The Catholic Church in Liberia is part of the worldwide

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, under the spiritual leadership of the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. In 2020, there were approximately 348,000 Catholics in

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

(7.52% of the population). There are 3 dioceses including 1

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

: *

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

Cape Palmas Cape Palmas is a headland on the extreme southeast end of the coast of Liberia, Africa, at the extreme southwest corner of the northern half of the continent. The Cape itself consists of a small, rocky peninsula connected to the mainland by a san ...

(located in Harper, Maryland County) **

Gbarnga Gbarnga is the capital city of Bong County, Liberia, lying north east of Monrovia. During the First Liberian Civil War, it was the base for Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia. Cuttington College, a private, Episcopal-affilia ...

(located in Gbargna, Bong County) Lewis Jerome Zeigler was the archbishop until 2021; in 2023, the seat is vacant.

History

Background

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Americo-Liberian settlers were to be found on the seacoast and at the mouths of the two most important rivers. Of the native tribes, the principal are the Veys, the Pessehs, the Barlines, the Bassas, the Kru, the Grebo, and the Mandingos. The converts came chiefly from the Kru and the Grebo. Methodist,

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

s, and

Episcopalian Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...

missions had been established in the country for many years with scant results at the beginning of the 19th century.

First American mission to Liberia

As a number of the first American colonists were Catholics from Maryland and the adjoining states, they eventually caught the attention of the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

and the second Provincial Council of Baltimore in 1833 undertook to meet the difficulty of sending missionaries to serve the local faithful. In accordance with the measures taken, Rev. Edward Barron, Vicar-General of Philadelphia, Rev. John Kelly of New York, and Denis Pindar, a lay catechist from Baltimore, volunteered for the mission and sailed for Africa from Baltimore on 2 December 1841. They arrived there safe and Father Barron serve the first Mass at

on 10 February 1842. After a time, finding that he did not receive missionaries enough to accomplish anything practical, Father Barron returned to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and thence went to

where he was made on 22 January 1842, Vicar Apostolic of the Two Guineas, and titular Bishop of Constantia.

Missionary takeover of religious congregations

With seven priests of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, he returned to Liberia, arriving at Cape Palmas on 30 November 1843. Five of these priests died on the mission of fever, to which Denis Pindar, the lay catechist, also fell a victim, on 1 January 1844. Bishop Barron and Father Kelly held out for two years, and then, wasted by fever, they determined to return to the United States, feeling that it was impossible to withstand the climate any longer. Bishop Barron died of yellow fever during an epidemic at Savannah, Georgia, on 12 September 1854, and Father Kelly died at Jersey City, New Jersey, on 28 April 1866. The Fathers of the Holy Ghost, who took up the work, were also forced by the climate to abandon it in a couple of years, and the permanent mission lapsed until 25 February 1884. The Fathers of Montfort (Company of Mary), under Fathers Blanchet and Lorber, then laid the foundation of another mission at

. The President of the Republic, Mr. Johnson, and the people generally gave them a cordial welcome, because of its emphasis on providing a thorough education, but the sectarian ministers organized a cabal against them, and endeavoured to thwart all their efforts to spread the Catholic faith. They made some progress in spite of this, and in the following year, having received reinforcements from France, opened a school for boys and extended their operations into other places. Father Bourzeix learned the native language, in which he compiled a catechism and translated a number of hymns. Deaths among the missionaries and the health of the others shattered by fever forced these priests also to abandon the Liberia mission. After this it was visited occasionally by missionaries from Sierra Leone until 1906, when the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples handed its care over to the

Society of African Missions The Society of African Missions (; ), also known as the SMA Fathers, is a Catholic religious society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men founded by Melchior de Marion Brésillac in 1856. They serve the people of Africa and those of ...

from

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, and three Irish priests, Fathers Stephen Kyne, Joseph Butler, and Dennis O'Sullivan, with two French assistants, continued to work among the 2800 Catholics the vicariate was estimated to contain in 1910. Diplomatic relations between the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

and Liberia were established in 1927, celebrated by a spectacular and massive march through the streets of Monrovia on the feast of

Christ the King Christ the King is a title of Jesus in Christianity referring to the idea of the Kingdom of God where Christ is described as being seated at the right hand of God. Many Christian denominations consider the kingly office of Christ to be one o ...

, which subsequently boosted registration in Catholic schools and a lasting foundation of Catholicism.

Outspokenness during the dictatorships

Under the

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

s of

William Tubman William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman (29 November 1895 – 23 July 1971) was a Liberian politician. He was the 19th president of Liberia and the longest-serving president in the country's history, serving from his election in 1944 until his dea ...

up to

Samuel Doe Samuel Kanyon Doe (6 May 1951 – 9 September 1990) was a Liberian politician and military officer who served as the 21st President of Liberia from 1986 to 1990. He ruled Liberia as Chairman of the People's Redemption Council (PRC) from 1980 ...

, the Catholic Church continued its work in education and with the poor, as well as using its voice to denounce abuses and corruption under the different dictatorial regimes. The Catholic Church was seen as more trustworthy than other churches because its peculiar mode of financing and hierarchy did not leave it at the government's mercy. Its financing came "predominantly from giant German agencies which would simply cease contributing if previous grants were not scrupulously accounted for." Because it did not include high-ranking government officials, and because of the Catholic episcopal authority (prelates were not elected for just a few years), the Church benefited from a great freedom of expression, which it used wisely to denounce the government when necessary, using "machinery for public comment on national issues" with the Lenten or Advent Pastoral Letters. Archbishop

Michael Kpakala Francis Michael Kpakala Francis (12 February 1936 – 19 May 2013) was a Liberian prelate of the Catholic Church who led the Apostolic Vicariate of Monrovia from 1976 to 1981 and then served as the first Archbishop of the newly established Roman Catho ...

in his first letter written in 1977, denounced corruption in these words: The Catholic Church also used its voice to condemn the systematic recourse to violence for political ends in Liberia. For instance, after

's coup in 1980, the Catholic Bishops were quick in bringing out a statement on "The Liberian Situation", emphasizing the role of the Church in the country's political life, "without usurping the role of the State and without favouring any party." The bishops reminded the State of its duty to protect and not breach the citizens' rights. The statement declared that:

Civil war and aftermath

During the 1989–1997 Liberian Civil War, many churches and religious centres were used as shelters. Priests and religious were also the target of violence and many were killed. The Catholic Church in Liberia has on many occasions renewed its appeal for a War Crimes Court to be set up, "in an effort to enhance the justice system against individuals who commit atrocities against Liberians", as reconciliation must come with justice.

Involvement in the fight against AIDS

In 2009, as part of its effort "to complement government and global efforts to create an increased awareness on the prevention of the

HIV and AIDS The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

pandemic", the Catholic Heath Secretariat of the Diocese of Gbarnga in Liberia renewed the local Church's commitment and perseverance by organizing "intense HIV/AIDs awareness and sensitization campaigns in

Bong County Bong is a county in the north-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has twelve districts. Gbarnga serves as the capital. The area of t ...

".Liberia: Catholic Church Intensifies Crusade On HIV/Aids in Bong''The Informer''
(Monrovia). 19-06-2009. Obtained 30-06-09.

References

''This article incorporates text from the entry
Liberia
' in the

public-domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds the exclusive ri ...

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

'' of 1910.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Catholic Church in Liberia