The Apostolic Vicariate of Nekemte ( la, Vicariatus Apostolicus Nekemteensis) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

apostolic vicariate (pre-

diocesan 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 associate ...

jurisdiction) located in

Nekemte Nekemte, also spelled as Neqemte (, Amharic: ነቀምት), is a market town and separate woreda in western Ethiopia. Located in the East Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, Nekemte has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2,088 meter ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

(where

Ethiopian Orthodox The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and Coptic Catholicism are predominant). The see is directly subject to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

(not part of any

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

) and its

Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

. Its seat is the Cathedral of Kidane Meheret, in Nekemte. The Vicariate Apostolic of Nekemte comprises the following: Oromia region: # East Welega zone # West Welega zone # Kelem Welega zone # Horo Guduru wollega zone # West Showa Zone Benishangul Gumuz Region: # Assosa zone # Kamashi zone

History

* January 28, 1913: Established as

Apostolic Prefecture An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of Southern Kaffa / Kaffa Meridionale (Italiano), on territory split off from the Apostolic Vicariate of Galla * September 8, 1913: Renamed as Apostolic Prefecture of Kaffa * March 25, 1937: Promoted as Apostolic Vicariate of Gimma, hence entitle to a

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

, having lost territory to establish the Apostolic Prefecture of Neghelli * Lost territories on 1940.02.13 to establish Apostolic Prefecture of Hosanna and

Apostolic Prefecture of Endeber The Apostolic Prefecture of Endeber was a short-lived (1940-1951) Latin Church missionary jurisdiction named after the town of Endeber in western Ethiopia. Not being of diocesan rank, it was not part of an ecclesiastical province and was directly ...

* September 3, 1982: Renamed after its see as Apostolic Vicariate of Nekemte / Nekemteën(sis) (Latin) * Lost territory on 1994.06.10 to establish

Apostolic Prefecture of Jimma–Bonga Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles * Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Chur ...

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 46,900 Latin Catholics (0.6% of 7,831,000 total) on 98,792 km² in 93 parishes and 26 missions with 38 priests (30 diocesan, 8 religious), 6 deacons, 56 lay religious (14 brothers, 42 sisters) and 15 seminarians .

Leadership

;Apostolic Prefect of Southern Kaffa * Father Gaudenzio Barlassina,

Consolata Missionaries The Institute of Consolata Missionaries ( la, Institutum Missionum a Consolata), commonly called the Consolata Missionaries is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. Its members add the nominal I.M.C. after their n ...

(I.M.C.) (May 6, 1913 – September 8, 1913) ;Apostolic Prefects of Kaffa * Father Gaudenzio Barlassina, I.M.C. (September 8, 1913 – 1933) * Fr. Luigi Santa, I.M.C. (July 14, 1934 – March 15, 1937) ;Apostolic Vicars of Gimma * Luigi Santa, I.M.C. (March 15, 1937 – November 1943), appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Rimini, Italy **

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

Urbain-Marie Person, O.F.M. Cap. (1952–1958) **Apostolic Administrator Fr. Frans Janssen,

Lazarists , logo = , image = Vincentians.png , abbreviation = CM , nickname = Vincentians, Paules, Lazarites, Lazarists, Lazarians , established = , founder = Vincent de Paul , fou ...

(C.M.) (1958 – May 21, 1959) * Frans Janssen, C.M. (''see above'' May 21, 1959 – 1972) ** Apostolic Administrator Fr. Herman Wilhelm Teuben, C.M. (1972 – December 17, 1977) * Hendrik Joseph Alois Bomers, C.M. (December 17, 1977 – September 3, 1982) ;Apostolic Vicars of Nekemte * Hendrik Joseph Alois Bomers, C.M. (September 3, 1982 – October 19, 1983), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Haarlem, Netherlands * Fikre-Mariam Ghemetchu, C.M. (October 28, 1985 – January 18, 1994) * Leonardus Dobbelaar, C.M. (June 10, 1994 – March 21, 2008) **Apostolic Administrator Theodorus Van Ruijven, C.M. (July 2008 – July 23, 2009) * Theodorus Van Ruijven, C.M. (''see above'' July 23, 2009 – November 10, 2013) * Varghese Thottamkara, C.M. (first as (November 10, 2013 – May 10, 2023)

Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic

* Varghese Thottamkara, C.M. (June 28, 2013 - November 10, 2013)

References

External links

GCatholic.org - data for all sections

Catholic dioceses in Ethiopia Apostolic vicariates

Religious organizations established in 1913 Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century

Oromia Region Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benish ...