The diocese
Established as an Apostolic Vicariate in 1955 and elevated to a Diocese in 1974, CDOR came under the leadership of its current bishop, Rt. Rev. Christian Carlassare, mccj, on 25 March 2022.
The diocese sits in the very heart of South Sudan, within Lakes and Warrap States — a territory of around 65,000 square kilometres, larger than Switzerland. Its population is estimated at around 1.6 million people, of whom around 180,000 are of the Catholic faith.
Its mother church is the Holy Family Cathedral in Rumbek, rebuilt after the compound was destroyed during the civil war and still being renovated today.
The Ordinaries of CDORAt a glance
The numbers that shape how the diocese works: a vast territory, a scattered population and a small Catholic community within it.
Founded
Established as an Apostolic Vicariate
Raised to a Diocese
Nineteen years after its foundation
Dioceses
Catholic dioceses in the Republic of South Sudan
Territory
Lakes and Warrap States — larger than Switzerland
People
Estimated population of the diocesan territory
Catholics
Roughly one person in nine across the territory
Our mission
Our mission statement
Evangelization and integral human development through pastoral care, education and health.
Everything the diocese runs answers to that one sentence. Pastoral care reaches the parishes and the rural chapels through PALICA and hundreds of lay catechists. Education feeds and teaches 50,000 children and trains their teachers. Health carries a hospital at Mapuordit and two primary health care centres.
See our impact
Where we are
The township of Rumbek is the capital of Western Lakes State, in central South Sudan — roughly 377 kilometres by road north-west of Juba.
Like most South Sudanese towns, Rumbek suffered significant infrastructural damage during the civil war, in which an estimated two million people perished. The town sits on the main road from Juba in the south-east to Wau in the north-west. The road network has been severely compromised by both civil strife and weather; the majority of roads are unpaved and all are in poor condition.
Population figures here are estimates, and now some years old. In 2004 the United Nations put the population of Rumbek County at about 82,500; by 2011 the town itself was estimated at about 32,100. The county is home to Dinka Agar, Dinka Gok, Bongo and Jur-Bel communities.
A short monthly note from the diocese — what happened in the parishes, in the schools, on the radio. No more than one email a month.
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