Our Next Canon Missioner: The Rev. Hailey Jacobsen

I am so pleased to introduce to you our new Canon Missioner, the Rev. Hailey Jacobsen. The wardens and I began a search for a new Canon to join our community as soon as we received the news of Nat Katz’s appointment at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston.

Through the process we received 36 inquiries and applications and found clergy with tremendous gifts and backgrounds with whom we discerned. The Vestry participated in opportunities to meet Hailey and her husband Devin when they visited Paris several weeks ago, and, at our meeting last Tuesday, unanimously endorsed my decision to appoint her to this role. Hailey brings to us a love of ministry that develops the faith of our younger members, a background in stewardship and church fundraising, and a desire to live in France ever since her husband, Devin, and she both served internships at the Anglican parish in Nice.

If all goes well with the visa process (that is already well underway), Hailey will be installed along with me at our All Saints Celebration of Ministry on 5 November. Hailey will focus on developing ministry with children and youth and expanding our practice of stewardship. We look forward to fruitful and joyful ministry together, and I ask you to welcome Devin and Hailey as warmly as you have Eli and me.

James+
Dean and Rector

Biography

The Rev. Hailey Jacobsen currently serves as Associate Rector at St. Paul’s Memorial Church at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA, where she oversees fellowship and pastoral ministries for an intergenerationally-focused parish on the college campus. She attended Virginia Theological Seminary.

Before the priesthood, Hailey’s professional vocation was in non-profit fundraising and church stewardship with a focus on the importance of joy and the power of every gift. Her love of the spiritual practices of gratitude, generosity, and community building grew out of her first job in fundraising at a food bank and found a home in the Church at both The General Theological Seminary and Trinity Church in the City of Boston. In the US, Hailey also served in AmeriCorps at a middle school in a therapy-based program, working primarily with young immigrants and refugees from Central America and the Middle East.

Growing up Roman Catholic in Nashville, TN, Hailey first felt called to be a priest at the age of 10, not knowing that women priests existed. It was at Sewanee: the University of the South where Hailey, while studying English Literature with an emphasis on Renaissance drama and Shakespeare, found three things that would change her life forever: the Episcopal Church, a community of care and support unlike any other she had experienced, and her spouse Devin.

Hailey and Devin have been together 14 years and have lived in many places in the US, including Austin, Nashville, New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. They both served on placement in France in two Anglican parishes in Nice and Vence, where they fell in love with France through the eyes of the churches’ multicultural communities. They are looking forward to calling Paris home.