KETA, DIOCESE OF. — In British Togoland, a suffragan of the archdiocese of Cape Coast (formerly the Apostolic Vicariate of the Gold Coast), entrusted to the Society of African Missions. Area: approx. 40,000 sq. km.
The territory of British Togoland was detached from the Apostolic Vicariates of the Gold Coast and of Togo (now Lomé [q.v.]) and erected as an Apostolic Vicariate under the name of Lower Volta on 15 March 1923. On 18 April 1950, in connection with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in British West Africa, it was raised to the status of a diocese under the name of Keta (Ketaensis), from the name of the city where the ordinary resides.
The population numbers approx. 569,000 inhabitants, of whom 75,554 are Catholics; 2,383 catechumens; 69,000 Protestants; 14,000 Muslims; approx. 408,000 pagans; 1 indigenous priest; 28 foreign priests; 2 foreign lay brothers; 3 indigenous and 15 foreign sisters; 267 catechists; 285 teachers; 3 major and 4 minor seminarians; 13 principal mission stations and 215 secondary ones; 33 churches and 166 chapels; 2 dispensaries with 76,512 consultations annually; 11 orphanages with 319 orphans of both sexes; 153 elementary schools with 9,787 male and 2,390 female pupils; 28 middle schools with 2,860 male and 435 female pupils; 2 vocational schools with 46 pupils, and 1 normal school with 51 pupils. In the past year there were 2,634 adult baptisms. There are lay religious confraternities and flourishing associations of Catholic Action.