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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DIOCESE OF KAFANCHAN
The Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan was carved out of the Archdioceses of Jos and Kaduna. Even though the announcement for the creation of the diocese was made by the Holy See on 15th July 1995, the Diocese was officially erected on 21st October, 1995 with the Episcopal Ordination and enthronement of Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Danlami Bagobiri as her first Bishop. Upon his death on 27th February 2018, his great feats have been sustained by the substantive Bishop, Most Rev. Dr. Julius Yakubu Kundi, nominated on 12th December 2019 and subsequently ordained on 20th February 2020.
Ecclesiastically, the Diocese of Kafanchan is bordered by the Archdioceses of Kaduna and Jos to the North and South and the Dioceses of Lafia and, Kano and Zaria to the East and West respectively. Politically, Kafanchan Diocese covers the Southern part of the Kaduna State with the headquarters situated at Kafanchan in Jema’a Local Government Area of the State. It is a cosmopolitan town of about 300,000 inhabitants, well known for its Railway junction from the South to the North which was immensely used as the sole transport network for evangelization by the early Missionaries. It covers a geographical area of about 14,860 square kilometers (5,739 square miles) made up of seven Local Government Areas namely: Jaba, Jema’a, Kaura, Kauru, Lere, Sanga and Zango-Kataf. The Diocese has a total population of about 1,605,804 inhabitants out of which over 767,389 are Catholics.
The Diocese of Kafanchan inherited three deaneries from her mother Archdioceses’. From Jos Archdiocese there was Kafanchan deanery which was made up of Kafanchan, Kwoi, Kagoma, Jagindi, Garaje, Kagoro, Manchok and Anturung parishes. Zonkwa deanery had Zonkwa, Mabushi, Damakasuwa, Zango, Fadan-Kamanton and Gidan-Bako as parishes; and Saminaka deanery had as parishes Saminaka, Fadan-Kono, Mariri, Yarkasuwa and Kwassam; all under Kaduna Archdiocese. After the creation of Kafanchan Diocese the following parishes where later created: Wadon (Zonkwa Deanery), Kpunyai (Kafanchan Deanery), Fadan-Karshi (Kafanchan but now in Kagoro Deanery), Jura (Saminaka Deanery) and Madakiya as an independent community within Kafanchan Deanery. Moreover, considering the vastness of Kafanchan Diocese, the need for the creation of new parishes as well as new deaneries became imminent. This was in view of the desires of the Local Ordinaries then and now to bring the Gospel to the door steps of the people. Hence, the then Kafanchan deanery has given birth to three more deaneries namely, Kagoro, Kwoi and Jagindi deaneries. Zonkwa deanery birthed Damakasuwa and Mabushi deaneries; Saminaka deanery has produced Kwassam, Yarkasuwa and Kono deaneries. Kafanchan Diocese now has a total of eleven deaneries with eighty six parishes (and quasi parishes).
In terms of manpower and vocations, the area that makes up the present Kafanchan Diocese has produced over 300 priests and a host of Bishops among whom are: Late Most Rev. Dr. Peter Yariyok Jatau (Emeritus Metropolitan Archbishop of Kaduna), Late Most Rev. Dr. Christopher S. Abba (was first the Bishop of Minna and then Yola Diocese until his demise), Late Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Danlami Bagobiri (the first Bishop of Kafanchan Diocese), Late Most Rev. Dr. George Jonathan Dodo (the first Bishop of Zaria Diocese), Most Rev. Dr. John N. Niyiring, OSA (Bishop of Kano Diocese), Most Rev. Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah (Bishop of Sokoto Diocese) Most Rev. Dr. Julius Yakubu Kundi, and Most Rev. Dr. Habila Daboh (Bishop of Zaria). Additionally, Kafanchan is the seat of the fathers of the Society of African Missions (SMAs) in Northern Nigeria located in Kagoro.
With an indigenous population where two out of every four is a Catholic, the history of Kafanchan Catholic Mission being the headquarters of the diocese dates back to 1933, when the attempt to meet the growing number of Catholics from the southern part of the country working in this area saw the sending of fulltime priest - Fr. Peter Bennett, SMA by the then Apostolic Prefect of Jos, Msgr. William Lumley, SMA to take care of the fast growing community. The Parish of Kafanchan was officially created in 1936 with Fr. O’Flyn appointed as its first resident Parish Priest. Prior to 1936, Kafanchan was part of the Parish of Udei (in the present day Makurdi Diocese) and was administered from there. The mission house in Kafanchan was built in 1936 by the Rt. Rev Msgr. Lumley, who was assisted by Rev. Tony Dwyer. In the years that followed, the growth of the church was encouraging and so the Parish of Kafanchan was now taking care of Kwoi, Fadan-Kagoma and Jagindi.
As a result of the high demand for high standard of training for teachers by the Colonial Government who was paying salaries for teachers even in mission schools in the Northern Region, an Elementary Training College (ETC), later converted to a Higher Training college (HTC) was established in Kafanchan in 1949 by the Catholic Church and was named the College of Mary Immaculate Conception (CMIC), now a Federal Technical College. This school was a major source for providing Catholic teachers to Kafanchan area and especially to the Plateau until its takeover by the North Central Government in 1972. At present, the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan has four (4) Higher Schools, over twenty Secondary Schools, and over thirty-two Nursery/Primary Schools. God is really gracious to our Diocese.