Nzama Catholic Parish

Nzama Catholic Parish, known in the Diocese of Dedza as St Mary's (Nzama) Parish, is a Catholic parish at Nzama in Ntcheu district, Malawi. It is one of the five parishes of the diocese's Ntcheu Deanery. The Episcopal Conference of Malawi and the Diocese of Dedza both record that the Montfort Missionaries arrived at Nzama, near Ntcheu, on 25 July 1901, welcomed by the Ngoni chief Njobvuyalema, and that Nzama was the first permanent Catholic mission in Malawi. The Episcopal Conference's history adds that the missionaries cared for the sick and started a school, and that the first catechumens were baptised in 1905 after four years of instruction. The diocese lists the parish as established in 1901, about 85 kilometres from the diocesan headquarters, with three Catholic primary schools and one secondary school. Its outstations are Chakudza (St Joseph), Chibweya (St Felix), Howa, Liyada (St Cecilia), Chipusile, Chitipi (St Montfort), Ziwoya (St Tereza), Mpando, Chiseme (St Peter's), Dzonzi Vai (St Paul) and Motomphale. On Saturday 19 September 2026 Nzama hosted the main celebration of 125 years of the permanent establishment of the Catholic Church in Malawi. The Mass, on the grounds of Nzama Primary School, was presided over by Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization and special delegate of Pope Leo XIV, who also opened a new four-classroom block at St Mary's (Nzama) Catholic Primary School built by the Catholic University of Malawi. The Diocese of Dedza was set up as an apostolic vicariate in 1956 and raised to a diocese in 1959. It covers Dedza and Ntcheu districts and a small part of Salima, and its cathedral is the Cathedral of the Holy Family at Bembeke. Ntcheu district lies in the Central Region on the border with Mozambique. The diocese gives the parish's postal address as P.O. Box 44, Ntcheu; Mass times and a telephone number have not been published online.

4H4M+4J9, Kalonga, Malawi
Ntcheu

14°53′41″S 34°35′3″E