Carl Anthony Fisher, SSJ (November 24, 1945 – September 2, 1993) was an African-American

Catholic 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 ...

prelate who served as an Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles from 1987 until his death in 1993. He was the first (and as of 2022, the only) Black Catholic bishop on the West Coast. He was a member of the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, a religious community that serves African Americans. He was the third Josephite to be made a bishop, and as of 2022, the latest.

Biography

Born in

Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula ( ) is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the Gulfport– Biloxi–Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area. The population was 2 ...

, Fisher attended

Epiphany Apostolic College Epiphany Apostolic College, formerly known as the Josephite Collegiate Seminary, was a Catholic minor seminary founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1889 by John R. Slattery for the Mill Hill Missionaries, a UK-based society of apostolic life. A ...

as well as St. Joseph's Seminary, and was ordained to the priesthood for the Society of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart on June 2, 1973. He then served in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

for some time, including at Historic St Francis Xavier Church beginning in 1982. On December 23, 1986, he was appointed

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox a ...

Tlos Tlos ( Lycian: 𐊗𐊍𐊀𐊇𐊀 ''Tlawa'', Hittite: 𒁕𒆷𒉿 ''Dalawa'', grc, Τλώς or Τλῶς) was an ancient Lycian city near the modern town of Seydikemer in the Mugla Province of southern Turkey, some 4 kilometres northwest ...

and auxiliary bishop of the

Archdiocese of Los Angeles The Archdiocese of Los Angeles ( la, Archidiœcesis Angelorum in California, es, Arquidiócesis de Los Ángeles) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church (Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, particularly ...

and was consecrated on February 23, 1987. He was the first African-American Catholic bishop west of Texas, and as of 2022 none have been named since. He died of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowe ...

while in office, at the age of 47 in 1993.

Sex abuse allegations

In Augustin 2019, the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced that Fisher was the subject of multiple abuse allegations, all of which were received after his death.

Notes

1945 births 1993 deaths People from Pascagoula, Mississippi Catholics from Mississippi African-American Roman Catholic bishops Josephite bishops Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II 20th-century American Roman Catholic titular bishops Epiphany Apostolic College St. Joseph's Seminary (Washington, DC) African-American Catholic consecrated religious {{US-RC-bishop-stub