PARISH HISTORY

Mkuzi is a village located in the midst of Usambara Mountains, few kilometers from Lushoto Township along the rural road which connects Lushoto, and villages of Mlola, Kwekanga, and Malibwi. Mkuzi is in between two old parishes of Gare and Kwai as well as a new parish of Mabughai.  Mkuzi was one of the Kwai outstations. Its history goes even further when it was part of Gare Parish. Since 1915 priests from Gare would visit Mkuzi for church services. Later when Kwai became a parish, Mkuzi was entrusted to Kwai for its pastoral care. Priests and nuns from Kwai would visit Mkuzi for pastoral and sacramental celebrations. Mkuzi has many good families with long roots in Catholicism. A good number of them have family connections with families in Gare areas. The number of Catholics in Mkuzi grew up rapidly to make it a very vibrant outstation. In 2003, Mkuzi was created as an independent parish.

The old Catholics in Mkuzi can easily remember the good missionary work done by Rosminian missionaries like Rev. Frs Luigi Cerana, I.C. , Fr. Michael O’Shea I.C., Fr. Jim Polock, I.C. and Fr. Gerald Cunningham, I.C. These priests were very much attracted by Mkuzi and invested their strength to evangelization of the area. Each one of them has contributed in his own way to develop Mkuzi in different aspects. Fr. Cunningham as the priest in-charge for Mkuzi resided in Kwai and kept commuting to Mkuzi. He is known to the building of priests' residence in Mkuzi and also a vocational school for carpentry. 

The Catholic faith in Mkuzi as it is in Gare has deep roots. This is manifested to the good amount of priestly and religious vocations. A good number of daughters from Mkuzi joined the Congregation of Our Lady of Usambara as nuns.

The native priests from this Mkuzi Parish are: Casmir Magwiza (1975), Richard Mshami (1981), and John Sabuni (2001).