Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Notes on the Diocese of Yendi, 1999
The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has created (16 March 1999) the diocese of Yendi (Ghana) with territory taken from the archdiocese of Tamale, making it suffragan of the same metropolitan Church.
The new diocese of Yendi (Ghana ) was created for the following reasons:
- to allow more capillary evangelization among the people mostly animists
- to stem the expansion of Islam in the region; to promote reconciliation among the tribes which fought each other in the ethnic conflict in February 1994
- more effective pastoral care will favour religious growth, all the more because the area appears to be fertile ground for priestly and religious vocations.
Here are the statistics of the archdiocese of Tamale and the new diocese of Yendi:
TAMALE before |
YENDI |
TAMALE today |
|
area |
32,500 sq km | 25,000 sq km | 7,500 sq km |
population |
1,055,000 | 450,000 | 605,000 |
Catholics |
15,250 | 3,843 | 11,407 |
parishes |
12 | 8 | 4 |
priests (diocesan) |
22 | 3 | 19 |
priests (religious) |
27 | 9 | 18 |
Brothers |
15 | 1 | 14 |
Sisters |
46 | 5 | 41 |
Major seminarians |
18 | 4 | 14 |
The diocese, which is in the eastern part of the archdiocese, will include 5 civil districts: Yendi, Gushiegu-Karaga, Bimbella, Saboba-Chereponi, Zabzugu-Tatale. Yendi is the second largest city of the northern region of Ghana after Tamale.
The Bishop will reside in Yendi and the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes will be the cathedral.
Source: Fides, April 9th, 1999
- CT
