Deacon John Fimmuchime was getting ready for bed one day when his bishop called to ask if he still wanted to be a priest.
The Cameroonian seminarian was upset — he had recently escaped a kidnapping and now he worried his bishop was asking him to leave the seminary. Instead, Kumbo Bishop George Nkuo was asking if Deacon Fimmuchime would be willing to finish seminary in the United States. And he was.
In 2021, Bishop Nkuo and Bishop Michael F. Burbidge agreed that the Arlington diocese would sponsor the education of two seminarians, including Deacon Fimmuchime, who would then serve in the diocese for four years before returning home. Now, after four years of preparation on the East Coast, Deacon Fimmuchime will be ordained a priest.
Deacon Fimmuchime was born May 6, 1995, in Nkor, Cameroon, the youngest and seventh child of Jesse Tata and Julita S. Bongtse. His mother died when he was 2. He spent his early childhood years playing soccer and helping his dad cook and farm. Later, he lived with one of his older sisters. When he was 7, he started attending school. His older siblings typically dropped out of school early in order to support their younger siblings’ education, he said. Deacon Fimmuchime and his older sister, a nurse, were the only ones able to finish high school and beyond. “That’s why I’m very grateful to them,” he said.
Deacon Fimmuchime, a cradle Catholic, believes that the loss of his mother inspired his desire to be a priest. From a young age, he wanted to serve as a way to thank God for keeping him alive. He also wanted to serve others. “Being an orphan is very challenging, especially when you come from a poor background,” he said. “If I’m a priest, I stand a better opportunity to listen to people like that, to be able to help people like that. The priest is the voice of the vulnerable in the society. The priest is one who (listens) to those who are broken-hearted, who need help.”
After his father died in 2014, Deacon Fimmuchime taught for a year before entering seminary. During his pastoral year, he got caught in the midst of the ongoing civil war between the largely French-speaking government and English-speaking separatists in his country. While on his way to school, the separatist group kidnapped him for ransom. But soon after, his captors heard the government forces were on their way. In the chaos, he escaped.
Deacon Fimmuchime had never left Cameroon before arriving to study at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. He’s appreciated getting to understand a new culture, and that some things transcend culture, such as playing soccer in seminary. The local Catholic Cameroonian community, which meets monthly at St. Mark Church in Vienna, welcomed him as well. “When I go there, I feel at home,” he said.
Though he’s eager to serve in Virginia, he’s looking forward to visiting his family in Cameroon. “They will not really be happy if I do not visit them after ordination because they want to have their first blessings,” he said. “I hope to visit them and pray with them and thank God for their lives and for giving me to the church as a gift.”
After ordination, Deacon Fimmuchime will be parochial vicar at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Lake Ridge.
Maraist is a freelancer from Reston.
