Born in 1958, Bishop Ken Howell was educated at St James College, Fortitude Valley, and joined Queensland Rail after his school years working as a clerk in the Chief Engineers Office.
In 1977, he entered Pius XII Regional Seminary, and he was ordained a Priest on 24 June 1983. From 1983 to 1994, he worked as Assistant Priest in the Parishes of Noosa Districts, Burleigh Heads and the Cathedral, Brisbane.
Between 1994 and 1997, he completed a Licentiate in Sacred Liturgy at the Pontifical Institute Sant’Anselmo in Rome. He served as Secretary to the then Archbishop John Bathersby from 1997 to 2010. During this time, Bishop Howell served at the Cathedral as Associate Pastor and Director of Worship from 1997 to 2005, Dean of the Cathedral between 2006 and 2012 and as Vice Rector of the Holy Spirit Seminary between 2002 and 2008. In 2009, he took on a concurrent appointment as Administrator of St Mary’s Parish, South Brisbane.
In 2013 he became the Parish Priest at Burleigh Heads. The Bishop has been a long-standing member of the Council of Priests and Chairman from 2008 to 2013. He is also a member of the Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission, which he was chairing at the time of his appointment by Pope Francis on March 29, 2017.
t the time of that announcement Bishop Howell said he looked to the future with confidence “with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the love and prayers of the people of God who have supported my ministry”.
“I ask you to pray for me as I accept the invitation of our Holy Father to serve the Church as a member of the College of Bishops”.
Bishop Howell’s Episcopal Ordination was held on June 14, 2017.
On 1 February, 2021 Bishop Ken was appointed to the position of Vicar General of the Archdiocese.