Bishop Jacques Fabre, Bishop of Charleston, was born 71 years ago

Jacques Fabre-Jeune, a Scalabrinian priest who became Bishop of Charleston, was born in Port-au-Prince 71 years ago, on November 13, 1955.

Education across three countries

Having arrived in the United States as a teenager, he finished his secondary education in New York. He studied at St. John's University, then at St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto, before earning a master's degree in theology and a licentiate in migration studies in Rome. As a novice, he served in a mission in Mexico. On October 10, 1986, Wilton Gregory ordained him a priest of the Missionaries of St. Charles.

Serving migrants

He was a vicar in Immokalee, Florida, from 1986 to 1990, then chaplain for Haitian refugees at Guantánamo in 1990. From 1991 to 2004, he was a parish priest in San Pedro de Macorís. He then served in Georgia, where he led the San Felipe de Jesús mission in Forest Park and oversaw the construction of a new church, which was inaugurated in April 2011. He also became superior of the Scalabrinians in Atlanta.

First African American Bishop of Charleston

Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Charleston on February 22, 2022. Consecrated by Cardinal Wilton Gregory, he was installed on May 13, 2022. He is the first African American to hold this seat. He speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Creole.