Joseph Lawson Howze

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Bishop Joseph Lawson Howze, D.D., born August 30, 1923, in Daphne, Alabama, is a retired bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Biloxi. He was born Lawson Howze and took the name Joseph when he converted to Catholicism in 1948.

Styles of
Joseph Lawson Howze
Reference style The Most Reverend
Spoken style Your Excellency
Religious style Monsignor
Posthumous style not applicable


He received his B.A. degree from Alabama State University, in 1948. After religious training at Christ the King Seminary at St. Bonaventure University, in New York, Howze was ordained a priest for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1959.

He was named an auxiliary bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Natchez-Jackson, Mississippi, on November 14, 1972, and was installed on January 28, 1973. When the Diocese of Biloxi was created in 1977, Howze as 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.

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

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