Jacques Eric Fabre-Jeune, C.S., known before May 2022 as Jacques Fabre, (born November 13, 1955) is a Haitian-born American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as bishop of the Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina since 2022.
Fabre-Jeune is the first African American to become bishop of Charleston and the first Haitian-American to head a diocese. Since becoming a priest with the Scalabrinians in 1986, Fabre-Jeune has worked in Florida and Georgia, the Dominican Republic, and briefly at a refugee camp at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.
Biography
Early life
Jacques Fabre-Jeune was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on November 13, 1955; he had five siblings.[1] He emigrated to the United States as a teenager and completed high school in New York City. He attended St. John's University in New York, then went to Saint Michael's College in Toronto, Ontario.[2]As a Scalabrini novice, Fabre-Jeune worked at one of their missions in Mexico.[3][4]
On October 10, 1986, Fabre-Jeune was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn by Auxiliary Bishop Wilton D. Gregory at St. Theresa of Avila Church in Brooklyn.[1]
After his ordination, the Scalabrini Order sent Fabre-Jean to serve at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Immokalee, Florida. In 1990, he was assigned as a chaplain to Haitian refugees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. During an incident at the base, ten military police officers said that Fabre-Jean attempted to stop them from removing a Haitian man from a cell, resulting in a scuffle. [2][6]
In 1991, the Scalabrini Order selected Fabre-Jean to serve as pastor of a parish in San Pedro de Macorís in the Dominican Republic. He remained there until 2004.[2] In 2006, he was sent to Georgia to serve as parochial vicar in two parishes:
Also in 2009, Fabre-Jean was named administrator at San Felipe de Jesús Mission in Forest Park.[2] He led the congregation in self-financing the construction of a new church, dedicated in April 2011.[7]
From 2010 to 2022, Fabre-Jeune served the archdiocese as a member of its finance council, budget and operations committee, projects review committee, and as director of the Hispanic Charismatic Renewal.[5] The Scalabrini Order named him the head of their community in Atlanta.[2]
Bishop of Charleston
Pope Francis appointed Fabre-Jeune as bishop for the Diocese of Charleston on February 22, 2022.[2][1] He is the first African-American man named to the position and the first member of a religious order.[8] He is the second Haitian-American bishop and the first to head a diocese.[3][9] Fabre-Jeune was consecrated a bishop by Cardinal Wilton Gregory and installed in Charleston on May 13, 2022.[10]
Fabre-Jeune is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Creole.[2] He has called English his "third language".[3]