Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock - Bishops and Administrators of The Diocese - Bishop Fletcher (1947-1972)

Bishop Fletcher (1947-1972)

The first Arkansan raised to the Catholic Church hierarchy, Albert Lewis Fletcher became the fourth bishop of Little Rock on February 11, 1947. His quarter century of service spanned canonical and social change that shook the Church and the world.

The civil rights movement led to the closing of most black Catholic churches in Arkansas over a 12-year period, beginning in 1954 when the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregated schools. After the Arkansas National Guard blocked nine black students from entering Little Rock Central High School in 1957, Bishop Fletcher wrote in the diocesan newspaper that it was wrong to interfere with peaceful integration. By 1962, Catholic High and Mount St. Mary began enrolling black students.

From 1962 through 1965, Bishop Fletcher attended fall sessions of the Second Vatican Council. For Arkansas Catholics, the most noticeable change arising from Vatican II happened the first Sunday of Advent in 1964 when the priest faced the people to celebrate Mass in English.

In the latter part of the 1960s, Bishop Fletcher split with young priests teaching at St. John’s seminary on social and theological questions, including birth control and papal infallibility. After a seminary priest wrote a series of newspaper articles critical of Catholic doctrine, the seminary closed in 1967.

The Vietnam War proved as divisive for the church as it did for the nation. Bishop Fletcher declined to vote with most U.S. bishops in their resolution calling for an end to the war and, later, he opposed amnesty for draft evaders.

In July 1972, the Vatican accepted the resignation of Bishop Fletcher, who had reached the mandatory retirement age of 75. He died December 6, 1979, in Little Rock.