First woman to become Episcopal priest in Florida, Mother Teresa of Jacksonville dies at 87
The Rev. Mother Davette Turk was a former nun who left the Catholic church to marry and have a family and later became the first female Episcopal priest in Florida.
Rev. Turk, who died July 19 at age 87 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease, also was a revered social activist who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and was known as the "Mother Teresa of Jacksonville."
In a bid for interfaith unity, she once walked into a Pentecostal church in her Episcopal clergy attire, saying God told her to go there. She co-founded the 1990s movement called Reconcile Jacksonville, which promoted interracial interaction and brought many white and Black churches together.
"I believe in shaking things up. Jesus shook a lot of people up, and I believe in shaking people up for the sake of love," she once said. "Jesus went uphill. Jesus was always pushing the limit."
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The Rt. Rev. Samuel Johnson Howard, bishop of the Florida Diocese, said she was "an important historical figure in our diocese and local community."
"We give thanks to God for the life and ministry of Mother Davette Turk," he said. "As the first female Episcopalian priest in the entire state of Florida, she was a trailblazer whose love for God and everyone around her shined through and made a significant impact on Jacksonville, our diocese and the larger church. She was a dear friend of mine and will be dearly missed."
Rev. Turk's life will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Aug. 19 at All Saint’s Episcopal Church, 4171 Hendricks Ave. in Jacksonville.
Once Sister Regina, Turk blazed the trail for women as priests
Born Aug. 27, 1935, the Rev. Turk was the oldest of four children. She began her activism in the early 1960s in her hometown of Philadelphia as Sister Regina, a Catholic nun who "promoted Ecumenism, peace and the healing of racial disparity," according to her obituary. "She spoke out for interracial justice … always emphasizing that Philadelphia was known as 'The City of Brotherly Love' and that peace must prevail."
After 20 years as a nun, she became director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference for Social Justice in 1973 and met then-Father Richard Turk. After leaving the Catholic church, they married in 1975 and came to Jacksonville in 1980. Richard Turk, long active in prison ministries, among other things, died in 2011.
To their two children, they explained their bold decision to leave the Catholic church in simple terms.
"They basically just said they fell in love and wanted to start a family," son Ryan Turk said.
Rev. Turk was ordained in 1985. Then, she was the only one: now, 69 of the Florida Diocese's 195 ordained clergy are women, according to the diocese.
"There was a lot of controversy," her late husband told the Times-Union upon her 25th anniversary of her ordination. "There was one priest who said she would be ordained over his dead body."
In an interview with the Times-Union for the same event, Rev. Turk said she was not offended by those who were upset.
"I live in the present moment. … I love everybody," she said. "There were many times when people were angry with the [interfaith and race relations] work I was doing in the city."
But she kept it up, she said, because "we ought to be loving each other and the only way to love someone is to reach out."
'Rock-solid faith' grounded her community work
Rev. Turk served as an assistant pastor at All Saints Episcopal Church in Jacksonville and assistant rector and later rector of Redeemer Episcopal Church. She also worked in the community, including as director of reconciliation ministries at FreshMinistries, a local nonprofit that works to eliminate poverty by empowering communities and individuals.
At FreshMinistries, she helped initiate Beaver Street Enterprise Center, a local business incubator. She also supported the Monique Burr Foundation for Children, The Sanctuary on 8th Street, Stetson Kennedy Foundation, OneJax and Operation New Hope, among other things.
"Mother Davette’s work in the arena of race relations was significant and extremely positive. Her impact in the world, however, reached far beyond any one issue," said the Rev. Robert Vernon Lee III, a fellow Episcopal priest and founder and CEO of FreshMinistries. "She had a rock-solid faith — born out of an extremely deep relationship with God — that made her a force for good in a multitude of arenas."
She had a special place in her heart for the poor, the weak and the disenfranchised, he said.
"Her extraordinary gift was to break down barriers that separate people and communities," Lee said. "Being as much at home with the powerful as the forgotten, she had the ability to connect the two."
Among the powerful people she counseled was Kevin Gay, who was then an insurance salesman. He often took international mission trips until Rev. Turk urged him to look closer to home because Jacksonville had plenty of people in need. He went on to found Jacksonville nonprofit Operation New Hope, a national model for easing ex-offenders back into their communities.
"She was bold in her faith. It’s what caught my eye," he said. "She was deeply committed to justice … big on civil rights issues. She didn’t just preach it she lived it."
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Reconcile Jacksonville came to be when the city was struggling with racial unrest. The movement partnered white and Black churches.
"Our churches would break bread together, each pastor would preach at the other church and the kids from both churches would go the Cub Scouts and summer camps together," Gay said. "She was way ahead of her time. She taught me to … take our own struggles and use them as a foundation to be more empathetic in helping others."
One of the forgotten people she counseled was a homeless man named James, according to son Ryan.
"When Mom worked downtown … James was always there in the morning near the parking lot and he would make sure Mom got inside OK," he said. "And everyday at 4 p.m. he would walk back and be there just to make sure she safely got to her car. And she loved him and she would have lunch with him once or twice a week and bring him some food and sit and eat with him. She always said, 'Jesus was a homeless man, it’s so important that we take care of them.'"
Michelle Hughes was her assistant at FreshMinistries.
"Her motto was preach the gospel and when necessary use less words," Hughes said. "She untiredly and unselfishly worked to bring reconciliation between the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. … Mother Davette never accepted no as an answer. She was very aggressive yet humble in her approach in making sure all people are treated the same and have the same opportunity in life."
Early-life tragedy led to the church
Nurturing apparently came naturally, despite Rev. Turk's lack of an example for motherhood. When she was a child, a fatal fire led to her family being split up. At age 7 or 8, she was sent to a convent, according to her son.
"She didn't know a lot about being a mother, but she did a great job," Ryan Turk said. "... In the hardest times in my life, when I was struggling with addiction, she was always there for me and never gave up on me. If I called her and said I needed her, she would cancel all her appointments and come pick me up and take me to lunch and be there for me. She loved her family."
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Her legacy, he said, is love.
"What meant the most to her was just love. God is love," he said, noting that she defined the word through its letters, l for listen, o for open, v for value and e for encourage. "She was all about God is love."
Among her many awards was the diocese's highest honor, the Bishop’s Cross Award, which she received in 2020. The annual award is given to members of the diocese who "have given most generously of their God-given time, talent or treasure toward the support, upbuilding and strengthening of the life of the Diocese," according to the diocese website.
In 2011 she also received Hands-On Jacksonville's Edward R. Hayes Award for unity in action.
Rev. Turk was preceded in death by her parents, siblings Coeli and Christopher, husband Richard, daughter Melissa and grandson Liam. She is survived by her brother David, son Ryan and his wife Angela and three grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to organizations she supported.
bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Florida's first female Episcopal priest dies in Jacksonville at 87
