Joseph Lawson Howze

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. He taught science in the public school system and was later hired to teach at St. Monica School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1952.

Catholic Priesthood

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. 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.