The
Most Reverend Leonard J. Olivier, S.V.D.
Auxiliary Bishop of Washington
Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana in
1923, Bishop Olivier was the fifth of eight children.
He attended Sacred Heart of Jesus grade school in Lake
Charles and then St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis,
Mississippi and St. Mary’s Seminary in Techny,
Illinois. He was ordained a Divine Word Missionary in
Bay St. Louis in 1951.
From
1951 to 1973, he was assistant dean, then dean of seminarians
and, finally, rector of the religious community. From
1974 to 1982, he was Secretary of Studies for all United
States Divine Word seminaries and rector of the religious
community at Divine Word Seminary in Epworth, Iowa.
St.
Anthony’s parish in Lafayette, Louisiana was his
first pastorate. In the last two years of that assignment,
then-Father Olivier also was part-time Vicar for Black
Catholics in the Diocese of Lafayette. He was named full
time Vicar in 1986, a position he held until appointed
Auxiliary Bishop of Washington by Pope John Paul II on
November 7, 1988.
Ordained
bishop on December 20, 1988, Bishop Olivier has served
at different times as Regional Bishop of Deaneries in
the District of Columbia, Prince George’s County
and Southern Maryland. He is a Fourth Degree Knight of
St. Peter Claver, a Knight of St. John and a Knight of
Columbus.
He
served as the convenor of the African American Catholic
Bishops and as the Episcopal liaison for the National
African American Catholic Youth Ministry Network, and
has served on a number of committees for the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Read about Bishop Olivier's Coat of Arms
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