Leonard Olivier

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Bishop Leonard J. Olivier is a Roman Catholic bishop. He was born in 1923 in Lake Charles, Louisiana). In 1951 he was ordained a priest for the Society of the Divine Word (Divine Word Missionaries) in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

From 1952 to 1973, he served as Assistant Dean and Dean of Seminarians, and rector of the Religious Community. From 1974 to 1982, he was Secretary of Studies for all USA Divine Word Seminaries and Rector of the Religious Community of Divine Word Seminary, Epworth, Iowa.

St. Anthony's parish in Lafayette, Louisiana was his first pastorate. In the last two years of that assignment, he also served as part time Vicar for Black Catholics in the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana. He became full time Vicar in 1986. Two years later, November 7, 1988 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington by Pope John Paul II. Ordained Bishop on December 20, 1988, he has been serving as Regional Bishop of Northeast, Southeast. and East Northwest Deaneries of the District of Columbia, and Deaneries of North and Middle Prince George's Counties, and since 1995, the Deaneries of Northeast and Southeast of the District of Columbia, of Lower Prince George County, and Counties of Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary's.

Bishop Olivier is a Fourth Degree Knights of St. Peter Claver, a Fourth Degree Knight of St. John and Columbus. He served as the Convener of the African American Catholic Bishops Subcommittee on Youth, the Ad Hoc Steering Committee for the National Strategy on Vocations, and the Task Force Group for American Adaptations to the Order of Christian Marriage, and the Liturgy Committee of USCC/NCCB. He is also a member of NCCB Committee on Bishops Life and Ministry, Board Member of Convenant House Washington, Member of the Inter-Faith Conference, Member of Maryland Catholic Conference, Board Member of The National Black Catholic Congress, Member of National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, and Episcopal Moderator of the Pan African Roman Catholic Clergy Conference.