Joseph Lawson Howze

Joseph Lawson E. Howze (born August 30, 1923) is an African-American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Biloxi from 1977 to 2001.

Early life

Howze was born in Daphne, Alabama. He is the oldest of four children born to Albert Otis Howze Sr. and Helen Lawson Howze. His mother died when he was five. He has six siblings in total. He grew up with neighbors who were Catholic and attributes his Catholicism to that influence. He attended kindergarten at Most Pure Heart of Mary School in Mobile. He was later transferred to the segregated public schools of Mobile, graduating from Mobile County Secondary School in 1944. Howze originally aspired to become a doctor and studied chemistry, biology, and physics. He graduated from Alabama State Branch Junior College in 1946. In 1948 he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Alabama State University. He converted to Catholicism, being fully accepted at age twenty four, taking the name Joseph.^[1] He taught science in the public school system and was later hired to teach at St. Monica School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1952.

After expressing an interest in the Priesthood, Howze was accepted to study for the priesthood at Christ the King Seminary at St. Bonaventure University in New York (receiving his Doctor of Divinity in 1959), and was ordained for the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina, on May 7, 1959.^[2] He served as a pastor in Asheville.

On November 8, 1972 Howze was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Natchez-Jackson, Mississippi, and Titular Bishop of Maxita by Pope Paul VI. He was consecrated to the episcopate on January 28, 1973 by Archbishop Luigi Raimondi, the Apostolic Delegate to the United States, with Bishops Harold Robert Perry, S.V.D., and Joseph Bernard Brunini serving as co-consecrators. When the Diocese of Biloxi was created in 1977, Howze was appointed as its first bishop. He was the first black bishop in the 20th century to head a diocese in the United States. He retired June 6, 2001.

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by None	Bishop of Biloxi 1977–2001	Succeeded by Thomas John Rodi

Diocese of Biloxi

Ordinaries	Bishops Joseph Lawson Howze Thomas John Rodi Roger Morin

Churches	Cathedral Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Biloxi Parishes:

Education	High schools Our Lady Academy, Bay St. Louis Resurrection High School, Pascagoula Sacred Heart High School, Hattiesburg St. Patrick Catholic High School, Biloxi Saint Stanislaus College, Bay St. Louis Closed schools Mercy Cross High School, Biloxi * St. John High School, Gulfport * * Closed in 2007 and replaced by St. Patrick Catholic High School.

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