BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, March 25, 2010 - Joseph Oliver Bowers was born in Dominica, West Indies, on March 28, 1910. He is the son of Sheriff Montague Bowers and his wife Mary Bowers. His father is best remembered as headteacher of the Massacre Government Primary School, and organist at the St. Ann's Parish Church.
After completing his secondary education at the Dominica Grammar School, young Joseph Bowers went to the United States to study for the priesthood, joining the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), a Catholic missionary congregation. He was ordained a priest in January1939, and was posted to Ghana, then known as the Gold Coast. There he served as a missionary until his appointment as the first black Bishop of Accra in January 1953.
Fifty-seven years ago on April 22, 1953, Bishop Bowers was celebrated all over the world, when at the height of the civil rights struggle for blacks in the United States, he became the first black bishop to be consecrated in USA. On April 22, 1953 he returned from Ghana to the United States to be consecrated and to take a vaunted position in the annals of black history in the United States. In a ceremony noted around the world, Bishop Joseph Oliver Bowers SVD, DD, JCL was ordained by Cardinal Spellman at the Church of Our Lady of the Gulf in Bay St. Louis, USA, becoming the first black bishop to be so ordained in that country.
Bishop Bowers always had great empathy for the well-being of his flock; and though a very pious man, he was a visionary and dynamic leader. In 1957, he founded the congregation of the Sisters of the Handmaids of the Divine Redeemer (HDR) in Accra, dedicated to succor and comfort the poor. During his tenure, he increased the number of Catholic priests and religious laity in the Diocese of Accra substantially, and also the number of parishes; and the Catholic population almost tripled.
In recognition of his vibrant leadership and pioneering work in Ghana, when the diocese of St. John's-Basseterre in the West Indies was created in 1971 -- comprising the islands of Antigua-Barbuda, St. Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands -- Bishop Bowers was appointed its first bishop, becoming the chief pastor in Antigua, the land of his father's birth.
In 1981, Bishop Bowers retired as the Ordinary of the Diocese in Antigua and having spent about nine years in Charlestown, Nevis (1981-1990) he returned to Dominica for a couple of years. His HDR Sisters, wanted him back in Ghana so they could care for their patron in his final days. As a result, Bishop Bowers returned to Ghana and currently lives in Agomanya, cared for by the HDR Sisters. He was so inculturated to the African culture and customs that we can say he became a true "African" for the "Africans." Even spending over 25 years back in the West Indies his heart was in Ghana.
Bishop Bowers was a caring and dynamic leader of the Catholic Church in Ghana and the West Indies; and he leaves a legacy in the continuing charitable work of the Handmaids of the Divine Redeemer, the congregation he founded.
A special Commemorative Mass of 100 years of Bishop Joseph Bowers - the first bishop of the Diocese of St. John's-Basseterre (who celebrates his 100th Birthday in Ghana this comiong Sunday) will be celebrated in the Immaculate Conception Co-Cathedral, on East Independence Square in Basseterre on Friday, March 26, 2010 at 7.00 p.m. All are welcome.
