In 1931, Howard led a successful campaign to repeal local zoning ordinances that prohibited the building of churches and parochial schools. He convened the Fourth Provincial Council of the archdiocese in 1932, and held a synod for the clergy in 1935. In 1939, he founded Central Catholic High School in Portland and was named an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne by Pope Pius XII in 1939. He convened the Fifth Provincial Council of the archdiocese in 1957, and attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965.