Harold R. Perry; Pioneer Black Bishop

Bishop Harold R. Perry, the first black American consecrated as a Roman Catholic bishop in the 20th Century, died Wednesday. He was 74.

Perry, auxiliary bishop of New Orleans since 1965, died of complications of Alzheimer’s disease at a health care center, the church said.

“As the first African-American bishop in this century, he was a symbol of the great changes which have taken place in our church and in our country,” Archbishop Francis B. Schulte said.

In 1964, Perry became the first black clergyman to deliver the opening prayer in Congress.

A native of Lake Charles, Perry was the eldest son of a French-speaking rice mill worker and a domestic cook. He was ordained in 1944. For eight years he served as an associate pastor at parishes in Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi before being sent to Broussard, La., as founding pastor of St. Joseph’s parish for 1,000 black Catholics.