee of S4C, the Welsh language channel in 1991.

His pastoral gifts and natural warmth came to the fore when he became incumbent in Porthmadog in 1975. He was to remain there for a comparatively short period, since the new Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, Bishop "Binni" Vaughan, who had served in Bangor as Dean, appointed him as the Dean of Brecon in 1979. Here, too, he was only to serve for a short while before his election as bishop, but they were three eventful years as he threw himself into the life of cathedral and diocese.

He and his wife Meriel, wherever they served, were generous with their hospitality and also had the knack of befriending people who needed support. Alwyn Rice Jones himself had been orphaned at 14 and the importance of sharing their life as a family was deeply engrained in him.

At Brecon, not only was Jones a good pastor but he made a point of getting on with the Cathedral Chapter, whose canons came for a month at a time to take up residential duties. In this way, and by his willingness to address gatherings throughout the diocese, he fostered links between diocese and cathedral, not easy when the Cathedral is remote from the most populous part of the diocese.

In 1982, at the age of 48, he was elected Bishop of St Asaph, where he remained for 17 years. For the last eight of these he was also Archbishop of Wales, since the primacy in Wales is always combined with the See of whichever diocesan is elected archbishop.

The pastoral care of his clergy was at the top of Jones's list of priorities and both they and the laity enjoyed his visits to parishes because of his friendliness, his sense of humour, his engaging smile and his refusal to take himself too seriously. He knew by name most of the leading lay people in every parish and was keen to promote a programme of training for readers, worship leaders and pastoral assistants.

He had always played a leading role in ecumenical affairs. He was secretary of the Gwynedd Ecumenical Forum, set up to sponsor ecumenism at local level after the passing of the Covenant between the Church in Wales and some of the Nonconformist churches in 1975. He was later to chair the Commission of Covenanting Churches (Enfys) from 1985 to 1987 and was responsible for sponsoring a Bill for Local Ecumenical Projects in 1991, which allowed for the creation of local ecumenical partnerships and greater freedom in worship between churches. He also fostered close relationships with the Roman Catholic Church at parish level in Porthmadog and by allowing the use of the parish church at Ruabon by the local Catholic community.

As Archbishop, Jones engaged with the wider Church, attending the World Council of Churches Assembly in Canberra in 1991, and as a member of the Anglican Consultative Council in Capetown in 1993. He was also a member of the Finance Committee of the Communion and was a popular figure at Primates' Meetings because of his friendliness and ease of manner. At the Lambeth Conference 1998, he hosted a special Welsh cultural evening. He persuaded the entire Welsh Bench, including the present occupant of the See of Canterbury, to entertain the assembled bishops either by singing or telling jokes.

He could be trenchant in his criticism of government policy, opposing the bombing of Kosovo, for example, when few others did. In Wales, he was a keen supporter of devolution and was deeply embedded in Welsh culture and literature, being a member of the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards and a keen attender at the National Eisteddfod, Wales's premier cultural event.

His time as archbishop took its toll on him, however, as it had on more than one of his predecessors, with constant journeys from St Asaph to Cardiff and the combination of a geographically spread-out diocese with his wider provincial responsibilities. He retired shortly after his 65th birthday, and was cared for in ill-health by his wife Meriel, who had supported him throughout his ministry.

Barry Morgan