Pope Francis appointed Father Marek Ochlak OMI, provincial of the Polish Province of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, as bishop of the Diocese of Fenoarivo Atsinanana in Madagascar on April 17, 2025.

The new Oblate bishop was born on March 14, 1966 in Nowe Miasto Lubawskie. He studied at the Oblate Minor Seminary in Markowice near Inowrocław (1981-1985). He entered the Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1985. After completing his novitiate in Koden on the Bug River, he made his first profession of vows on September 8, 1986, and began his seminary studies in Obra near Wolsztyn, where he took his perpetual vows on September 8, 1990. Fr. Marek Ochlak was ordained on June 20, 1992 by Bishop Zdzisław Fortuniak, then auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Poznan.

A man of mission

After his ordination, he worked for three years as a vicar at St. Eugene Parish in Kędzierzyn-Koźle. After a French language course in Paris, he left for Madagascar on August 8, 1995. First, he took a course in Malagasy language and culture in Antananarivo-Soavimbahoaka (1995-1996). He then served in Marolambo as a missionary in the bush (1996-2001, since 1999 as superior), in Toamasina - Notre Dame de Lourdes (2001-2009, since 2006 as superior and pastor), and in Antananarivo-Soavimbahoaka (2009-2015) as superior of the Oblates in Madagascar and Reunion Island. Following the end of this ministry, he worked at the Befasa mission, taken over from the Salesian missionaries, since November 27, 2016. Over the years of his ministry, with the help of donors from Poland, he has built wells, waterworks, schools, chapels, a hospital named after Wanda Błeńska (a doctor and lay missionary), and renovated the church at the central mission dedicated to St. Teresa of the Child Jesus. After returning to Poland, from September 2021 he served as director of the MAMI in Poznań, responsible for missionary support (not only Oblate), animation and missions promotion. On January 10, 2023, he was elected Superior of the Polish Province of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and canonically took office on February 17. Today, Pope Francis appointed him bishop of the Diocese of Fenoarivo Atsinanana in Madagascar.

Diocese of Fenoarivo Atsinanana

The Diocese of Fenoarivo Atsinanana, located on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean, was erected on October 30, 2000 by Pope John Paul II. It covers an area of 25,000 square kilometers and is a suffragan of the Toamasina Archdiocese, presided over by Cardinal Désiré Tsarahazana. The main cities of the diocese from north to south are: Maroantsetra, Mananara, Soanierana Ivongo, Fenoarivo-Atsinanana and Vavatenina. On Sainte-Marie Island (Pirate Island), there is the first Catholic church built in Madagascar in 1857. As of 2024, the diocese had a population of 1,626,672, of which 432,923 are Catholics, or about 26.6% of the population. There are 11 parishes within the diocesan structure (central missions with numerous Catholic communities in the bush, up to 50), with 56 diocesan priests and 3 religious. In addition, the diocese has 72 religious sisters and there are 51 seminarians. The diocesan cathedral is St. Maurice's Church in Fenoarivo Atsinanana.

The Missionary Oblates are a missionary congregation. Our main mission in the Church is to show Christ and His Kingdom to the most abandoned - to proclaim the Good News to peoples who have not yet accepted it, and to help them discover their own worth in light of the Gospel. Where the Church already exists, the Oblates target groups with whom the Church has the least contact.

source/photos: oblaci.pl / TJ/DJ