Monday, January 5, 2015

PACIFIC DIOCESES



By "Pacific" I mean everything in the Pacific except the Solomons, which are grouped with Papua New Guinea in the Church organizational chart.

New Zealand and the Philippines are also not included in this region also called Oceania. Hawaii, though in the Pacific, is included in the U.S. dioceses.

By "diocese" is meant a number of Church entities. Every archdiocese is a diocese but, besides dioceses, there are also entities called Prefectures Apostolic and Missions.

So....which "diocese" in Oceania is the largest, in terms of population? Guam!


DIOCESE
CATHOLIC POPULATION
TOTAL PRIESTS
SISTERS
LATEST YEAR FOR DATA

AGANA

157,000

47

100

2012

NOUMEA, NEW CALEDONIA



110,000



37



111



2004

SUVA, FIJI

101,050

79

135

2011

PAPEETE, TAHITI


89,000


28


44


2005

CAROLINES

68,500

27

33

2007

TARAWA, KIRIBATI


54,942


29


97


2011

CHALAN KANOA


43,000


18


32


2007

SAMOA-APIA

42,500

50

73

2011

PORT-VILA, VANUATU


29,500


25


65


2005

SAMOA-PAGO PAGO


14,000


21


10


2011

WALLIS & FUTUNA


13,631


8


35


2011

TONGA

13,367

38

41

2011

TAIOHAE

8,310

5

5

2011

MARSHALLS

4,875

5

8

2011

RAROTONGA, COOK IS


3,089


9


9


2011

TOKELAU

500

1

0

2011

FUNAFUTI

119

1

0

2011



So the three biggies, which have a Catholic population of over 100,000 are, in order : Guam, New Caledonia and Fiji.

Tonga, which just received its first Catholic Cardinal, has only 13,367 Catholics but a whopping 41 priests (as of the year 2011). That means one priest for every 351 Catholics.

Guam has 157,000 Catholics and 47 priests, meaning one priest for every 3,340 Catholics.