Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru
Taravan(us) et Naurun(us)
Suffragan diocese · Latin Church · Tarawa and Nauru, Kiribati
The Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru covers Kiribati and Nauru in the central Pacific; it began as the Apostolic Vicariate of the Gilbert Islands on 28 June 1897, was elevated to the Diocese of Tarawa on 21 June 1966, and took its present name on 10 September 1982. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Suva, seated at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Tarawa, serving about 64,000 Catholics, a majority of the population. Bishop Simon Samendra Mani, M.S.C., was appointed on 2 May 2024.
The see
- Rank
- Suffragan diocese
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 10 September 1982
- Latin
- Taravan(us) et Naurun(us)
- Annuario code
- 001003172
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 63,644
- Population
- 119,435
- Catholic share
- 53.3%
- Priests
- 28
- Catholics per priest
- 2,273
- Extent
- 829 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 77
of the people living within its bounds
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
- Bishop
- Simon Samendra Mani, M.S.C.
A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.
The cathedral
Sacred Heart Cathedral, Tarawa stands in Tarawa and Nauru, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.
On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.
The province of Suva
A suffragan of Suva.
The sees of this province:
- Archdiocese of SuvaSuva
- Diocese of RarotongaRarotonga
- Mission Sui Iuris of FunafutiFunafuti
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
Serving both Kiribati and Nauru, the Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru (Latin: Dioecesis Taravana et Nauruna) is a Latin Catholic suffragan of the Archdiocese of Suva. Its origins lie in the Vicariate Apostolic of Gilbert Islands, erected in 1897, whose see was at Tanaeang (on Tabiteuea) from 1936 to the end of the 1950s; in 1966 it was elevated as the Diocese of Tarawa. The name changed in 1978, and in 1982 the Mission sui iuris of Funafuti was split from the diocese. Today its jurisdiction covers all of Kiribati and Nauru.
How to reach it
- Chancery
- Bishop’s House, Teaoraereke, P.O Box 79, Bairiki, Tarawa, Kiribati
- Telephone
- 21.279; 730.37.770
- [email protected]
This see keeps no website of its own, so its chancery is published here: withholding it would protect nothing and leave a reader with nowhere to go. Where a see publishes its own site, the register sends you there instead.
What is kept by invitation
The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.
The working record is not. The clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it, are kept for members, and a person reads every request.
Sources
This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].