
ARCHDIOCESE OF WASHINGTON, DC
Retired Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, DC
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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