I came to Wadzanai Training Centre in 1994 to study for a two-year UZ diploma in Religious Studies but ended up graduating with an extra diploma in Religious Education in 1996, whose worth I did not quite appreciate at the time, until 2005, when it opened a golden door for me to study theology at the Catholic Theological Union. When I arrived at Wadzanai, having dropped out of the Franciscan Novitiate in 1993, my spirit was downcast, my faith was just a flicker, and my hope of attaining an education was fading away—almost gone. Wadzanai restored my hope, revived my spirit, molded my character, and rekindled my faith and dreams. Wadzanai gave me caring friends, excellent professors, a deeply spiritual environment, and most of all, a character.
In addition to my academic achievements from Wadzanai, I now I hold a D.Min from the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Illinois (2008), MA in Religious Studies (2005), BA (Honors) in Religious Studies (1999), and Graduate Certificate in Education (2002), all from the University of Zimbabwe. In 2012, my family and I migrated to Texas, USA, where I work as an Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at the Mexican American Catholic College, in San Antonio. I also teach World Religions and The Religious Quest, at the University of the Incarnate Word, as an adjunct professor. I have also taught at Oblate School of Theology, Texas. Prior to my coming to the USA, I taught for seven years at Secondary Schools, and for two years at Wadzanai Training Centre. I also taught several religious studies courses at Arrupe Jesuit University, Chishawasha Seminary, Holy Trinity College, and Zimbabwe Christian College.
I have authored four books: The Pursuit of the Sacred (2016), Shona Women in Zimbabwe—A Purchased People? (2016), African Traditional Religion Encounters Christianity: The Resilience of a Demonized Religion (2017), and The Audacity to Dream: Stories from an African Immigrant, 2018.
My students say that I am a good, passionate, knowledgeable, and empathetic teacher. I always tell them, “Before everything started, there was Wadzanai Training Centre.”
John Chitakure, D.Min (Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at the Mexican American Catholic College, San Antonio, Texas, USA)