Michael Vincent Paschal Rowland, OFM (18 March 1929 – 23 September 2012) was the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of

Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal The coal mining town of Dundee is situated in a valley of the Biggarsberg mountains in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (). It is part of the Endumeni Municipality, Umzinyathi District. It is very rich in coal deposits. More populous than the town o ...

, South Africa. Ordained to the priesthood in 1953, Rowland was named bishop in 1985 and retired in 2005.Michael Vincent Paschal Rowland
/ref> Rowland was third child to be born to Cyril Francis Rowland and Jean Grace, née Vallis. He attended St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School, Grays, and the St. Bonaventure School. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. After the war he joined the

Franciscan Order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

as a novice; he took his first vow on 13 October 1946. He received his training by the Franciscan House of Studies in East Bergholt on 21 March 1953, the ordination. He was first chaplain in the parish of Aldridge / Shelfield in Birmingham. In 1955 he went to South Africa. Rowland initially worked in Ermelo and

Bethal Bethal () is a farming town in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The farms in the region produce maize, sunflower seeds, sorghum, rye and potatoes. The town lies east of Johannesburg on the N17 National Route. History The town originated on an old farm ...

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

. In 1956 he studied the

Zulu language Zulu (), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 12 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal o ...

in a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

mission station in Zululand. In 1958 he became a pastor in Dundee in the newly created apostolic prefecture of Volksrust, later he was active in the mission areas of Ladysmith and Mhlumayo. In 1965 he was superior of the English Province's Franciscan mission in South Africa and was involved in a merger of the Franciscan missionary activities in South Africa. He set up administrative structures and built a novitiate. In 1977, he became the first president of the Franciscan Federation of Southern Africa and

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed him as the first Bishop of Dundee. He built the management of the new diocese, and was responsible for the construction of 83 churches, 20 kindergartens, a children's home, a nursing home, 15 primary schools, 3 secondary schools, 7 religious convents, four clinics and two pastoral centres.

References

20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in South Africa 1929 births 2012 deaths 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in South Africa South African Friars Minor Roman Catholic bishops of Dundee {{SouthAfrica-reli-bio-stub