Archdiocese of Tabora
Taboraën(sis)
Metropolitan see · Latin Church · Tabora, Tanzania
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tabora is a Latin rite see in central Tanzania, erected as an apostolic vicariate in 1887 and elevated to an archdiocese in 1953. It is the metropolitan see for the suffragan dioceses of Kahama, Kigoma, and Mpanda, and is led by Cardinal Protase Rugambwa.
The see
- Rank
- Metropolitan see
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 25 March 1953
- Latin
- Taboraën(sis)
- Patron
- Saint Teresa of Calcutta
- Annuario code
- 001003145
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 246,139
- Population
- 2,435,200
- Catholic share
- 10.1%
- Priests
- 96
- Catholics per priest
- 2,564
- Extent
- 197,230 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 1.2
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
- Archbishop
- Protase Rugambwa
- Born
- 31 May 1960
- Birthplace
- Bunena
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. Theresa's Metropolitan Cathedral stands in Tabora, 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 Tabora
This see is the metropolitan of its province.
The sees of this province:
- Diocese of KahamaKahama
- Diocese of KigomaKigoma
- Diocese of MpandaMpanda
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
Tabora in Tanzania is the metropolitan see of its own ecclesiastical province, the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tabora (Latin: Archidioecesis Metropolitae Taboraënsis). Figures from 2004 recorded 257,390 faithful among a population of 1,426,998 (18.0%), served in 22 parishes by 64 priests (43 diocesan and 21 religious, roughly one per 4,021 Catholics), together with 32 brothers and 159 sisters. By the 2020 statistics the faithful numbered 235,748 of 2,362,660 people (10%), with 97 priests (59 diocesan and 38 religious), approximately one priest per 2,430 Catholics, alongside 54 male religious and 229 female religious.
How to reach it
- Chancery
- Archbishop’s House, Private Bag, P.O. Tabora, Tanzania
- Telephone
- 784.642.985; fax [078]2604.000
- [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].