Archbishop Harris Newton Rowzie Remembered for Pastoral Charity and a Life of Service

Archbishop Rowzie

By A. DiNardo

LAKE CHARLES 2 January 2026 (NRom)

His Excellency Msgr. Harris Newton Rowzie, Archbishop and Vicar General of the Patriarchal See, entered into eternal rest on 17 December 2025, at the age of 81. Archbishop Rowzie leaves behind a legacy of compassionate ministry, devoted service to the Church, and a life shaped by both faith and humanitarian concern.

Born on 27 November 1944 in Madisonville, Louisiana, to Harris and Margaret Smith Rowzie, he would come to embody a vocation that bridged pastoral care, intellectual rigor, and deep personal kindness. Before and alongside his ecclesiastical service, Archbishop Rowzie was widely respected as a licensed professional counselor, offering guidance and advocacy to those navigating hardship. His work as an expert witness in Social Security disability cases reflected a consistent commitment to justice and dignity for the vulnerable — values that closely informed his later ministry.

Archbishop Rowzie (left) participating in an ordination.

His Excellency also served his country with honor as a First Lieutenant in the United States Army, assigned to the 172nd Infantry Brigade during the Vietnam War. Those years of service left a lasting imprint on his sense of duty, sacrifice, and solidarity with others—qualities that would become hallmarks of his priestly and episcopal life.

Within the life of the Church, Archbishop Rowzie’s ministry spanned significant moments of ecclesial development and unity. He served in the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church, one of the jurisdictions that would later merge into the United Roman-Ruthenian Church in 2023.

Archbishop Harris Rowzie (right) with Pope Radislav I of
Rome-Ruthenia (then-Cardinal Johnson)

He was ordained to the priesthood in 2010 and consecrated to the episcopacy in 2012 during a period of church growth and development. During these years, he was called to serve closely in the life of the Patriarchal See, including his appointment as Vicar General from 2012 to 2013. His ministry during this time was marked by pastoral steadiness and a commitment to fostering unity across emerging structures. He received both ordination and episcopal consecration from the Roman-Ruthenian Pope (then-Cardinal Johnson), within the continuity of apostolic ministry.

In later years, his path took a different course, though his period of service remains part of the Church’s living history.

Archbishop Rowzie (left), then as a Domincan priest,
with members of the Patriarchal Court.

A member of the Anglican Order of Preachers, often known as the Anglican Dominicans, His Excellency embraced a charism rooted in preaching, study, and service. His approach to ministry reflected this heritage: thoughtful, articulate, and always directed toward the spiritual and practical needs of the people entrusted to his care.

He is survived by his wife, Megan Sheffield Rowzie; his son, Trey Rowzie (Mitsuyo); his daughter, Michelle Rowzie Renew (Doug); his granddaughter, Niqui O’Toole (Kel); and his great-grandchildren, Gabriel and Claire O’Toole. He was preceded in death by his parents.

Bishop Edwin Caudill Canonized

Original icon of Saint Edwin Caudill
by the Apostolic See
of Sts. Stephen and Mark

By A. DiNardo

FIRENZE-NUOVA ROMA 30 April 2023 (NRom)

Today Howard Edwin Caudill, Bishop of the Southwest and Apostolic Founder of the Apostolic See of Saints Stephen and Mark, was canonized by H.H. Rutherford I, Bishop of Rome-Ruthenia. The first liturgy in which the name of Saint Edwin was invoked was celebrated today also by the Supreme Pontiff. The cause for canonization was opened in 2008.

Saint Edwin was Bishop of the Southwest. Sometime after his death, his diocese went into a schism. The remnants went into the Apostolic Communion of Anglican Churches, with H.H. Rutherford I (then-Bishop Johnson) becoming its Bishop Ordinary as the eventual successor to Bishop Caudill. It subsequently became a Metropolitan See and then was renamed the See of Saint Stephen in recognition of its evolution as an Orthodox Old Catholic diocese. After its merger with the Anglo-Roman Metropolitan See of Aquileia, it became the Apostolic See of Saints Stephen and Mark, the principle diocese of the Imperial Roman Church, Anglican Patriarchate, and Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Catholicate. Those jurisdictions merged in 2023 to form the United Roman-Ruthenian Church. 

H.H. Rutherford I visits the former Cathedral of St. Chad,
First Chair of the Roman-Ruthenian Church and Patriarchate, as the cathedral
of Saint Edwin Caudill as Bishop of the Southwest

Although Saint Edwin Caudill was not the first Bishop of the Southwest (in fact he was the second), he was consecrated not only in succession from the Episcopal Church of the USA, but also in diverse Orthodox and Roman Catholic Apostolic succession through the Philippine Independent Catholic Church. He was consecrated in succession from the two Holy Fathers of the Apostolic See, Pope Saint Leo X and Saint Aftimios Ofiesh. Through him, the diocese also branches in Apostolic succession from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem (through Patriarch Damian I) and the Coptic Patriarchate of Alexandria (through Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria). This is the legacy of unified Christianity that the modern Apostolic See perpetuates, and it began with Saint Edwin as Bishop of the Southwest. 

For more information about Saint Edwin Caudill, please visit this link. Additional information is also available on this page. For more about the Unite Roman-Ruthenian Church, please visit this page.