His Excellency, The Most Reverend Joseph Oliver Bowers SVD | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of St. Johns -Basseterre (Emeritus) | |
 Bowers in his early years | |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| See | St. Johns-Basseterre |
| In office | 1971–81 |
| Predecessor | New Creation |
| Successor | Donald Reece |
| Previous post(s) | Bishop of Accra, Ghana Bishop |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 22 January 1939 |
| Consecration | 8 January 1953 by Francis Joseph Spellman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 March 1910 |
| Died | 5 November 2012 (aged 102) Agormanya, Eastern Region, Ghana |
| Buried | Holy Spirit Cathedral, Accra |
Joseph Oliver Bowers, SVD (28 March 1910 – 5 November 2012) was a Catholic prelate from Dominica who served as Bishop of St. Johns–Basseterre from 1971 to 1981. He previously served as Bishop of Accra beginning in 1953. He was the first Black Catholic bishop from the Western Hemisphere,[1] and the first ever to ordain Black priests. He was a member of the Divine Word Fathers.
He is credited with having tripled the Catholic population and parishes in Ghana and for substantially increasing the number of Catholic priests and religious laity in the Diocese of Accra.[2] At the time of his death in Ghana, aged 102, he was the second-oldest Catholic bishop and the oldest from the Caribbean.[3]
- ^ "Obituaries | Society of the Divine Word". www.divineword.org. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- ^ "Catholic Bishop Joseph Oliver Bowers has died at the age of 102", TheDominican.net, 6 November 2012.
- ^ "Oldest Caribbean bishop dies - Nov 11" Archived 23 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Catholic News, 10 November 2012.