NDOLA, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF.
It is situated in the north-western part of Northern Rhodesia (Africa) and comprises the civil districts of N., Solwezi, Kasempa, Mwinilunga. The district of N. contains the Copper Belt region, where there are five important industrial centres.
The Catholic mission was founded in 1931 by the Conventual Friars Minor (to whom the Vicar of N. is now entrusted), after an eight-month stay in the Apostolic Vicariate of Bangweolo (v.) to learn the indigenous language. At first they worked under the jurisdiction of the Apostolic Prefecture of Broken Hill (now the Apostolic Vicariate of Lusaka [v.]), but on 3 January 1938, with territory detached from the said prefecture, the Apostolic Prefecture of N. was erected, later becoming an Apostolic Vicariate on 13 January 1949. The apostolate in urban areas is rather difficult and complicated, owing to the presence of numerous Europeans (about 15,000); for the natives of East Africa and other Africans who have immigrated from the various provinces of Northern Rhodesia and from the neighbouring regions (Angola, Congo, Nyasaland, Southern Rhodesia), who number over 100,000. In rural areas, missionary work is often hindered by the hostility of the sect called the “Watch Tower,” which in some places has very active adherents. However, some indigenous chiefs, previously hostile to Catholic missions, now request the schools of the vicariate and accept Catholic catechists. In the five industrial centres mentioned above, no schools other than government ones are permitted. Over 2,000 indigenous Catholics attend them. In these schools, however, there is a good percentage of Catholic teachers, to whom the religious instruction of Catholic pupils is entrusted under the supervision of the local priest. The rural Catholic schools are functioning very well, but the government, probably for economic reasons, is reluctant to allow the opening of others.
The vicariate covers about 134,400 sq. km. in area; with about 261,000 inhabitants; 20,143 are Catholics, of whom 27,477 are indigenous, 1,515 foreigners, 151 of mixed race; 4,418 catechumens. Dissenters are estimated at about a thousand, Protestants at about 20,000, Jews at about 1,000, Moslems at about 3,500. There are: 25 foreign priests (15 Italians and 10 among Americans, Maltese, Swiss, English), 7 foreign lay brothers, 4 indigenous and 34 foreign sisters, a minor seminary in the process of being founded, 2 preparatory seminaries, 101 male and 6 female catechists; 56 male and 15 female teachers, about 15 quasi-parishes, 9 main and 14 secondary mission stations; 11 churches, 24 chapels; 2 hospitals; 2 dispensaries; 1 leper asylum; period. Schools: 29 elementary, 6 secondary, 6 vocational. In 1950, 932 adult baptisms were recorded. Catholic Action associations are also very flourishing. This in a territory that twenty years ago was virgin; it is therefore a vicariate in full development, destined to produce even greater fruits in the future.