Kontagora Vicariate in 2016

January 18, 2016

Bishop Timothy Carroll SMA

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]