Founded in 1703 by Claude Poullart des Places, a native of France, the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans) consists of nearly three thousand members.  Spiritan missions can be found in more than sixty countries worldwide, dedicated to working with the poor and championing the needs of the disadvantaged marginalized around the world.
 
Spiritans are rooted in the missionary spirit of their founders, most notably Claude Poullart des Places and Francis Libermann, who is considered the Congregation’s second founder and who merged his missionary zeal with the Spiritans in 1848.   Whether speaking out in pastoral leadership, educating our youth, advocating for social justice, or shepherding parish communities, the Spiritans are involved in the important work of evangelization.
 
For three centuries, Spiritans have embraced a mission of hope and presence:
            • Evangelization of those who have not heard the Gospel Message;
            • Advocacy of refugees and immigrants;
            • Ministry in areas where the Church struggles to find workers; and
            • Promotion of justice and peace for the oppressed.

Under the leadership of Fr. Antoine Horner, the Spiritans began  ministering in Tanzania in 1863 when the first missionaries started the mission in Bagamoyo which involved the creation a free colony to provide education and training for recently freed slaves.The Holy Ghost Fathers were the first to arrive in Zanzibar in 1863 and crossed to Tanzania mainland, Bagamoyo in 1868 where they opened freed slaves' villages. In these villages they received and taught slaves freed by the British marines from the Arab slave traders. With the help of catechists trained in these villages, the missionaries evangelized northwards to the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. The ex-slaves were the first catechists.

Tanzania has a population of about 30,360,000 inhabitants, among whom 8,500,800 or 28.% are Catholics. The Second Vatican Council brought a new life to the Tanzania Church. Liturgical books were translated into Swahili and Mass hymns in Swahili were composed. Drums and other traditional musical instruments were introduced in the liturgy. This increased the people's active participation in the liturgy. Lay people became more involved in the church activities.

For effective pastoral work, the church introduced a system of Small Christian Communities. The Catholic families are divided into small Christian Communities of 12 to 20 families each. These communities become the basic churches with leaders, liturgical services and a shared social life. Where these have succeeded the church is healthy and alive with a strong lay participation in the church leadership. Nyerere's (the first president of Tanzania) political ideology of Ujamaa (African Socialism) which was organized on similar lines facilitated the introduction of these basic communities.

In his memoir, Christ Before Literacy, Fr. Ralph J. Poirier, C.S.Sp., wrote of his experiences as one of the first Spiritan missionaries among the Maasai Tribe situated in Tanzania, and is one example of these first evangelization efforts and life as a missionary.

Spiritans attempt to address their enormous needs for recovery from trauma, spiritual healing, and extreme physical deprivation. In neighboring Burundi—a war-torn and dangerous region—refugees living in camps are experiencing every kind of poverty and fear. Their numbers are one-half active Catholics, and the Spiritans spend most of their time providing sacramental ministry, unifying the community, and strengthening leadership.

For the better part of a half century, Father Ned Marchessault, C.S.Sp. has been in Africa as a
Spiritan missionary. His past 25 years have been in Tanzania where he conducted over two thousand Maasai baptisms with the establishment of six active Christian communities. In addition, Fr. Marchessault has addressed the near lack of education among the Maasai. As the young people receive an education, most of them return home to good-paying jobs and some now work for the conservation authority that governs the national park area in Tanzania. The Maasai have moved up to the status of middle-management employees on the game preserve, and several hold seats on the policy-making councils.

Father Pat Patten, C.S.Sp., has spent more than thirty years as a bush pilot in Tanzania, the only Spiritan and only priest of four Flying Medical Service volunteers. They provide regular preventive, curative, and emergency health care and health education in areas far removed from ordinary medical facilities. The volunteers fly about nine hundred hours a year using two specially modified Cessna 206 aircraft. Last year they treated 17,554 patients and flew eighty-four emergency flights, treating everything from the common cold to injuries by hyenas and lions and spear wounds.

These are just a kew of the hundreds of Spiritan priests and Brothers  who have and continue to minister to Tanzania.

The Spiritans have ministered to the Libermann Catholic School in Kipawa since 2005.