On February 18, 2017 the Holy Father accepted the resignation from the
pastoral governance of the Diocese of Mweka (Democratic Republic of
Congo), presented by His Exc. Mgr. Gérard Mulumba Kalemba. The Holy Father appointed Fr. Oscar Nkolo Kanowa, C.I.C.M., Bursar at the novitiate of the Missionaries of Scheut in Mbudi, Kinshasa as Bishop of Mweka.
Fr. Oscar Nkolo Kanowa, C.I.C.M., was born on September 8, 1957 in Mbuji-Mayi. He attended primary school in Kamilabi-Kananga and secondary school at the Minor Seminary in Kabwe. He then entered the Interdiocesan Major Seminary of Kasai-Kabwe to study Philosophy. In 1981 he entered the novitiate of the Scheut Fathers in Mbudi, Kinshasa. He professed his first vows in September 1982 and his perpetual vows in September 1986. He was ordained a priest on 19 July 1987.
Following ordination he spent ten years in mission in the Dominican Republic, where he served in a number of roles: 1988-1995: Vicar and parish priest, bursar of the Dominican Province; 1995-1997: Vice provincial of the Dominican Republic; 1996-1998: Rector of the pre-novitiate; 1998-1999: he studied as formator at the St. Louis University, United States of America; 1999-2000 he was rector of the Scholasticate in Kinshasa; 2001-2003: Member of the provincial governance and adjunct Prosecutor for the province; 2004-2012: Provincial superior of Kasayi and Southern Africa. Since 2014 he has served as bursar of the International Novitiate of Mbudi in Kinshasa.
The Diocese of Mweka, erected in 1964, is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Kananga, has an area of 21,700 square kilometers and a population of 850,535 inhabitants, of whom 355,840 are Catholics. There are 14 parishes, 41 priests (31 diocesan and 10 religious), 14 religious brothers, 13 nuns and 33 seminarians.