[3] He joined Opus Dei in 1980,[3] while studying at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées in Paris, where he completed an engineering degree in 1983.

[citation needed] From 1999 to 2001 Jourdan served also as a parochial vicar of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Tallinn.

[6][b] He received his episcopal consecration in Tallinn on 10 September 2005 from Archbishop Peter Stephan Zurbriggen, Apostolic Nuncio to the Baltic states.

[4] In 2019, when Jourdan was asked how the Church should respond to secularization, which is more advanced in Estonia than elsewhere in Europe, he said:[8] I don't agree with an idea present in some Church circles that due to the growing secularization living as a Christian in the society becomes virtually impossible, and Christians should retire in small communities.... A dedicated presence in the world is necessary, based on a realistic, but also hopeful vision of the society, even of a secularized society....On 26 September 2024, he was appointed the first bishop of the Diocese of Tallinn, as the Apostolic Administration of Estonia was raised from an apostolic administration to a diocese.

[13] On 2 February 2021, the Ministry of the Interior awarded him its silver medal for his work on behalf of Church-state relations and for fostering ecumenical cooperation through the Estonian Council of Churches.