Simon Mark Aiken is Dean of Benoni and rector of St Dunstan's Cathedral in the Diocese of the Highveld. He was previously the 12th Dean of Kimberley and rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, in the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in South Africa. [1] Born in England in 1962, he went to South Africa in 2006, initially as subdean at Bloemfontein Cathedral. [1]
Aiken qualified with a Master of Theology degree from St Andrew's University (1985) and a Certificate in Theology from Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford (1986-1988).
He was made a deacon (1988) and ordained as a priest (1989) in the Diocese of Blackburn.
Aiken served curacies, 1988-1994, at St Matthew with Holy Trinity, Burnley, and St Anne’s at St Annes-on-Sea. Subsequently he was vicar respectively at St Thomas the Apostle, Musbury, Helmshore (1994-1999), and at St Lawrence with St Paul, Longridge, north east of the city of Preston (1999-2006). [2]
An early interest in liturgy led Aiken to researching and revising the compline rite for his theological college and to subsequent engagements in devising liturgies for many contexts and occasions at parish and diocesan levels.
Aiken became involved with the Royal School of Church Music both regionally and at a national level in the United Kingdom, being chaplain for the annual Easter course at Rossall School over a period of 11 years. He is himself a singer and he plays the organ and piano. [1]
Aiken went to South Africa in 2006 to become the subdean at the Cathedral of St Andrew and St Michael in Bloemfontein in the Diocese of the Free State – a diocese having a link relationship with the Diocese of Blackburn.
In 2009 he was invited by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba to be champion for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s Liturgical Transformation Task Team.
As in England, Aiken was soon integrating musical endeavours with the theological and liturgical aspects of the life of the cathedral and he was instrumental in forming a new Free State branch of the Royal School of Church Music centred in Bloemfontein. He forged links between the cathedral and academic institutions in the city, formally as Anglican chaplain to the University of the Free State and the Central University of Technology, as well as through the fostering of musical connections. [1]
Aiken enrolled for a PhD at the University of the Free State, to study African liturgical music.
In 2010 Aiken was invited to be Dean of Kimberley and was installed by Oswald Swartz, bishop of the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman at St Cyprian's Cathedral on 6 November 2010.
In his first sermon as dean, Aiken quoted Archbishop William Temple to remind his listeners that "the Church is the only cooperative society in the world that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members." [3] He spoke of his vision to nurture a generous and welcoming spirit at the cathedral which serves not just its own parish but also the wider city of Kimberley and the diocese. [1]
Aiken has described himself as being "a very embryonic student of Afrikaans" ("what can I say but 'ek probeer' - I try") [4] while having a more fluent command of Sesotho.
His diocesan responsibilities included appointments as the Archdeacon of the Karoo (2011-2012) and as Titular Rector[ clarification needed ] of St Mary's, Barkly West, as well as his role as Canon Missioner for the diocese and as Vicar General (April 2012). [5]
Aiken was appointed Dean of Benoni in 2014 and was instituted and installed as Dean and Rector at St Dunstan's Cathedral on 25 May 2014. Following the retirement of Bishop David Bannerman at the end of January 2015, Aiken was licensed as Vicar General of the Diocese of the Highveld. [6]
The Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and encompasses the area around Kimberley and Kuruman and overlaps the Northern Cape Province and North West Province of South Africa. It is presided over by the Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman, until recently Ossie Swartz. On 19 September 2021 the Electoral College of Bishops elected to translate the Right Revd Brian Marajh of George to become the 13th Bishop of Kimberley & Kuruman. The seat of the Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman is at St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley. There had been so far 12 bishops of the See, though one of these served for two different periods of time.
Wilfrid Gore Browne was an Anglican bishop, the first Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman from 1912 to 1928. He was described as a saintly bishop with "a keen sense of humour" and "a winning courtesy."
Oswald Peter Patrick Swartz is a South African Anglican bishop. He is the twelfth and current Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman.
Kenneth Cyril Oram AKC was an Anglican clergyman who served as Dean of Kimberley and of Grahamstown before his elevation to the episcopacy as Bishop of Grahamstown, 1974 to 1987.
The Cathedral Church of St Cyprian the Martyr, Kimberley, is the seat of the Bishop of the Kimberley and Kuruman, Anglican Church of Southern Africa. The building was dedicated in 1908, becoming a Cathedral when the Synod of Bishops mandated formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in October 1911. The first Bishop, the Rt Revd Wilfrid Gore Browne, was enthroned there on 30 June 1912.
William Thomas Gaul (1850–1927) was Rector of All Saints Church, Du Toit's Pan, Kimberley, afterwards of St Cyprian's Church, Kimberley, Rural Dean of Griqualand West, and Archdeacon in what was still the Diocese of Bloemfontein, before being elected the second Bishop of Mashonaland, where he styled himself "the smallest bishop with the largest diocese in Christendom." He officiated at the funeral of Cecil John Rhodes and helped draft the Rhodes Trust Deed.
Neville Arthur Blachley Borton, M.A. was the second rector of St Cyprian's Church, Kimberley, South Africa, serving from 1876–77, being successor to Fr John Witherston Rickards. He afterwards ran a small church school at St Mary's Barkly West, was appointed principal of St Andrew's, Bloemfontein, and subsequently Vicar of Burwell, Cambridge, where he served until 1920.
Sister Henrietta, CSM and AA was a British nursing pioneer and Anglican religious sister. Through her influence and pressure the first state registration of nurses and midwives in the world was brought about when the Cape of Good Hope Medical and Pharmacy Act of 1891 passed into law. She was a member of the Anglican Community of St Michael and All Angels.
Allan Becher Webb was the second Anglican Bishop of Bloemfontein, afterward Bishop of Grahamstown and, later, Dean of Salisbury.
The Very Revd Thomas Claude Robson was the first Anglican Dean of Kimberley, and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, South Africa.
The Reverend Canon Robin Roy Snyman was a priest in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, who served as Dean of Kimberley and rector of St Cyprian’s Cathedral, and afterwards was Vice-Provost at the Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin, Port Elizabeth. He was born at Waterval Boven, in what is now Mpumalanga in 1934. He died in Port Elizabeth on 15 September 2020.
The Very Revd John Ranulph Vincent was Dean of Bloemfontein, in South Africa, from 1892; and afterwards of Grahamstown, 1912–1914.
Arthur Henry Attwell was Bishop of Sodor and Man from 1983 to 1988. He served as Dean of Kimberley, South Africa, from 1953 to 1959 and afterwards as Rector of Workington, Cumberland.
The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Barkly West, was for some years the principal Anglican parish on the Diamond Fields, South Africa, and the churches established soon afterwards at the Dry Diggings – what would become Kimberley – were at first mere outstations.
George Arthur Pullen was Dean of Kimberley and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, South Africa.
Justus Mauritius Marcus was Regional Bishop of Saldanha Bay in the Diocese of Cape Town, 2002 to 2003, having served as Dean of Kimberley and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral from 1992 to 2002. He died from cancer, aged 48, on 1 December 2003. Marcus was predeceased by his first wife, Milly. His second wife and widow is Sarah Rowland Jones, a fellow priest who then fulfilled a research ministry in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa at the behest of two successive Archbishops of Cape Town before returning to Wales in late 2013.
Brian Victor Beck, an Anglican priest in South Africa, served as Dean of Kimberley from 2003 to 2010. He is an Honorary Canon of St Cyprian's Cathedral.
Alan John Butler, a Director of the Kuruman Moffat Mission in Kuruman, South Africa, and Canon of Kimberley Cathedral, was a priest who served in the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman for a major part of the second half of the twentieth century. He was responsible for the restoration of the historic Moffat Mission precinct which became renowned as a conservation area and as a beacon of hope in the troubled last years of Apartheid. He was born in the United Kingdom in 1930 and died at Wimborne on 13 January 2011.
Theophilus Naledi is a retired Bishop of Botswana in the Church of the Province of Central Africa, who was born at Bothithong near Vryburg in South Africa in 1936.
Mphashane Reginald Leeuw is the 13th Dean of Kimberley and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, in the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in South Africa. Leeuw was born in Barkly West, Northern Cape, and served in several parishes in the diocese prior to his appointment as Dean.
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