Jean-Paul André Denis Marcel James was born on 14 July 1952 in Rennes.

From 1990 to 1999 he was professor of moral theology at the major seminary of Rennes and head of the Diocesan Vocational Service.

[1] From 1990 on he was also an assistant at a home for the disabled in Bruz, part of the l'Arche network founded by Jean Vanier.

[2] Pope John Paul II named him Bishop of Beauvais on 9 January 2003, and he received his episcopal consecration on 6 April.

He has been a member of the Councils for Interreligious Relations and for New Religious Movements of the Episcopal Conference of France.