Archbishop's House,
Bandel Road, Patharghata,
P.O. Box 152, Chittagong 4000,
Bangladesh
Phone: (031)61.46.50
Email:
[email protected]
Pope Francis appointed Holy Cross Bishop Lawrence Subrato Howlader as the new metropolitan archbishop of Chittagong archdiocese on Feb 19, 2021.
Archbishop Howlader filled the post left vacant since Holy Cross Archbishop Moses M. Costa who died due to a stroke on July 13, 2020, at the age of 70.
Archbishop Howlader is the second metropolitan archbishop and sixth bishop of Chittagong, one of the country’s oldest Catholic strongholds.
He was the auxiliary bishop of Chittagong from 2009 to 2015. He became the first bishop of Barishal diocese when it was erected on Dec. 29, 2015, by dividing Chittagong diocese.
Born on Sept. 11, 1965, in Nobogram of Barishal district, Archbishop Howlader entered Holy Cross Congregation, the largest religious order in Bangladesh, in 1987.
He pronounced his first and final vows with the Holy Cross in 1988 and 1993 respectively.
He was ordained a priest on Dec. 31, 1994. He served in two Holy Cross-run parishes and St. Paul’s Minor Seminary in Mymensingh Diocese from 1996 to 2000.
From 2000 to 2004, he studied at the Gregorian University in Rome and obtained a licentiate in depth psychology, spirituality and counseling.
He was the novice master of Holy Cross Novitiate in Barishal from 2004 to 2009.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed him the first auxiliary bishop of Chittagong on May 7, 2009.