Herault English Church

 Madagascar

Presentation to congregation on 18 August 2024

Carol Gardner and Jane and John Griffin visited Madagascar in June.  Below are the photos and videos used in their presentation. During the trip, four new priests were ordained and John was installed as a lay canon of the cathedral in Toliara, a cathedral he had seen grow from nothing, along with the Diocese of Toliara.

Toliara trip report

Salary etc

Ambo school

Mangily

Ordinations

The story so far

Chaplaincy members may remember our Harvest Festival at Margon in September 2018, when Bishop Todd McGregor and his wife Revd Patsy, from The Episcopal Church, were with us and Bishop Todd preached. They were based then in Madagascar, where Bishop Todd had been the founding bishop of the Toliara Diocese. The Diocese grew rapidly. Two of our members, Jane and John Griffin, were involved from its earliest days.

The McGregors have since retired, but our link has continued.  We are now "twinned" with the parish of Fenoarivo. At the beginning their priest was Revd Delphin Thessaloniane, who speaks English and is still our "communicator" whilst Revd Tomboasy has taken over care of the parish. Carol Gardner and Phyl Mallett are our "link leaders".   Please click here to read our Link Agreement and here to go to the Diocese of Toliara website.

Below are photographs Revd Delphin sent in August 2022: one of him with his wife and son and one of him travelling on his motorbike to take a service.  Next to them is  a photo of Revd Tomboasy.

Carol and Phyl, our Link Leaders are in regular contact with Revd Delphin.  They receive photos and videos as well as exchanging written messages and occasionally chatting.  Hooray for WhatsApp!  Sadly, sending photos from All Saints is hampered by European data protection laws.

The church in the Toliara Diocese is still growing rapidly, amidst extreme poverty and extreme weather conditions.  In March 2023, Cyclone Freddy caused devastation. Homes and crops were destroyed, as shown in photos below, and money was sent from All Saints to try to help the efforts to re-build and re-plant. In May 2023  we sent money donated at our Lent lunches.

Friends of Toliara support the diocese in a variety of ways and produce an e-newsletter.  The newsletters have general news about the Diocese, but also news at parish and individual level.  If you'd like to subscribe, the link is: http://dioceseoftoliara.org/en/contact-us/subscribe-to-newsletter/