The Catholic Diocese of Idah is located in the Ecclesiastical Province of Abuja, Nigeria along the Niger River in Kogi State Nigeria. The Diocese of Idah largely embodies the Igala and Bassa ethnic groups under the leadership of the Attah Igala, the Igala Supreme Royal Monarchy. The Diocese was first evangelized by the Spiritans (Congregatio Sancti Spiritus), C.S.Sp. The first missionary to the diocese was Father Joseph Lichtenberger in 1902, and later missionaries of the same Order including the renowned Irish Bishop Joseph Shanahan, 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 the Muslims as at the time. The Catholic faith would resurge again, through the instrumentality of Bishop Shanahan, as the Ordinary of Onitsha Archdiocese, given his determined evangelizing interests. With the assistance of German Spiritans working in the then Benue Province, he reopened the Igala area once again to Catholicism. Prominent among them was Fr. Anthony Konrath, Cssp, a German Spiritan who was operating from Utonkon around 1932. He engaged in vigorous pastoral activities, visiting Ankpa and its vicinities such as Imane and Ojoku, celebrating masses for Catholic soldiers at the old Ankpa military barrack and for the converted indigenes who had encountered Catholicism in their sojourns elsewhere, and traders, especially of Igbo stock, residing within the area. Eventually reaching Idah, in 1934 Fr. Konrath and his conferes set up camp there, establishing Idah as the headquarters of their Catholic mission. Idah, therefore, became the headquarters of this missionary enterprise and the rejuvenated Catholicism in the area. Idah became the citadel of Catholicism becoming the first Parish in the area. As an outstanding legacy to the courageous missionary endeavours of these German Priests, the Cathedral Church in Idah is named after the distinguished German missionary and bishop, St. Boniface. The Diocese of Idah continue to have an abiding link with Germany, especially the Diocese of Fulda; a Diocese that has also in recent years (since 1990 until present) helped to train seminarians and Priests for Idah Diocese, and conscientiously supported the laity through various ecclesial initiatives and social projects. The Second World War truncated the German missionary efforts in this area. They were arrested and interned, sent to the Caribbean, as Nigeria was a British territory. At the end of the war, they were returned to Germany; never to continue their ministry in the area they worked so hard to sow the fledging seeds of re-emergent Catholicism. This area would later become the Diocese of Idah. During this period, English and Irish missionary Priests from the Benue Province and later Nsukka area provided temporary pastoral relief. Nigerian indigenous missionaries, such as the late Bishops John Cross Anyogu and Anthony Nwedo also lived out the Church’s missionary commitment in this area during this period. The Spiritan Priests from Canada (mainly from around the Montreal, Quebec region) would continue this missionary mandate, when they later took over the pastoral care of the area (and the neighboring Diocese of Lokoja) in the 1950s, and continued to provide enormous spiritual nourishment enhancing the faith of the people, and building ecclesiastical structures and institutions, that would be foundational towards the consolidation of the young church in the area. The names and legacies of some of these early Canadian missionaries continue to be endearingly engraved upon the living consciousness and mental templates of some of the surviving early generations of Igala and Bassa Catholics. The Canadian missionaries provided personnel and material resources until the indigenous clergy and religious began to gradually and increasingly take over pastoral responsibilities.
Enriched by the meaning of true Catholicism, as embodying diversity and plurality of persons, cultures, language, races, ethnicities, but directed towards the ultimate goal of furthering the mission of Christ and the ministries of the Church. Apart from Priests, many Religious Orders of women and men, exists in Idah Diocese and continues to fervently enrich and empower the texture of the Catholic faith and mission. While some of these Orders like the Holy Rosary Sisters and Holy Ghost Sisters in Ankpa, Idah, Anyigba and Ogugu, are old, and possess a relatively long duree ecclesial history in providing pastoral, social and healthcare services alongside the Canadian missionary Priests, Bishop Obot was highly instrumental in bringing into the Diocese, Nigerian founded religious congregations, especially of women, such as the Handmaid of the Holy Child Jesus (HHCJ) in Idah, Okpo and Okenyi; the Daughters of Divine Love (D.D.L.) in Egume, Imane, Idah and Itobe; the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy (D.M.M.M.) in Sheria, Abejukolo, and Anyigba. The order of Benedictine nuns also established their community in Ochaja, in 2000. On the 6th of March, 2014 the Diocese along the Niger Belt became home to the Augustinian Sisters. They have communities in Idah and Ejule. The Marist Brothers of Schools have also had a long history in the Diocese teaching at the Our Lady of Schools, Anyigba. A women religious congregation, Marist Missionary Daughter of the Society of Jesus the Good Shepherd though founded as a Pius Association in Uturu, Okigwe in 1989, received canonical approval from Bishop Obot on November 27, 2000 at the Holy Cross Parish, Dekina. A Marist Brother, Thomas Ezeaku established a school, with the approval and support of Bishop Obot, patterned upon the model of the Marist Brothers’ Secondary School in Uturu, Okigwe, in Ejule and Anyigba. The very gift of the Bishop reflects the mode in which indigenous Nigerians can also be significant agents of missionary presence and awareness in evangelization and integrating particular churches into the universal Church. Prior, to Bishop Obot’s arrival, we have seen Nigerians early on within the history of the Catholic faith in Idah diocese contribute towards planting and fermenting the new faith in the area. Two Nigerian Priests were prominently outstanding sacrificing very early to sow the seed of God’s words and love in the hearts, minds, souls, body of the people, and Anyogu and Anthony Nwedo, indigenous Nigerian Priests who traversed the length and width of Igala land as missionaries in the 1940s and 1950s. Equally, the church of Idah has embraced lovingly and cordially within its Prebysterium Priests whose natal origins emanate from other Nigerian regions or Dioceses. Idah diocese 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. By the unfailing grace of God, the Church in Idah Diocese has steadily continued to soldier on, growing robustly, and exponentially experiencing increase in Priestly and Religious vocations, under the sturdy and pastoral leadership and spiritual guidance of its first Bishop, the late Bishop Ephraim Silas Obot (December 1977- April 2009). Young men and women from this Diocese are also assisting and working as missionaries within the universal Church, planting and watering the seeds of faith across the globe. One of such missionaries, a member of the Missionary Society of St. Paul, Bishop Anthony Adaji, MSP, was appointed as the first indigene of the Igala ethnic group, to be named a Bishop, June 28, 2007, as the auxiliary bishop of the diocese. Following the death of Bishop Ephraim Silas Obot, the pioneer bishop, since June 1, 2009, Bishop Anthony Ademu Adaji, was named by the Holy See as the Second Bishop and incumbent Local Ordinary, in the history of Idah Diocese. Bishop Adaji who presently is the Chief Shepherd of Idah Diocese has with full strength assumed duties in the work of evangelization in the new era, with the vision to widen the scope of mission of Christ in the Igala & Bassa Land
