The name Musoma comes from the Jita word Omusoma which when directly translated means, a spit. This is because Musoma has many spits, surrounded by Lake Victoria.
Maryknollers arrived in Musoma in 1946 to work side by side with the White Fathers, in what was then Mwanza Diocese. When Musoma was made a Diocese in 1957, Maryknoller John Rudin (now deceased) was the first bishop. While primary evangelize has been the first priority of Maryknoll in Musoma, Maryknoll priests, brothers, sisters and lay missionaries have also built and worked in churches, dispensaries and schools from Bunda District and the Serengeti to the Kenya border. Now in Musoma are six Maryknoll priests and brothers (just 20% of their numbers in the 1970s) in apostates that will soon be in the hands of Tanzanians
