Carroll Thomas Dozier

[1] 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.

[3] He received his episcopal consecration on January 6, 1971, from Cardinal John Wright, with Archbishops Luigi Raimondi and Thomas McDonough serving as co-consecrators.

[3] During his tenure, Dozier implemented the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, including insisting on liturgical changes and giving more important roles to the laity in diocesan affairs.

[2] A self-described "progressive,"[2] Dozier was an early opponent of American involvement in the Vietnam War and offered support to young men refusing the draft.

[2][4] In 1970, Dozier celebrated two Masses of Reconciliation at Memphis and Jackson, Tennessee, for lapsed Catholics; he gave general absolution to those in attendance, to the dismay of Pope Paul VI and Cardinal James Knox.