Courtesy photo
The Rev. Dr. Yolanda A. Rolle
The Rev. Dr. Yolanda A. Rolle has been named to serve as missioner for youth and young adults and will begin her new position on the diocesan staff on Aug. 1.
She succeeds the Rev. H. Mark Smith, who retired from the diocesan staff in January.
Rolle will be relocating from Washington, D.C., where she is currently a mathematics teacher at the Sidwell Friends School and also serves as Episcopal chaplain at Howard University and as an associate priest at St. George's Church.
This is a return to the Diocese of Massachusetts for her, as she was sponsored for ordination by Emmanuel Church in Boston and was ordained a transitional deacon in 2015 by Bishop Gayle E. Harris. She was ordained to the priesthood in 2016 in the Diocese of Washington by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde.
"The leaders of the different constituencies that this position serves and I are very excited that Yolanda has accepted this call," Harris said. "She brings a wealth of experience, energy, wisdom and grace. Our diocese will be enriched with her presence again."
Rolle is a member of the Board of Trustees of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, where she received a Master of Divinity degree in 2015. She also serves as a nave chaplain at the Washington National Cathedral and is a member of the Commission on Ministry of the Diocese of Washington.
Prior to attending seminary, she studied at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, from which she holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, a master's degree in mathematics and a Ph.D. in mathematics. She has held assistant professorships at the University of the Bahamas, in mathematics, and the Boston University School of Education, and has also taught upper school mathematics at St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, Md.
Her past ecclesial experience includes service at St. Luke's Church and Holy Comforter Church, both in Washington, D.C., and at Christ Episcopal School in Rockville, Md.
She is married to Simone, and they have a son, Elijah.