This message is a letter sent out today from our Bishop regarding the sad news about Bishop Mhogolo.
March 27, 2014
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is with profound sorrow that I tell you that our dear friend and mission partner, Bishop Mdimi Mhogolo of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika in Tanzania, died last night of complications from the pneumonia for which he was being treated. Last week he was taken to South Africa and placed on a ventilator, and I must say that this terrible news is what we most feared.
Over the last decade, few mission endeavors of the Diocese of New York have been as transformative for our participating parishes and our diocese as has the Carpenters Kids program, which was largely the vision of two great leaders, Bishop Mhogolo and Bishop Cathy Roskam of our own diocese. Dozens of our parishes have made pilgrimages to Tanzania, and many more have made substantial contributions to support this critical work among AIDS orphans. Through this work, many thousands of children whose lives otherwise held little hope have been fed, educated and prepared for full and productive lives in their villages and the nation of Tanzania. It has been a great privilege for our diocese to have been part of this work, and a wonderful blessing to have known and to have had our own lives enlarged by this great man.
We have been asked if we might assist with some of the costs of Bishop Mdimi’s funeral and the extraordinary burdens that this will place on his family. If you can and would like to make a contribution to this effort, please do so through my office and we will get all gifts where they are most needed.
We will continue to provide any further information as we receive it. But I ask that you remember Bishop Mdimi at your altars this Sunday, and in your own prayers. Pray for the people and the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, and for the countless children in that country who have lost today their greatest champion. May his soul, and the souls of all the departed, rest in peace. With every good wish, I remain
Yours,
The Rt. Rev. Andrew M. L. Dietsche