I’ve added a picture of Dr. Philip Jacobs (AKA Father Philip Jacobs) to the Father Philip Jacobs page.
The picture is that of Father Jacobs at a formal graduation ceremony at Charles University, Prague.
I now have word that Father Jacobs taught in the Language Department at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics from around 2003 to 2007. Mostly he taught general English for the undergraduate language requirement, but he also taught what is called the First Certificate English preparation class, a more specialized class.
I don’t know how many, if any staff or students at the college knew that he was priest. I do know that some did not know, and that he was viewed by some as a sort of wandering academic.
Apparently the pay at the college wasn’t spectacular, and I am told that Jacobs had fretted that he needed to be thinking about savings and retirement.
It is unknown why he left Charles U, but apparently all English teachers had heard of and talked about about well-paying jobs in the Middle East.
As we know, in 2007 Jacobs landed a job teaching at Jubail College University in Saudi Arabia. Was it better pay which led him from Czechoslovakia to Saudi Arabia? It sounds highly possible.
Was Father Jacobs receiving a stipend from the Victoria Diocese during his wanderings? It’s possible – he was still very much a priest incardinated in that diocese so there was a responsibility on the part of the diocese to ensure he wasn’t starving. I would think that since he was earning a salary he would have no need of a stipend? I just don’t know.
Anyway, another little piece of the Father Phil Jacobs puzzle filled in. If there is any more to add I will pass it along.
Enough for now,
Sylvia