The webpage for the 290th General Chapter of the Order recently included an interview with Fr. David Adiletta, O.P., a member of the Province of St. Joseph.  Fr. Adiletta was elected as the delgate from the Vicariate of Eastern Africa, where he served as its immediate past Vicar Provincial.  The Vicariate of East Africa is a vicariate of the Province of St. Joseph and the Province's main mission in Africa. 

Is this your first Chapter? What is your role at the General Chapter?

This is my first time in any capacity at a General Chapter. My role as a delegate is like that of all the other capitulars [members of a Chapter with a voice and vote]: to discuss the life of the Order in the world, and its structures. Certainly one of the most important things we will do is to elect a new Master on Sunday. We will also discuss our laws, and update or modify our legislation if necessary.

Because of the nature of our Order’s government, which is more representational rather than strictly democratic, all the delegates represent the various Friars from around the world. The Provinces get more representation depending on their size, and then the Vice-Provinces, and so on down the line. The Provinces have Vicariates, and the Vicariates have been given representation at the Chapter depending on their size; usually it’s only one brother. We’re not strictly representing just the Vicariate but also the Province because they have a dependence on the Province.

We delegates bring to the Chapter the concerns of those in Vicariates, mission territories & so forth. There are approximately 38 Provinces, 2 Vice-Provinces, 10 General Vicariates, and then smaller Vicariates. Provinces sometimes combine their Vicariates and these share one delegate.

Whom do you represent?

The delegates represent the Order, and have to avoid being too parochial. The Provinces have a different relationship with the Chapter because of their stability, history, etc.

The Dominicans had run a seminary in Nairobi for the local bishops in the 1960s, but they pulled out in the 1970s. However, in the late 1980s, the Master, at the request of local bishops, was asking the American Dominicans to explore the possibility of returning to eastern Africa. At the same time, the Order was considering the possibility of planting the Order in that part of the world. West Africa, Equatorial Africa and so on was already represented, but English-speaking Eastern Africa had no Friars. The idea, then, was to plant the Order where it was not, and we did exploratory tours to see if this was feasible. It eventually fell on the Eastern Province of the USA to take on the bulk of the responsibility, although it was begun as a collaborative project of the four US Provinces. The Vicariate was officially begun as such in 1991.

The Vicariate was originally called the Vicariate of Kenya, but it now encompasses Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan, four countries which have a shared history of economic, political and social interaction. We only have communities in Kenya, and there are 26 Friars (6 of whom are American) in 3 houses. We have one parish, and we teach in universities, run campus ministries, and have outreach to the poor. The goal of our mission is to plant the Order in eastern Africa, and to nurture it until it is able to stand on its own in that region. It’s a resource-intense endeavour and requires a long-term commitment, and the goal is to foster local vocations; there was already local interest in the late 1980s in joining the Order.

What challenges do you face in carrying out this mission?

We’re dealing with a Church in that region which is still very young; less than 150 years. So the depth of the faith is not present everywhere, although we do get examples like the martyrs of Uganda, who had a very strong faith. We’re still in a transitional phase from paganism to Christianity, and the faith is expanding but it needs to go deeper. The challenge is to help people understand their faith, which is where Dominicans, and our doctrinal preaching is so important. When we move from pagan to Christian cultures, we often wipe out the structures of paganism faster than we build the structures of Christianity, and so people may still feel a need to hold on to old practices, and they may be afraid to give them up and to trust in God, and understand the power of Jesus.

With regard to vocations, sometimes people come to us because they’re just looking for an education, and there may not be much of a vocation there. So we have to be very clear in our vocation promotion, and careful in our screening to help them discern their own authentic vocation. From the beginning, the Dominicans have accepted novices from various tribes, and they have learnt to work together for a common mission, and to witness to a society that often does divide along tribal lines. We have had a total of 46 novices in the last 20 years, of whom 7 have been ordained priests, and 2 as deacons.