ABOUT US

In pre-independence days, Tabora developed as an important crossroads for trade and slave caravans. Goods and people coming from Lake Tanganyika and Congo to the West, and from the shores of Lake Victoria to the north, met at Tabora before joining forces and marching East to the Coast. The Old Boma in Tabora was constructed by the Germans, who were replaced by the British after WWI. David Livingston spent some months living in Tabora before proceeding further inland. A colonial rail line was constructed followings these same trade routes, with the intersection at Tabora. The Government of Tanzania is currently constructing a modern standard gauge high-speed electric train, which places Tabora at the center of a new infrastructure backbone opening much of western Tanzania for travel and trade. 

    In 1878, Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) came to help evangelize the interior of Tanzania. For decades, Tabora (originally called by the Vicariate of Unyanyembe) was the seat of the only Catholic Diocese between the island of Zanzibar to the East, to Burundi and Rwanda in the West. As the Church has grown in size and strength, Tabora has given birth to many daughter dioceses all over western half of the country.  The first African Archbishop in Eastern and Southern Africa, Marko Mihayo, 

was appointed here in 1960. Today, the Archdiocese of Tabora is contiguous with the political and administration Region of Tabora. It is still one of the largest dioceses in Tanzania by land area with approximately 300,000 baptized  Catholics. The Ecclesiastical Province of Tabora includes the suffragan dioceses of Kigoma, Mpanda and Kahama.

     The Father of the Tanzanian nation, Julius Kambarage Nyerere, was teaching at St. Mary’s Secondary School, adjacent to the Catholic Cathedral in Tabora, when he formed the Tanganyika National Union (TANU) that would enter negotiations with the British. The earliest discussions and strategy sessions that would lead to Tanzania’s independence in 1961 began here.

Cardinal Protase Rugambwa, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tabora (Tanzania), was born on 31 May 1960 in Bunena.

After completing his primary studies, he began his ecclesiastical formation in the Minor Seminaries of Katoke and Itaga. He then entered the Seminary of Kibosho to study philosophy and later went to Saint Charles Lwanga Segerea Seminary to study theology.

At the end of his formation, on 2 September 1990, he was ordained a priest for the diocese of Rulenge-Ngara, in the city of Dar es-Salaam, by Pope John Paul II during his pastoral visit to Tanzania. After his ordination, he served as parochial vicar of Mabira, teacher and formator in the minor seminary of Katote, and at the same time chaplain of the hospital of Biharamulo.

In 1994 he was sent to Rome in Italy where after years of studies he was awarded a doctorate in pastoral theology from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. He returned to Tanzania and there he served as a seminary teacher and formator, vocational director and secretary of the pastoral department of the diocese of Rulenge-Ngara, until 1999. From 2000 to 2002 he was vicar general of the same diocese. Upon returning to Rome, he entered the Roman Curia as official of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Subsequently, on 18 January 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of the diocese of Kigoma. He was consecrated a bishop on 13 April of the same year, in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Victory in Kigoma.

On 26 June 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and president of the Pontifical Mission Societies, with the personal title of archbishop. On 9 November 2017 he was appointed secretary of the same Congregation.

From 13 April 2023 to the 10 November 2023, he was coadjutor archbishop of Tabora, Tanzania.

On 10 November 2023 Pope Francis appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Tabora (Tanzania).

An official listing of the past bishops and Archbishops of Tabora can be found on the 

Catholic Hierarchy website:

Tabora (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]

  The primary collaborators of the Archbishop in bringing the gospel and the sacraments to God’s people are the priests. Tabora currently has over 70 active diocesan priests. Most serve in parishes, while others serve as hospital chaplains, administrators or teaching in Catholic institutions. Each year several of our priests from Tabora are called for further studies in Rome, or at other leading international Catholic universities. We are also blessed and grateful to have the ministry of several orders of missionary priests serving in some of our parishes. 

More detailed information on our priests, their postings and contacts can be found in the Catholic Directory of Tanzania published regularly by the Catholic Bishops of Tanzania: 

Catholic-Directory-2020-Edition.pdf (tec.or.tz)

We are grateful to note that for every active priest now serving the Archdiocese, we have a younger man in seminary or some stage of priestly formation! For more information, see the vocations section 

under needs and priorities.

  Tabora is the home of a large and growing congregation of religious Sisters of Diocesan right, the Daughters of Mary (Mabinti wa Maria), with their Mother House located at Kipalapala. Founded in 1930, the Sisters  are now serving in eight dioceses throughout Tabora as well as in Italy and the 

United  States of America.

In 1968, St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta chose Tabora as the location for her first community of sisters Africa, and the Missionaries of Charity with their distinctive sari habits have been a visible 

presence in Tabora ever since. 

We are also blessed by the presence and ministry of other missionary religious women 

and men from other Orders and Congregations. 

  The People of God are the Church! Christian laity in Tabora are active and organized. All parishes are made up of neighborhood small Christian Communities of 10-15 families, named for patron saints. These communities meet regularly in homes for prayer during the week, and provide support and mutual assistance for weddings, funerals and other needs of day-to-day life.

The Pontifical Missionary Childhood (for girls and boys), Catholic Youth (VIWAWA), The Catholic Women’s Group (WAWATA), Catholic Men of St. Joseph (UWAKA) all have active branches in the parish and gather for faith deepening and service projects. Many parishes also have branches of the Society of the Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Fatima Society and other pious associations.

Probably the most active of all lay ministries in the Archdiocese are the choirs! Tanzanians love to ‘pray twice’ by expressing their love of God in song. Every Sunday and Holy Day Mass, and indeed even weekday masses are likely to include uplifting and moving prayer leadership from the local choir.