Colin Jones (full name Colin Vivian Jones) is a South African Anglican priest who served as Dean of St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town from 1988 to 1995.
Biography
Colin Jones was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He studied theology at the Federal Theological Seminary in Alice, South Africa, graduating as an Associate of the seminary in 1975. He was ordained to the Anglican priesthood in June 1976 and served in several parishes in the Diocese of Cape Town.
From 1983 to 1986, he served as chaplain to the University of the Western Cape. During this period, he served on the boards of two Anglican children's homes (Leliebloem Home and St. Francis Home) and was a co-founder of the Homestead Project, an agency for street children in Cape Town.
He was made a canon of St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town, and served as an advisor to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In 1987, Tutu sent Jones to Oregon, USA, where he served on the staff of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Portland. In September 1988, Tutu recalled Jones to South Africa to take up the position of Dean of Cape Town and Vicar-General of the Diocese of Cape Town.
Notable Contributions
As Dean, Jones initiated the first commemoration service for World AIDS Day to be held in a South African church. He helped establish several AIDS projects, including a hospice, and assisted in founding the AIDS support organisation Wola Nani, which grew into a nationally recognised agency. The cathedral also hosted the first AIDS Commemoration Quilt Project in South Africa.
Jones resigned as Dean in 1996 and spent the next seven years working in socio-economic development with the Independent Development Trust and the Equal Opportunity Foundation, focusing on South Africa's rural poor. He served on several national commissions, including the Commission for Remuneration of Public Office Bearers (appointed by President Nelson Mandela) and as Chair for the Restructuring of South African Museums.
In 2003, he was appointed by Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane as Executive Officer of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa and senior advisor on socio-political affairs and HIV/AIDS. He later directed the Anglican Church's AIDS ministry across Southern Africa, including South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola, and the mid-Atlantic islands.
Recognition
Jones was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Divinity by Adrian College, Michigan, USA, in 1987 for his anti-apartheid activist work in South Africa.
