The Assisting Priest

The Reverend Jacquelyn Gilbert Rowe, ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida in 1998, has recently retired as Rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Red Bank, New Jersey. She has also served as rector in the following churches: St. Clement, Belford, N.J., Church of the Good Shepherd, Mobile, Alabama, and St. George’s Episcopal Church, Riviera Beach, Florida. She also served as Executive Director of Christ Episcopal Church Community Center, Toms River, NJ.

Her ordination followed a career in Miami-Dade County Government, where she worked in the Personnel, Fire Rescue, and Community Action Agency (CAA) Departments. At CAA, Mother Jackie served as Head Start Preschool Teacher, Head Start Center Director, and as Curriculum Specialist and Equal Opportunity Officer. A member of the Leadership Miami Class of 1994, she received an award for her work with Haitian immigrants. She was a founding member of the Florida Association of Professional Firefighters, and was awarded for her work in Civil Rights by the National Association of Black Professional Firefighters, the National Association of Black Fire Chiefs, National Association of Equal Opportunity Officers, and the Florida Association for Community Action.

Mother Jackie received her Master of Divinity Degree from the General Theological Seminary, New York City, where she completed an internship with the homeless of New York City and residents of the Lower Eastside Manhattan, as she assisted with St. Michaels and All Angels on the Upper Westside and with Christian Education at St Augustine Episcopal Church, NY. She has also participated in missionary work in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and travelled to Madagascar, and South Africa.

A passionate grandmother, Mother Jackie has served on a number of vestries and community boards focusing on youth and children, including the vestries of St. Kevin’s, Opa Locka, and Church of the Ascension, Miami, Volunteer Executive Director, South Dade Community Cultural Arts Task Force, and Executive Director of the Miriam Dean Pratt Community Center. Mother Jackie has also served as Chaplain in a number of capacities including Disaster Response, Cursillo, Happening, and her beloved Daughters of the King.

She has two sons, Daniel and Derrick, and six grandchildren. She loves preaching, teaching, singing, and spending time with her grandchildren. Mother Jackie has sung with the Miami Oratorio Society as well as the Palm Beach Chorale.