Rev. Davette Turk: 'Jacksonville's Mother Teresa'
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is being republished with a corrected name of a church.
The Rev. Davette Turk, the recipient of HandsOn Jacksonville's 2010 Edward R. Hayes Award for unity in action, has been forging peace and unity in Jacksonville for 30 years.
Ordained as the first woman priest in Florida more than 20 years ago, she has continued blazing a trail of love and compassion ever since. Now she is being honored for her life's work by receiving one of HandsOn Jacksonville's highest awards.
"D avette Turk is a fearless woman who loves God," said Hayes, for whom the award is named.
In 1991, while Turk was an assistant rector at All Saints Episcopal, she decided to walk into Southside Church of God in Christ, a Pentecostal church, in her clergy attire. The service came to an awkward pause as the pastor recognized the visitor.
"I don't know why I'm here," Turk said. "But God told me to come to this church."
The visit was the beginning of what would become Reconcile Jacksonville, a movement that seeks to bring churches of different denominations and ethnicities together to promote understanding and foster a sense of community. But the effort would not be without its challenges.
"Bringing the Episcopal and Pentecostal churches together is like trying to part the St. Johns River," Hayes said.
However, this was not Turk's first bout with difficulty.
"She marched with Martin Luther King," said Kevin Gay, founder of Operation New Hope. "She was on the FBI's undesirable list in the '50s."
Through Turk's prodding and help, Gay started his organization, which seeks to rebuild communities by giving low-income residents business knowledge and assistance.
"I was driving a nice BMW and she said, 'Get in your fancy little car, drive to the Northside for a week, drive around and see how the other part of Jacksonville is living and then call me," Gay said.
In addition to her groundbreaking work with Reconcile Jacksonville and Operation New Hope, Turk has also been a chaplain with The Sanctuary on 8th Street for a generation, a part of the Monique Burr Foundation that provides social services and educational assistance to inner-city children in Florida.
To secure funds for the operation, Turk adopted some unconventional methods. Once, she convinced a group of leading women of the community, including politicians' wives, to visit The Sanctuary on 8th Street. As the women pulled up in their Cadillacs and Hummers, something rang out.
"Oh, I think someone had a backfire," Turk said as she ushered them inside."Of course I knew it was a gunshot."
Turk instructed the women to sit down in a chair and prepared for the children to come in and meet them.
"I told them to look into the eyes of one of these children and ask yourself, 'if this child was my child, what would I be willing to do for them?'"
According to Turk, some of the women continued to visit and donate to the program.
As with The Sanctuary on 8th Street, Turk has dedicated her life to bringing the people of Jacksonville together.She has earned the title of Mother in the Pentecostal Church and revered by people of all denominations.
"She," Hayes said, "is Jacksonville's Mother Theresa."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Rev. Davette Turk: 'Jacksonville's Mother Teresa'
