Fidel Pitones’ focus during a construction project reaches beyond the bricks and mortar to the people doing the building under his supervision as well as the people who will eventually use the space being built.

As a senior project manager for The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, Pitones is usually managing a project with a team that includes subcontractors and interacting with clients to ensure that the project is built properly.

“Throughout my 27 years in this career, I’ve always been focused on the people aspect of it and it really ties into my journey,” he said. “But it wasn’t until later in my career that I realized that I wasn’t just building buildings, but I was building things that would impact peoples’ lives.”

One project he worked on was an expansion at a Cleveland hospital where all four of Fidel and his wife Andrea’s children (Gavrielle, 25, Abby, 24, Diego, 21 and Mateo, 20) were born. The personal connections were numerous. Pitones sat in meetings with the chief of staff who happened to be his own primary care doctor.

“It wasn’t until the moment that we were done with the space and we had built the new NICU and they were transferring the most critical baby from the old NICU to the new NICU. There were three nurses and a police officer that were transferring the patient and I happened to be there in the hallway when they were doing that,” he said. “It was at that moment when I realized, ‘What the team just finished is a lot more than what you think, Fidel. It’s the purpose of what you’re doing.’”

Deacon Fidel Pitones receives the Book of Gospels from Bishop Earl Fernandes. CT photo by Ken Snow

That mindset carried over to the next project and the next, and is now ingrained in Pitones’ workday.

“I started to refocus my career and make sure that I understand, and other people understand, that you’re helping your team help others,” Pitones said. “What we’re doing isn’t just building a dorm. Peoples’ lives are going to transform in that dorm. They’re going to grow. When we’re building an operating room, people are going to get fixed. They’re going to heal. For me, it became a lot more purposeful.”

As he’s working on construction projects, Pitones gets to know the many people involved with the project such as architects, subcontractors and peers. He has found that his Catholic faith frequently pops up in conversation.

“You encounter the Lord in the real world,” he said. “I’m kind of a rule breaker because the things that the secular world tells you to avoid. I’m like, ‘No.’ We’re all called by our baptism to be disciples.”

Deacon Fidel Pitones makes the promise of obedience to Bishop Earl Fernandes. CT photo by Ken Snow

Among his responsibilities, he attends college career fairs and talks with college students.

“When you see in their resumes some glimpse of the Lord, that tells me a lot about that individual,” he said. “The passion to serve, whether it’s working at a food bank or for a church or being a missionary, it gives you a lens to their soul of who they are.”

His own children observed Pitones’ own passion to serve and predicted he would be a deacon someday. He told them they were crazy but eventually felt the call.

“You surrender to God’s plan and you also have to consider that there are others that want to detour it,” he said. “There’s a force that wants to detour it. Even with my own discernment, there were detours. Si Dios quiere. If it’s God’s will.”