In 1984 the regional ecclesiastical authority known as the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) founded the Catholic Higher Institute of Eastern Africa (CHIEA) to provide education in Sacred Theology to the AMECEA region which today comprises the following countries: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The Institute was authorized by the Congregation for Catholic Education to offer two year Licentiate programmes in Theology on 2nd May 1984 and officially inaugurated on 3rd September 1984 by Rt. Rev. Bishop Medardo Mazombwe, the then Chairman of AMECEA. One year later it was formally opened by His Holiness Pope John Paul II on 18th August 1985.
With its formal erection on 6th March 2000, the Catholic Higher Institute of Eastern Africa became the Faculty of Theology of The Catholic University of Eastern Africa. The Faculty of Theology of the CUEA is under the direction of the Holy See, governed by the Apostolic Constitution Sapientia christiana and grants ecclesiastical degrees.
The Faculty enjoys the services of a modern Learning Resource Centre of The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which offers modern facilities in Research Teaching and Community Service.
The Faculty of Theology of The Catholic University of Eastern Africa is aware of its aim of profoundly studying and systematically explaining, according to the scientific method proper to it, Catholic doctrine, derived with the greatest care from divine revelation; and of carefully seeking solution to human problems in the light of that same revelation (Cf. Sap Chr Art.66.)
It recognizes its duty to assist the local Churches in the challenging dialogue between faith and culture, between the Church and human society, between the Kingdom of God and the temporal realities through which the human family moves towards its final destiny. It has a role to play in implementing for Eastern Africa the dynamism of the Second Vatican Council. It has taken note of new developments since the approval of the Statutes of the Faculty of Theology by the Congregation for Catholic Education (Cf. Prot.N.279/81/E/107.)