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 Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

at the

Catholic Institute of West Africa The Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) is a tertiary educational institution in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. It is a higher ecclesiastical institute of the Catholic Church and remains the leading theological facility in West Afric ...

(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). From 1994 to 1995, Echema was in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, Germany for studies. He served as parish priest of Joseph in Schwalbach, in the German

Diocese of Limburg The Diocese of Limburg () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Cologne, with metropolitan see being the Archdiocese of Cologne. Its territory encompasses parts of the States ...

from 1996 to 1998. Following his return to Nigeria, he became deputy chaplain of CIWA and was appointed a professor of liturgy at the institution. On 28 December 2019,

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 fi ...

appointed Echema bishop of Aba Diocese which had been without a local Ordinary for some period.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Echema, Augustine Living people 1958 births 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Nigeria Nigerian Roman Catholic bishops Roman Catholic bishops of Aba, Nigeria