Kontagora Vicariate in 2016

 

Kontagora Crisis

The Vicariate Apostolic of Kontagora

Bishop Timothy Carroll SMA

  • Born: 20 April 1940 at Millstreet, Co Cork, Ireland
  • Permanent member of SMA: 15 June 1965
  • Ordained: 20 December 1965, at Newry, Co Down, Ireland
  • Missionary in Diocese of Ilorin, Nigeria: 1966-1995
  • Prefect Apostolic of Kontagora: 1995-2002
  • Ordained Bishop: 17 August 2002
  • Vicar Apostolic of Kontagora: 2002 to 2012

History of the Vicariate

  • 15 December 1995: the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II announced the creation of the new Apostolic Prefecture of Kontagora in Nigeria
  • 16 March 1996: Msgr Timothy J. Carroll SMA was installed as Apostolic Prefect at Kontagora by His Excellency Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the then Pro-Nuncio to Nigeria.
  • 22 May 2002: elevation of the Prefecture of Kontagora to the Apostolic Vicariate of Kontagora was announced
  • 17 August 2002: Rt Revd Msgr Timothy J. Carroll, SMA, was ordained Bishop and assumed his appointment as the Vicar Apostolic and first Bishop of Kontagora Vicariate. The Vicariate has 12 parishes.
  • 30 April 2010: The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Carroll on health grounds and appointed Father Dan McCauley SMA as Apostolic Administrator.
  • 3 May 2012: Rt Revd Bulus Dauwa Yohanna was ordained as Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Kontagora in succession to Bishop Carroll SMA. The Vicariate has eighteen parishes with a Catholic population of more than 50,000 [December 2014]

The Vicariate

  • Parts of three existing diocese, Minna, Ilorin and Sokoto were cut off to form the Vicariate.
  • The area of the vicariate is about 46,000 sq.km.
  • The main ethnic groups in the area are Kamberi, Dakakari, Dukawa, Kamuku, Gungawa, Fulani, Hausa and a number of smaller groups. The population of the area is approximately 1.6 million people.
  • It was established to facilitate the conversion of these peoples to the Catholic Faith by the Congregation for the evangelisation of Peoples
  • It was entrusted it into the care of the Society of African Missions (SMA) and St Patrick’s Fathers (SPS).
  • The first missionaries (SMA Fathers) came to the area around 1937. They first settled at Masuga and then later built and opened a Mission at Zuru.

The Vicariate has

  • eighteen parishes and hundreds of outstations in the Vicariate
  • eighteen diocesan clergy, eight SMA priests coming from India [4], Ireland [2], and one each from Ivory Coast and Zambia, and two Salesian priests.
  • twenty-six Religious Sisters
  • six convents
  • six Catholic Nursery / Primary Schools
  • three Catholic secondary schools
  • a Catholic Theological College at Masuga for the training of Lay Leaders and Catechists
  • 4,214 catechumens [those aged over seven preparing for Baptism]
  • three clinics at Papiri and Kwimo [administered by the OLA Sisters] and Tungan Gero [administered by the Daughters of Charity]
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