OHAZURUME - Unizik Journal of Culture and Civilization

In 1890, when the French Catholic missionaries opened its mission station at Aguleri, most natives saw it as joke since it was believed that their life subsisted in their traditional religion. Gradually, Catholicism and Christianity swept off the very majority of Aguleri indigenes and even spread from there. The faith grew to birth a new Catholic diocese in February 2023. This work tried to review the spread of the mission in order to identify its successes and challenges, as they may be of help to the new diocese. Simple thematic, narrative and critical methods of history were employed in the research, while adopting Pope-Levison’s theories of relationships and rootedness in the church to anchor it. The findings revealed that though the Catholic mission in Aguleri could be considered a success, it was, however, challenged by strained relations with neighbours; attachment to traditional cultural practices, and shallowness in doctrinal depth. These may continue to pose great obstacles to the success for the new diocese.

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