Jane de Gay is Diocesan Director of Ministry for the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon, and a Priest in the Brecon and Epynt Ministry Area.
Jane returned to her native South Wales in June 2025 from Leeds, where she had spent the first 17 years of her ordained life in a non-stipendiary capacity, combining ministry with a career in academia. She served as Curate, then Associate Priest, at St Martin’s Potternewton, at the heart of Leeds’ Caribbean community, before moving to Leeds Minster where she was Associate Priest and Lecturer.
As an academic, Jane taught at Leeds Trinity University, where she was Professor of English Literature from 2017-2025. She has published widely on the novelist Virginia Woolf, including two books: Virginia Woolf’s Novels and the Literary Past (2006) and Virginia Woolf and Christian Culture (2018). In the latter, she explored the close connections between literature and religion, and she is continuing to develop this synergy by researching literary representations of the afterlife.
Jane has a passion for leading discipleship groups and she has a heart for ecumenical relations: she worked closely with the Chaplaincy at Leeds Trinity University, which has a Catholic foundation, and she worked with Christians of many denominations through Churches Together in Chapeltown and Harehills.
Jane is looking forward to walking in the Brecon Beacons and Gower, playing golf, and exploring the local musical and literary culture.