Mark John Peter Jabalé OSB (16 October 1933 – 9 May 2025) was a British Roman Catholic prelate, who served as

Bishop of Menevia The Bishop of Menevia was the ordinary of the Diocese of Menevia in the Province of Cardiff in the Catholic Church in Wales. The Diocese of Menevia covered an area of roughly consisting of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot, ...

. He was installed as bishop on 12 June 2001.

Biography

Jabalé was born in Alexandria, Egypt and was a pupil at Belmont Abbey School. Upon finishing Sixth Form he immediately became a monk at the Abbey and later studied French at university in Switzerland. He continued as a monk at Belmont and began teaching and coaching sport at his old school. He became Headmaster in 1969 and left that role in 1983. While teaching at Belmont Abbey School, he began coaching rowing, eventually coaching a GB crew to the

1979 World Rowing Championships The 1979 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August – 9 September 1979 at Bled in Slovenia, Yugoslavia. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table This table does not include th ...

where his

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

Men's

Coxless Four A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...

won a gold medal. In the late 1970s, he also coached the

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

crew in the early stages of a winning streak from 1976 to 1985. In 1985, while actually in Peru himself, he was elected a Steward of

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a Rowing (sport), rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It diffe ...

. He remained a Steward, and in 1986 was the first Roman Catholic to preach at St. Mary's, Henley, at the Regatta Service. In 2018, he was the preacher at a service commemorating 200 years of

Leander Club Leander Club, founded in 1818, is one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, and the oldest non-academic club. It is based in Remenham in Berkshire, England and adjoins Henley-on-Thames. Only three other surviving clubs were founded prior ...

. He became

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of Belmont in 1993, and then

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of Menevia from 7 November 2000.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

accepted his resignation as Bishop of Menevia on 16 October 2008, Jabalé having reached the upper age limit of seventy-five. He was succeeded by Bishop Tom Burns, formerly Bishop to the Forces. On 13 March 2009, Bishop Jabalé was inducted as parish priest of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in

Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswolds in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 201 ...

, by the

Archbishop of Birmingham The Archbishop of Birmingham heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham in England. As such he is the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Birmingham. The archdiocese covers an area of and spans of the counties of Oxfordshire, ...

Vincent Nichols Vincent Gerard Nichols (born 8 November 1945) is an English Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Westminster since 2009. He was the Archbishop of Birmingham from 2000 to 2009 and is president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference ...

. In August 2020 he retired from parochial life and returned to reside at Belmont Abbey. Bishop Jabalé died on 9 May 2025 at the Hereford County Hospital.

References

External links

Catholic Hierarchy Biodata
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jabale, Mark 1933 births 2025 deaths People from Alexandria Roman Catholic bishops of Menevia 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Wales Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II Stewards of Henley Royal Regatta Welsh Benedictines Benedictine bishops Egyptian bishops

Biography

See also

References

External links