Diocese of Keetmanshoop
diocese of the Catholic Church
The Diocese of Keetmanshoop (Latin: Keetmanshoopen(sis)) is a suffragan diocese in the Latin Rite Ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan of Windhoek in Namibia, yet depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Its cathedral episcopal see is St. Stanislaus Cathedral, in the city of Keetmanshoop.
Statistics
As per 2015, it pastorally served 42,570 Catholics (23.6% of 180,000 total population) on 264,110 km2 in 11 parishes and 32 missions with 16 priests (3 diocesan, 13 religious), 13 deacons, 65 lay religious (17 brothers, 48 sisters) and 2 seminarists.
History
July 7, 1909: Established as Apostolic Prefecture of Great Namaqualand, on territory split off from the then Apostolic Vicariate of Orange River in South Africa
Promoted on July 14, 1930 as Apostolic Vicariate of Great Namaqualand
January 13, 1949: Renamed after its see as Apostolic Vicariate of Keetmanshoop
Promoted on March 14, 1994 as Diocese of Keetmanshoop
Bishops
(all Roman rite, so far members of a missionary congregation)
Apostolic Prefects of Great Namaqualand
Fr. Stanislaus von Krolikowski, O.S.F.S. (1910 – death 1923.01.21)
Fr. Mattias Eder, O.S.F.S. (1923.03.16 – death 1930)
Apostolic Vicars of Great Namaqualand
Joseph Klemann, O.S.F.S. (1931.02.24 – retired 1942), Titular Bishop of Drusiliana (1931.02.24 – death 1960.03.21)
John Francis Eich, O.S.F.S. (1942.11.10 – death 1947.02.04), Titular Bishop of Cynopolis in Ægypto (1942.04.21 – 1947.02.04), succeeded as former Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Great Namaqualand (1942.04.21 – 1942.11.10)
Apostolic Vicars of Keetmanshoop
Francis Esser, O.S.F.S. (1949.01.13 – 1956), Titular Bishop of Claneus (1949.01.13 – 1962.09.12), next Coadjutor Bishop of Keimoes (South Africa) (1956 – 1962.09.12), succeeding as Bishop of Keimoes (South Africa) (1962.09.12 – death 1966.12.08)
Edward Francis Joseph Schlotterback, O.S.F.S. (1956.03.24 – retired 1989.10.02), Titular Bishop of Balanea (1956.03.24 – death 1994.12.09)
Apostolic Administrator Father Ludger G. Holling, O.S.F.S. (1989 – 1993.05.28), no other prelature
Anthony Chiminello, O.S.F.S. (1993.05.28 – 1994.03.14 see below), Titular Bishop of Numana (1993.05.28 – 1994.03.14)
Suffragan Bishops of Keetmanshoop
Anthony Chiminello, O.S.F.S. (see above 1994.03.14 – death 2002.11.23)
Phillip Pöllitzer, O.M.I. (2007.05.31 – retired 2017.07.21)
Willem Christiaans, O.S.F.S. (2018.02.07 – ...); no previous prelature.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Diocese of Keetmanshoop” is diocese of the Catholic Church. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Diocese, Keetmanshoop and diocese, not as a finished interpretation.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 31, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q586405. VIAF identifies the subject as 128080986. The Library of Congress control number is n2010046173. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2015, 1909, 1930 and 1949.
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This entry incorporates text from “Diocese of Keetmanshoop” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.