Deacon Fidele to Be Ordained Missionhurst Priest

By Alfonso Aguilar
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 4/18/02)

Deacon Fidele Okitembo Dikete of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Falls Church anxiously awaits the arrival of what he anticipates as the most important day of his life. On June 1 he will be ordained a priest at St. John Berchmans Church in San Antonio, Texas.

"After 10 years in the seminary, I will be ordained a priest," said Deacon Dikete. "I really don’t know how I will feel that day, but certainly it will be the most important day of my life."

Fidele Dikete was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire, in Central Africa) 31 years ago into a Catholic family of nine siblings, of which Dikete was the youngest. Since he was a boy, he said, he has felt the presence of God, thanks to the teaching and devotion of his mother "who taught me to love God and people, to be generous and fight for justice," said Fidele, or Fidel, as he is called by many parishioners from St. Anthony.

"I know that some Hispanics call me affectionately St. Martin of Porres because I am also black," he says laughing.

Coincidentally, Dikete was an altar boy in St. Martin Parish in Kananga, his native town, and later a youth leader helping his parish and local community. At age 20, he decided to be a priest, but this time he was not alone, as one of his sisters, Angelique Dikete, already had decided to embrace religious life.

In 1995, he came to the United States to complete seminary. He studied at the Oblate School of Theology in Texas and is now finishing his studies at Missionhurst-CICM Missionaries in Arlington.

The deacon remembers his first years in this country were very difficult, to such an extent that he thought of returning to his native Congo. "Everything was new, the culture, the food, the traditions, and it was very frustrating that I didn’t understand English," said Dikete, who little by little added English and Spanish to his numerous languages (French, Tetela, Tshiluba, Lingala and Latin).

"I learned English in the seminary and Spanish in the street. I considered the learning of both languages very important for understanding and serving all God’s children," said Dikete, who is currently working as an advocate for African Faith and Justice Network in Washington.

Last November, he was assigned to serve as deacon at St. Anthony Parish, where, after ordination, he would like to remain. "I would love it, but I am open to go where God wants me to go," said Fidele.

After his ordination, he plans to travel to his country to celebrate Masses in the capital Kinshasa and in his own town Kananga. Lingala and Tshiluba, two of the five languages spoken in Congo, will be used by Fidele as a priest.

Deacon Dikete believes that a Mass should always be connected to life. "Mass comes with justice, family, health, employment. Everything comes together, everything should be connected. My mother always told me to believe in God and to fight for social justice."

Masses of thanksgiving will be celebrated at St. Anthony of Padua Parish on June 9 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. 

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