Joseph Oliver Bowers

Joseph Oliver Bowers SVD ( born March 28, 1910 in Mahaut, Dominica, Lesser Antilles, † November 5, 2012 in Agomanya, Ghana ) was Roman Catholic Bishop of Accra in Ghana and of Saint John's - Basseterre in the Caribbean.

Life

Joseph Oliver Bowers, son of the local sheriff Montague Bowers and his wife, Mary, went to his Abitur at the Dominica Grammar School in the USA to the priesthood studies. He entered the Congregation of the Divine Word Missionaries in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, USA, a. In 1933 he made his first vows. After his priestly training he received on 22 January 1939, the ordination. His mission was determining the United States, where he worked in pastoral care in the Mississippi area. He worked as a missionary in Ghana.

On November 27, 1952, he was called by Pope Pius XII. appointed auxiliary bishop in Accra and titular bishop of Cyparissia. Six weeks later, he was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Accra. He received his episcopal consecration on April 22, 1953 Francis Cardinal Spellman in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. He was the first consecrated in the U.S. bishop black skin. In 1957 he founded, together with the Holy Spirit Missionary Sister Providentia Hein in Accra, the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Divine Redeemer (HDR), which works especially for the poor in education and health care, and a school named after him. He is also the founder of St. John College and Seminary in Koforidua, which has since been renamed Pope John Senior High School and Minor Seminary, one of the best schools in Ghana.

He was a Council Father of the Second Vatican Council and participated in the first three sessions.

In 1971 he became Pope Paul VI. appointed the first Bishop of Saint John's, Antigua and Barbuda. The diocese comprises the states of Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands. Since 1981, the diocese is named Saint John's - Basseterre.

His resignation was accepted in 1981 by John Paul II. He then lived on Nevis, Dominica and most recently since the 1990s, when the Sisters of the Congregation founded by him in Agomanya in eastern Ghana.

Honors

• Honoring the Dominica Academy of Arts and Sciences ( DAAS ) for his leadership and his legacy, his selflessness and his piety (2007)
• Ghana National Award, Jan. 2012