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ARCHDIOCESE OF
WASHINGTON, DC
Most Reverend Leonard J.
Olivier, SVD
Retired
Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, DC
(NBCC
Board Member)
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 Bishop
Olivier was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1923.
Bishop Olivier was the fifth of eight children. He
attended Sacred Heart of Jesus grade school in town, St.
Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi and St.
Mary's Seminary in Techny, Illinois and was ordained a
Divine Word Missionary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi in
1951.
From 1952 to 1973, he was
successively 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, 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 Knight 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 now 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.
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