Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogoja

Diocese of Ogoja Dioecesis Ogogiaensis
Location
Country	Nigeria
Territory	Cross River State
Ecclesiastical province	Calabar
Metropolitan	Archbishop of Calabar
Coordinates	6°30′0″N 8°40′0″E
Statistics
Area	12,557 km2 (4,848 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 1,536,294 332,373 (21.6%)
Parishes	38
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	January 1, 1955
Cathedral	Saint Benedict Cathedral in Ogoja
Patron saint	Saint Benedict
Secular priests	67
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Most Rev. John Ebebe Ayah
Map
Ogoja is located in Cross River State which is shown here in red.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogoja (Template:Lang-la) is a suffragan Latin diocese in the Ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Calabar in southeastern Nigeria, yet still depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Its Cathedral is episcopal see is Saint Benedict Cathedral, dedicated to the diocesan patron saint, in the city of Ogoja, in Cross River State.

History

• Established on March 13, 1938 as Apostolic Prefecture of Ogoja, on territory split off from the then Apostolic Prefecture of Calabar (now its Metropolitan)
• 1955.01.01: Promoted as Diocese of Ogoja/ Ogogiaën(sis) (Latin)
• On 1973.03.01 it lost territory to establish the Diocese of Abakaliki.

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 902,975 Catholics (32.5% of 2,779,037 total) on 12,557 km² in 65 parishes with 99 priests (96 diocesan, 3 religious), 50 lay religious (3 brothers, 47 sisters) and 137 seminarians.

Ordinaries

(all Roman rite)

Apostolic Prefects of Ogoja

• Patrick Joseph Whitney, Saint Patrick’s Society for the Foreign Missions (S.P.S.) (born Ireland) (1938 – retired 1939), died 1942; previously Founder of Saint Patrick’s Society for the Foreign Missions (1932.03.17)
• Thomas McGettrick, S.P.S. (born Ireland) (1939.11.10 – 1955.01.01 see below)

Suffragan Bishops of Ogoja

• Thomas McGettrick, S.P.S. (see above 1955.01.01 – 1973.03.01), later Bishop of Abakaliki (Nigeria) (1973.03.01 – death 1983.02.19)
• Joseph Edra Ukpo (first native incumbent) (1973.03.01 – 2003.12.17), succeeding as former Auxiliary Bishop of Ogoja (1971.04.24 – 1973.03.01) and Titular Bishop of Chullu (1971.04.24 – 1973.03.01); later Metropolitan Archbishop of Calabar (Nigeria) (2003.12.17 – retired 2013.02.02)
• John Ebebe Ayah (2006.10.14 – 2014.07.05), stayed on a while as Apostolic Administrator of Ogoja (2014.07.05 – 2017.04.09) while Bishop of Uyo (Nigeria) (2014.07.05 – ...)
• Bishop-elect Donatus Edet Akpan (2017.04.09 – ...), no previous prelature.

See also

• List of Catholic dioceses in Nigeria
• Roman Catholicism in Nigeria

Sources and external links

• GCatholic.org, with Google satellite photo - data for all sections
• Catholic Hierarchy