Vanessa has been serving First Church since 2013, and the congregation voted her Senior Pastor in 2022. She loves being a part of the First Church community and is honored by the trust the congregation has placed in her, the first woman to serve as Pastor in our church’s 384 years.
She previously served as our Minister of Children and Families, Associate Pastor, and Co-Pastor with our Pastor Emeritus, The Rev. David W. Spollett. She loves our long history of being Open and Affirming and a Servant Church. She believes the that church has a unique calling to proclaim the love of God for all people.
Vanessa is a graduate of Boston College and Yale Divinity School. While studying at YDS, Vanessa worked at the Yale University Art Gallery. She also served as an interfaith hospital chaplain at Yale New-Haven Hospital for her Clinical Pastoral Education.
Vanessa is faithful in her support of First Church’s partners, including First Baptist of Stratford, Operation Hope, Make the Road, Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants (CIRI), CONECT, The IRRC, and Mercy Learning Center, among others. She also loves to strengthen First Church’s interfaith and ecumenical relationships.
Vanessa and her husband Matthew Dolan have been married for 17 years. They are raising their 4 children in Fairfield and, when not at church, can be found at PTA meetings, on the sidelines of games, in the audience of school plays, or playing on the beach beside the sound. Vanessa loves to spend time with her family and to hike, paint, swim, and read.
