Pope Francis has appointed Reverend Jacques E. Fabre, C.S., as Bishop-elect of Charleston, South Carolina. Bishop-elect Fabre is a priest of the religious order, the Missionaries of St. Charles (Scalabrinian Fathers), and currently serves as administrator at San Felipe de Jesús Mission in Forest Park, Georgia, and as the local superior of the Scalabrinian priests in Atlanta, Georgia.
Father Fabre was born November 13, 1955, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He immigrated to New York City while he was in high school and completed his secondary school education. He attended St. John’s University (Jamaica, New York); St. Michael’s College (Toronto, Ontario, Canada); Chicago Theological Union (Hyde Park, Illinois); and Scalabrini House of Theology (Chicago, Illinois). He received a Master’s in Divinity and a Licentiate in Human Mobility (migration) from the Pontifical Urbaniana College in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood in Brooklyn, New York on October 10, 1986, for the Community of Missionaries of St. Charles.
Bishop-elect Fabre’s assignments after ordination include parochial vicar at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Immokalee, Florida (1986-1990); chaplain to the Haitian refugees at Guantanamo Base, Cuba (1990-1991); pastor at San Pedro de Macorís parish in the Dominican Republic (1991-2004); parochial vicar at St. Joseph’s parish in Athens, Georgia (2006-2008); parochial vicar at Holy Trinity parish in Peachtree City, Georgia (2008-2010); and administrator at San Felipe de Jesús Mission in Forest Park, Georgia (2010-present).
Since 2010, Bishop-elect Fabre has also served as a member of the Archdiocese of Atlanta’s Finance Council, the Budget and Operations Committee, the Projects Review Committee, and as Director and Spiritual Director to the Hispanic Charismatic Renewal. He is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Creole.
Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., of Atlanta said Father Fabre is a talented priest and will be a wonderful new shepherd of that local church.
“I wish to offer my sincere congratulations and blessings to the people of the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina,” said the archbishop about the bishop-designate. His devotion to those on the margins–especially refugees, immigrants, and detainees–tells you a little something about his commitment to the work of the church. He encouraged and accompanied the members of San Felipe de Jesus parish, in Forest Park, Georgia, as they raised their own funds to build a sanctuary for their congregation.
“While we will miss him here in the Archdiocese of Atlanta, this appointment is great news for the Diocese of Charleston and the church in America.”
The Diocese of Charleston is comprised of 31,189 square miles in the state of South Carolina and has a total population of 5,148,714 of which 192,764 are Catholic.
