Clergy & STAFF

John Howard Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida

The 8th Bishop of the Diocese of Florida
The Right Reverend Samuel Johnson Howard

The Right Reverend Samuel Johnson Howard, a native of North Carolina, was elected bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida on May 16, 2003 and was consecrated at St. John's Cathedral, Jacksonville, November 1, 2003.

He was instituted as 8th bishop of the Diocese of Florida on January 29th, 2004.

Bishop Howard served as vicar of Trinity Church Wall Street, New York, since December of 1997. Active in church and community activities, Bishop Howard served as president of John Heuss House, a homeless drop- in shelter in downtown Manhattan, and as a board member of St. Margaret's House, which furnishes housing for the elderly and mobility- impaired in New York. He also served on the board of the Downtown Alliance, a local community site, transportation ad public services.

Prior to moving to New York, Bishop Howard was rector of St. James' Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Before that he was Assistant to the Rector of Holy Comforter in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bishop Howard graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1989. He practiced law in Raleigh, North Carolina from 1976 through 1986, serving as Assistant United States Attorney and Lead Attorney for the Federal Drug Enforcement Task Force for the Eastern District of North Carolina. In that role, he established and directed the Federal Public Defender office in that state. He also served as an attorney on the staff of the United States Senate Commerce Committee.

In addition to being an alumnus of Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, he is a graduate of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and of the Law School of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Bishop Howard and his wife Marie have two sons: Augustus, age 22, a graduate student at Cambridge University in England and Charles, age 18, a freshman at Williams College.

Edward Harrison Dean of Saint John's Cathedral - Episcopal Church Jacksonville

The Very Reverend Edward H. Harrison

Our Dean, Edward Harrison, is the third generation of his family to serve as an Episcopal priest. Born in Jacksonville, in 1951, his childhood and youth were lived in Cleveland, Ohio; Jackson, Mississippi and Ft. Walton Beach, Florida.

Following high school, Dean Harrison served in the U.S. Army as a Special Forces (Green Berets) Medic during the Viet Nam War. He graduated from The University of the South (Sewanee), with a B.A. in Political Science in 1975. Following graduation, he married Teresa Sanderson, also a student at Sewanee. From '75-'78, Edward worked as Assistant Director of Admissions at Sewanee while discerning a vocation to the Sacred Ministry.

He graduated from Yale University in 1981 with a Masters of Divinity, where he earned the Berkeley Award for Preaching. Father Harrison has served the Episcopal church widely in his ministry, serving parishes in Connecticut, Alabama, Massachusetts, and Florida, before coming to serve as Dean of St. John's Cathedral. His special passions are preaching, liturgy, social justice and outreach, and spiritual formation.

Edward and Teresa have two children: Austin and Sarah, both college students. Sarah is at the University of Miami, and Austin at the University of the South at Sewanee. Teresa Harrison is a talented artist with a special interest in icon writing, an interest which has blossomed into a vocation. She now regularly conducts icon workshops, both here at home and nationally.

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Wallace Adams-Riley Canon Vicar of Saint John's Cathedral - Episcopal Church Jacksonville

The Reverend D. Wallace Adams-Riley

Our Canon Vicar, the Reverend Wallace Adams-Riley, was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina.

Wallace received his Bachelor of Arts Degree, with a major in English, from The University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee in 1993.

After graduation, he served three years as the Lay Chaplain at All Saints' Chapel, in Sewanee, ministering to and with undergraduates and seminarians. Leaving "the Mountain," Wallace moved to Atlanta, where he began teaching Bible and ethics to high school students, at Holy Innocents' Episcopal School. After two years of service at Holy Innocents, he enrolled at Virginia Theological Seminary, in Alexandria, Virginia, from which he received his Master of Divinity in 2001. During seminary, Wallace served at Trinity Episcopal Church in Tacoma Park, Washington D.C. and Christ Church, Kent Island, Maryland. Also during seminary, Wallace met his wife Gena (see below).

They were married shortly after Wallace's graduation from VTS in 2001. Wallace then entered a newly created two-year clergy residency program, funded by the Lily Foundation, at Christ Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia. In 2003, both Adams-Rileys were called as associate rectors of Christ Church, Pensacola. It was while the Adams-Rileys were serving in Pensacola that their son Nelson was born.

In September 2006, the Adams-Rileys began their new ministries at the cathedral. As Canon Vicar, Wallace serves as the Dean's senior clergy associate; sharing in the cathedral's ministry to cathedral members, the Diocese of Florida, and to the larger civic community; and assisting the Dean in conducting and overseeing the various administrative, liturgical, pastoral, and educational programs of the cathedral.

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Gena Adams-Riley Canon for Pastoral Care of Saint John's Cathedral Episcopal Diocese of Florida

The Reverend Gena D. Adams-Riley

Our Canon for Pastoral Care, the Rev. Gena D. Adams-Riley was born and raised in Woodstock, Vermont. While receiving her Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Utah, she began professional ministry in the Church as both the Children's and Youth Minister at St. James Episcopal Church and the Assistant to the Campus Minister at Epiphany House, the Episcopal Campus Ministry at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Gena attended Virginia Theological Seminary beginning in the fall of 1999 and received her Master of Divinity in spring 2002. While in seminary, she served as an Assistant Chaplain at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, New Hampshire, as a Parish Intern at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., and as a Chaplain with Hospice of Northern Virginia. Also, while at VTS, Gena met her husband, Wallace, our Canon Vicar. After graduation from seminary and ordination, she served for a year as Assistant to the Rector at Church of the Ascension in Silver Spring, Maryland.

In 2003, when both Adams-Rileys were called to serve at Christ Church, Pensacola, Florida, Gena began her ministry as the Associate Rector for Pastoral Care. It was while serving in Pensacola, that their adorable son, Nelson, was born. In September 2006, all of the Adams-Rileys were called to Saint John's Cathedral, Jacksonville: Wallace as the Canon Vicar, Gena as the Canon for Pastoral Care, and Nelson as the littlest of the three Canons, attending The Cathedral School and Early Learning Center.

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Deborah Jackson Canon for Social Ministries of Saint John's Cathedral Episcopal Diocese of Florida

The Reverend Deborah M. Jackson

Our Canon for Social Ministries, The Reverend Deborah M. Jackson is a Jacksonville native. Deborah received her Bachelor of Arts Degree, with a major in Behavioral Science from Rollins College, in Winter Park, Florida. After earning her undergraduate degree, she returned to Jacksonville and earned a Master of Business Administration Degree in Marketing & Management from Jacksonville University.

For twenty-five years, Deborah enjoyed a career in the insurance industry, where she held a variety of positions --beginning as a group underwriter, and then spending the majority of her career in the management of member contract development/administration, and product compliance related work.

In 2004, Deborah began seminary in Sewanee, TN. While in seminary, Deborah served at Grace Episcopal Church in Chattanooga, TN and later at Otey Memorial Parish in Sewanee, TN. She completed a chaplaincy internship at Baptist Medical Center (Jacksonville) during the summer of 2005. And, she served as Seminarian-in-Residence at Saint John�s Cathedral during the summer of 2006. In May 2007, Deborah received a Master of Divinity Degree from The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.

Her current ministry at Saint John's Cathedral began in July 2007, where she was ordained as a priest in December 2007. As Canon for Social Ministries, Deborah oversees, coordinates and facilitates the cathedral's many outreach and missions activities, in addition to fully participating in the priestly ministry of the Cathedral.

Canon Deborah Jackson and her husband James have two sons in college - Jerrold at Florida State University, and Justin at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville; and a daughter in high school - Ashley, a sophomore at Episcopal High School.

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