Archdiocese of Songea
Songean(us)
Metropolitan see · Latin Church · Songea, Tanzania
The Archdiocese of Songea is a Latin Church metropolitan see in southern Tanzania, raised to an archdiocese on 6 February 1969. Its province includes the suffragan dioceses of Lindi, Mbinga, Mtwara, Njombe and Tunduru-Masasi.
The see
- Rank
- Metropolitan see
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 18 November 1987
- Latin
- Songean(us)
- Patron
- Saint Mathias Mulumba Kalemba
- Annuario code
- 001003089
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 378,000
- Priests
- 84
- Catholics per priest
- 4,500
- Extent
- 38,600 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 9.8
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
- Archbishop
- Damian Dalu
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
St. Mathias Mulumba Kalemba Metropolitan Cathedral, Songea stands in Songea, 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 Songea
This see is the metropolitan of its province.
The sees of this province:
- Diocese of LindiLindi
- Diocese of MbingaMbinga
- Diocese of MtwaraMtwara
- Diocese of NjombeNjombe
- Diocese of Tunduru–MasasiTunduru–Masasi
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
In Tanzania, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Songea (Latin: Archidioecesis Songeana) serves as the Metropolitan See of the ecclesiastical province of Songea.
How to reach it
- Chancery
- Archbishop’s House, P.O. Box 152, Songea, Tanzania
- Telephone
- [025]260.2004; fax 260.2593
- [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].