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Roman Catholic Diocese Of Aba
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Aba takes its name from the major commercial city of Aba in Abia State, Nigeria. Aba Diocese was created from Umuahia Diocese on April 2, 1990. Its first diocesan bishop, Vincent Valentine Ezeonyia, CSSp, was installed on 2 July 1990 at Christ the King Church; he was ordained bishop on 1 July 1990 at Mater Dei Cathedral in Umuahia. At the time the Catholic Diocese of Aba was created, there were 24 parishes, 33 Indigenous priests, including those born and bred in Aba, many religious people, and a Catholic population of 227,225. The bulk of the Catholic population was concentrated in Aba Urban and its immediate environs. Ezeonyia died in 2015. In July 1990 Vincent Valentine Ezeonyia, C.S.Sp. took over the administration of the Catholic Diocese of Aba. At some time after he took over the diocese had 144 priests, with 59 parishes, with several men in seminaries, and women in convents. The bishop has built many primary and secondary schools. The Dioc ...
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Abia State
Abia is a state in the Southeastern region of Nigeria. The state's capital is Umuahia and its most populous city is Aba. Abia is bordered the west by Imo, east by Cross River, south by Rivers, northwest by Anambra and northeast by Enugu and Ebonyi. The state is divided between the Niger Delta swamp forests in the south and the Cross–Niger transition forests. The Imo and Aba Rivers flows along the state's western and southern borders respectively. The land for agriculture as well as the production of crude oil and natural gas ranks Abia as the joint-eighth highest Human Development Index in Nigeria since 2019. Abia's history begins as part of the Aro Confederacy until their defeat in the early 1900s by the British troops during the Anglo-Aro War. After the war, the area was incorporated into the Southern Nigeria Protectorate. After Nigeria's independence in 1960, Abia became part of the post-independence Eastern Region until 1967 before the region was split, ...
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Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of Owerri
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Overriensis'') is located in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. The Seat of Wisdom Seminary is in Owerri. The archdiocese covers an area of 2,996 km2. 670,986 of the 1.7 million people in the area are member of the Catholic Church. History The diocese dates back to the Vicariate Apostolic of Owerri, which was created on February 12, 1948, when the Vicariate Apostolic of Onitsha-Owerri was split. On April 18, 1950, it was elevated to a diocese. On March 26, 1994, it became an Archdiocese. On 27 December 2020, auxiliary bishop Moses Chikwe and his driver were kidnapped by gunmen in Owerri. They were both released unharmed and without ransom, on 1 January 2021. Bishops Ordinaries * Vicar Apostolic of Owerri (Latin Church) ** Joseph Brendan Whelan, C.S.Sp. 12 Feb 1948 – 18 Apr 1950; ''see below'' * Bishops of Owerri (Roman rite) ** Joseph Brendan Whelan, C.S.Sp. 18 Apr 1950 – 25 Jun 1970; ''see above'' ** M ...
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Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. O'Collins, p. v (preface). The church consists of 24 ''sui iuris'' (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world, each overseen by one or more bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor of Saint Peter, upo ...
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Latin Church
The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites#Churches, ''sui iuris'' churches in full communion with the pope; the other 23 are collectively referred to as the Eastern Catholic Churches, and they have approximately 18 million members combined. The Latin Church is directly headed by the pope in his role as the bishop of Rome, whose ''cathedra'' as a bishop is located in the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, Italy. The Latin Church both developed within and strongly influenced Western culture; as such, it is sometimes called the Western Church (), which is reflected in one of the pope's traditional titles in some eras and contexts, the Patriarch of the West. It is also known as the Roman Church (), the Latin Catholic Church, and in some contexts as the Roman Catholic (t ...
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Aba, Abia
Aba is a city in southeastern Nigeria. It lies along the west bank of the Aba River and is at the intersection of roads leading to settlements such as Port Harcourt, Owerri, Umuahia, Ikot Ekpene, and Ikot-Abasi. Aba was established by the Ngwa clan of the Igbo people in Nigeria as a market town. Later, a military post was placed there by the British colonial administration in 1901. The city became a collection point for agricultural products following construction of a British-made railway running through it to Port Harcourt. Aba is a major urban settlement and commercial centre in Abia State, which is surrounded by small villages and towns. The indigenous people of Aba are the Ngwa. Aba is well known for its craftsmen, and as of 2016, Aba had an estimated population of 2,534,265, making it the biggest city in southeastern Nigeria. History The city was initially a trade centre, which eventually became an administrative centre of Britain's colonial government. Aba ha ...
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Augustine Echema
Augustine Ndubueze Echema (born 28 December 1958 in Ohuhu Nsulu) has been a Catholic prelate and the bishop of Aba Diocese since 2019. He is a professor of Liturgy at the Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA), Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Education He attended St. Peter Claver Minor Seminary, Okpala from 1972 to1977 for his secondary education where he became interested in priesthood. He studied philosophy from 1978 to 1982 and theology from 1982 to 1986 at Bigard Memorial Seminary in Ikot Ekpene. Priestly career Echema was ordained a Catholic priest on 16 August 1986 for the Owerri Diocese. In 1989, three years after his ordination proceeded to Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt where he studied for his doctorate degree in Theology majoring in liturgy. He finished in 1994. He spent his early career at St. Peter Claver Minor Seminary, Okpala as Formator 1986 to 1988 and was parish priest of St. Mark Parish in Umuneke Ngor for one year (1988 – 1989 ...
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Umuahia
Umuahia () is the capital city of Abia State in southeastern Nigeria. Umuahia is located along the rail road that lies between Port Harcourt to its south, and Enugu city to its north. Umuahia has a population of 359,230 according to the 2006 Nigerian census. Umuahia is renowned for being a railway and agricultural market center, which attracts traders and farmers from neighboring towns to sell their produce, such as yams, cassava, corn (maize), taro, citrus fruits, and palm oil and kernels. There are industries that help drive its economy, such as a brewery and a palm-oil-processing plant. Nigeria's National Root Crops Research Institute, at Umudike, is adjacent to the town. So also is the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU). Umuahia also has several colleges including Trinity College (theological), Government College Umuahia, Holy Rosary Girls Secondary School and hospitals like the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia (formerly Queen Elizabeth Hospital). ...
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Laity
In religious organizations, the laity () — individually a layperson, layman or laywoman — consists of all Church membership, members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-Ordination, ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In secular usage, by extension, a layperson is a person who is not qualified in a given profession or is not an expert in a particular field. The phrase "layman's terms" is used to refer to plain language that is understandable to the everyday person, as opposed to specialised terminology understood only by a professional. Terms such as ''lay priest'', ''lay clergy'' and ''lay nun'' were once used in certain Buddhist cultures, especially Japanese, to indicate ordained persons who continued to live in the wider community instead of retiring to a monastery. Some Christian churches utilise lay preachers, who sermon, preach but are not clergy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses the term ''lay pri ...
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Vincent Valentine Ezeonyia
Vincent Valentine Eguchukwu Ezeonyia (5 April 1941 – 8 February 2015) was a Roman Catholic bishop. Ordained to the priesthood in 1968, Ezeonyia was appointed the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aba, Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ... in 1990. He died while still in office.Vincent Valentine Ezeonyia profile
catholic-hierarchy.org; accessed 15 February 2015.


Notes

1941 births 2015 deaths
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Augustine Ndubueze Echema
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosophy and Western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. His many important works include ''The City of God'', '' On Christian Doctrine'', and '' Confessions''. According to his contemporary, Jerome of Stridon, Augustine "established anew the ancient Faith". In his youth he was drawn to the Manichaean faith, and later to the Hellenistic philosophy of Neoplatonism. After his conversion to Christianity and baptism in 386, Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and perspectives. Believing the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom, he helped formulate the doctrine of original sin and made si ...
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Pope Francis
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Pope Gregory III, Gregory III. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a family of Italian Argentines, Italian origin, Bergoglio was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from a severe illness. He was Ordination#Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican churches, ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. Following resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the 2013 pa ...
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