Wilma Jakobsen
Senior Associate
Children, Youth & Families
626.583.2762
wjakobsen@allsaints-pas.org

Sabbath Day: Monday

Wilma Jakobsen was born and educated in Cape Town, South Africa, and is a former high school physical science and math teacher. In the mid 1980s she sojourned in Pasadena for 3 years while obtaining a Master of Divinity from Fuller Seminary, and discovering the energy and joy of All Saints Church, where she led the junior high group, Taize prayers and worked with Clarke Oler in the newcomer ministry.

Wilma was the first women deacon and priest ordained by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the Anglican Church in Southern Africa. She worked for 15 years in the Diocese of Cape Town, in parishes ranging from black townships to the cathedral to a rural parish with fishing communities and farm communities.  She was involved as an anti apartheid activist in church and faith based organizations, and has some interesting stories to tell from her stint as chaplain to Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his last 2 years of office. After that exciting job she lived in New York for a year, where she obtained a Master of Sacred Theology from Union Theological Seminary. Essays by her on feminist theology and liturgy, and on her journey of vocation, appear in various anthologies. She was the university chaplain at UCT, University of Cape Town for 6 years before joining the staff of All Saints Church Pasadena in 2003 as Senior Associate for Liturgy and Peace & Justice.