Roman Catholic Diocese of Idah

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Idah (Latin: Idahin(us)) is a diocese located in the city of Idah, Kogi State in the Ecclesiastical province of Abuja in Nigeria.

Idah is located along the Niger river in Kogi State of Nigeria. The diocese of Idah largely embodies the Igala and Bassa ethnic groups, who live in the Igala Kingdom ruled by the Attah of Igala, along the Niger and Benue rivers, below their confluence, around Lokoja.

The diocese was first evangelized by the Spiritans (Congregatio Sancti Spiritus a.k.a. Holy Ghost) priests. The first missionary to the diocese was Father Joseph Liechtenberger who was sent to the area in 1902, and later missionaries of the same order including Irish bishop Joseph Shanahan were the progenitors of the first Catholic mission in Dekina. By 1905, this mission closed as a result of the hostility of the local community, constituted mainly of Muslim communities.

Bishop Shanahan, the ordinary of Onitsha archdiocese, called upon the German spiritans working in the then Benue Province to collaborate in reopening the Igala area to Catholicism. Fr. Anthony Konrath, a German Spiritan reopened Catholicism in the area around 1932, operating out of Utonkon. He engaged in vigorous pastoral ministrations, visiting Ankpa and its vicinities such as Imane and Ojoku, celebrating masses for Catholic soldiers at the old Ankpa military barrack, Catholic residents, and traders, especially of Igbo stock, residing within the area. He also visited and introduced Catholicism into adjoining areas. Eventually reaching Idah, in 1934 Fr. Konrath and his associates set up camp, establishing Idah as the headquarters of their Catholic operations, the first parish in what became Idah diocese.

The Cathedral church in Idah is named after the German missionary and bishop St. Boniface. The diocese of Idah continues to have a link with Germany, especially the diocese of Fulda, a diocese since 1990 has helped to train seminarians and priests for Idah diocese, and undertaken various ecclesial initiatives and social projects.

The Second World War truncated the German missionary efforts in this area. They were arrested and interned in the Caribbean, as Nigeria was a British territory. At the end of the war they were returned to Germany, being replaced by English and Irish missionary priests from the Benue Province and later Nsukka area. Nigerian indigenous missionaries, such as the bishops John Cross Anyogu and Anthony Nwedo also carried out missionary activities.

The Spiritan priests from Canada (mainly from around the Montreal, Quebec region) continued as missionaries there and in the neighboring diocese of Lokoja in the 1950s, building ecclesiastical structures and institutions. The Canadian missionaries provided personnel and material resources until the indigenous clergy and religious began to take over pastoral responsibilities; some Canadians remained.

Apart from priests, there are many religious orders of women and men in Idah diocese. While some of these orders, such as the Holy Rosary sisters and Congregatio Sancti Spiritus (Holy Ghost sisters) in Ankpa, Inyano, and Ogugu, are old, and possess a relatively long ecclesial history in providing pastoral, social and healthcare services alongside the Canadian missionary priests, Bishop Obot brought Nigerian-founded religions congregations into the diocese, especially of women, such as the Handmaid of the Holy Child Jesus (HHCJ) in Idah and Okpo; the Daughters of Divine Love (D.D.L.) in Egume, Imane, and Idah; the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy (D.M.M.M.) in Sheria, Abejukolo, and Ayangba. The order of Discalded Carmelites nuns also established their community in Okura, in 2000.

The Marist Brothers of Schools have also had a long history in the diocese teaching at the Our Lady of Schools, Ayangba. A women's religious congregation, Marist Missionary Daughter of the Society of Jesus the Good Shepherd, though founded as a Piuos Association in Uturu, Okigwe in 1989, received canonical approval from Bishop Ephraim Silas Obot on November 27, 2000 at the Holy Cross Parish, Dekina. Marist Brother Thomas Ezeaku established a school,with the approval and support of Obot, patterned upon the model of the Marist Brothers Secondary School in Uturu, Okigwe, in Ejule and Ayangba.

Prior to Obot's arrival two Nigerian priests, later bishops, John Cross Anyogu and Anthony Nwedo, were active in the area as missionaries in the 1940s and 1950s.

Equally, the church of Idah has embraced lovingly and cordially within its prebystery priests whose natal origines emanate from other Nigerian regions or dioceses. Idah dioceses have priests with hometowns from such places as Achi in Oji River, Enugu State, Nsukka area of Enugu State, Agenebode in Edo State, Igarra in Edo State, Idoma area of Benue State, Owerri in Imo State, Awka, Enugu Agidi, and Enugu-Ukwu in Anambra State among many areas and dioceses of Nigeria.

The church in Idah diocese continued to grow, with more priestly and religious vocations, under the leadership of Obot, its first Bishop (from December 1977 to April 2009).

a member of the Missionary Society of St. Paul, Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Adaji, M.S.P., was named auxiliary bishop of the diocese on June 28, 2007. Following the death of Bishop Obot, Adaji was named by the Holy See the Second Bishop and incumbent ordinary on June 1, 2009.