Joseph Oliver Bowers,

SVD ''Svenska Dagbladet'' (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of ''Svenska Dagbladet'' appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the ...

(28 March 1910 – 5 November 2012) was a

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

from Dominica, who served as Bishop of St. Johns -Basseterre from 1971 to 1981. He previously served as

Bishop of Accra The Anglican Diocese of Accra is a diocese of the Church of the Province of West Africa, a member church of the Anglican Communion. It was founded in 1909 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The cathedral of the diocese is Holy Trinity Cathedral i ...

on the then

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

beginning in 1953. He was the first Black Catholic

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

to be consecrated in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in the 20th century, and the first ever to

ordain Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform var ...

African-American Catholic priests. He is credited with having tripled the Catholic population and parishes in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

and for substantially increasing the number of Catholic priests and religious laity in the Diocese of Accra. At the time of his death in Ghana, aged 102, he was the second-oldest Catholic bishop and the oldest from the Caribbean.

Biography

Bowers was born in Dominica, to Sheriff Montague Bowers (originally from Antigua) and his wife Mary. He was educated at the Dominica Grammar School, before traveling to the

to attend St. Augustine Seminary, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. He was ordained on 22 January 1939, and continued as a priest in the Society of the Divine Word. He was then appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Accra in

and Titular Bishop of Cyparissia. Bowers was appointed Bishop of Accra on 8 January 1953, and received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

on 22 April 1953 from Cardinal

Francis Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an American bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church. From 1939 until his death in 1967, he served as the sixth Archbishop of New York; he had previously served as an auxiliary ...

at the Church of Our Lady of the Gulf in Bay St. Louis, becoming the first openly

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

bishop consecrated in the United States. In 1957 Bowers founded the Handmaids of the Divine Redeemer (HDR) in Accra, which was dedicated to caring and comforting the poor. He was also the founder of St John’s Seminary and College, known as of 2012 as

Pope John Senior High School and Minor Seminary Pope John Senior High School and Minor Seminary (formerly St John's Seminary and College, nicknamed POJOSS), is an all-boys boarding school, located at Effiduase, Koforidua, in the Eastern Region of Ghana. It was established in 1958 by Bishop ...

. Bowers attended the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

from 1962 to 1965, along with some 3,000 bishops from around the world. In recognition and acknowledgement of his work in Ghana, when the diocese of St. John's-Basseterre was created in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

in 1971 – comprising the islands of Antigua and Barbuda,

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain ...

, Montserrat,

Anguilla Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The terr ...

and the

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = " Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Bri ...

– Bowers was appointed its first bishop on 16 January 1971, becoming the chief pastor in Antigua. On 17 July 1981, he retired from Church office and, after some years spent in

Charlestown, Nevis Charlestown is the capital of the island of Nevis, in the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Leeward Islands, West Indies. Charlestown is situated on the leeward side of the island of Nevis Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean ...

, returned to Dominica, where he lived in Mahaut in the care of his sister. In the 1990s the HDR Sisters, some of whom had periodically visited him in Dominica, invited him back to Ghana, where they cared for him in the town of Agomanya. At the celebrations there for his 100th birthday, a guest was

Nicholas Liverpool Nicholas Joseph Orville Liverpool (9 September 1934 – 1 June 2015) was a politician and jurist from Dominica who served as the sixth President of Dominica from 2 October 2003 to 17 September 2012. Biography In 1957, Liverpool entered the U ...

, president of Dominica. Bowers died at the age of 102 on 5 November 2012, in Agomanya in the Eastern Region of Ghana. He was buried at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra."Bishop Bowers Interred"
, Peace FM Online, 10 November 2012.

References

External links

Wendell Lawrence, "Bishop Joseph Oliver Bowers"
Dominica Academy of Arts and Sciences, July 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowers, Joseph Oliver 1910 births 2012 deaths Antigua and Barbuda Roman Catholic bishops Saint Kitts and Nevis Roman Catholic bishops Catholic Church in the Caribbean Participants in the Second Vatican Council 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ghana Dominica centenarians Men centenarians Divine Word Missionaries Order Dominica people of Antigua and Barbuda descent Roman Catholic bishops of Saint John's–Basseterre Roman Catholic bishops of Accra Dominica Roman Catholics Dominica bishops St. Augustine Seminary (Bay St. Louis)

Biography

See also

References

External links