Eventually, you can go home again. Father Gabriel Dozie Okeke, a beloved visiting priest at St. Francis de Sales (SFDS), returned to Onitsha, Nigeria yesterday, September 30, after 11 years of service abroad. He spent parts of the last six summers in Rockaway.
“How blessed we have been,” Father Jim Cunningham of SFDS said, “to have him as a witness to the Gospel, as our teacher, as our preacher, as our mentor, as our friend.” In years past, Fr. Gabriel went to Rome to continue his studies in music and liturgy after his stint in Rockaway. This year, he returned to his home town of Onitsha.
Few of us know what career we will pursue from a young age; Fr. Gabriel is the exception. “When I was four, going to five-years old, my mother introduced me to the alter service. When I was eight, I received my first Holy Communion and was also privileged to receive my confirmation at that time,” Okeke said. “So all those years of serving at Mass, I was desiring the priesthood because I was always seeing the priests every morning, every week, celebrating Mass. When I was eight, I made my decision.
“Now I know that it was the Holy Spirit touching the heart of the child in me to desire priesthood.”
Anyone who has attended Mass with Fr. Gabriel would attest that music is integral to his ministry. Gabriel sings parts of his homily each week. In his final days at St. Francis, he performed a concert (Divine Resonance) in the church, on Sunday, September 27.
The concert featured seven bible verses followed by seven songs sung in English or “African.” Gabriel was accompanied on the piano and in two songs by fellow Nigerian, Father Patrick Ojiakor of St. Bernard’s Church in Levittown. The final hymn was the surprising duet of Fr. Gabriel and Fr. Jim singing Lady of Knock, a local Irish favorite.
“Music is a special gift. Let me not say music; let me say good voice. It was a gift from God. I didn’t do anything to have a good voice. I was born with that,” Okeke said. People noticed his vocal skills at an early age. His neighborhood had “Block Rosaries” where all the children gathered in the evening to pray the Rosary. Okeke explained, “We would sing after the Rosary, and sometimes we’d do singing competitions. So, from those competitions, they knew that I had a very good voice. I also started conducting the children’s choir at that age, around six years old.”
In 2015, when he was 32 years old, Fr. Gabriel was sent to Rome by his Archbishop to further his studies in music and in liturgy. “It was just a privilege,” Gabriel said. In Rome, he earned a Ph.D. in liturgy and a baccalaureate degree in music.
Now that his studies are complete, Okeke will return to his home for the first time in 11 years. Onitsha is “like, let’s say, Brooklyn. It’s a city in a state. It has its own archdiocese,” he said. Onitsha is a commercial city and port in southeastern Nigeria. It is a major distribution hub for West Africa.
Okeke does not know what assignment the Bishop in Onitsha will give him. If it is teaching at the university, he may have the flexibility to return to Rockaway for a seventh summer in 2027.
Asked his final thoughts upon departing, Fr. Gabriel said, “Gratitude. Gratitude would be the last point in my mind. With the priests, they’ve always been very wonderful to me. Also, to those who work in the rectory and church.” Okeke is also grateful the St. Francis’ parishioners. “I actually see their appreciation, that is their generosity, both in words and in deeds. Many are so kind to me. When I see them, they say, ‘We want you back.’”
After Sunday evening’s concert, Fr. Cunningham expressed how the gratitude is mutual. “We are so grateful for what you have done, how you have enlightened and enlivened our people. We want you to know how much you are loved. And how Belle Harbor is your home.”
Only time will tell if Fr. Gabriel will return to Rockaway, his home away from home.
