Carroll Thomas Dozier

Carroll Thomas Dozier (August 18, 1911—December 7, 1985) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of Memphis from 1971 to 1982.

In 2019, the Diocese of Richmond added Dozier to a list of clerics with credible accusations of sexual abuse of children.

Biography

Early life One of five children, Carroll Dozier was born on August 18, 1911, in Richmond, Virginia, to Curtis Merry and Rosa Ann (née Conaty) Dozier. After graduating from Benedictine High School in Richmond in 1928, he attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1932.

Priesthood Dozier was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani for the Diocese of Richmond in Rome on March 19, 1937. Following his return to Virginia in 1937, Dozier was assigned as a curate at St. Vincent's Parish in Newport News, Virginia. He was transferred in 1941 to St. Joseph's Parish in Petersburg, Virginia. He also called for busing of students to achieve racial desegregation in public schools, opposed capital punishment, and supported ecumenism and women's rights. On September 9, 2019, the city of Memphis removed his image from the "Upstanders Mural" across from the National Civil Rights Museum.