By Todd G. Dickson
The Las Cruces Bulletin
April 8, 2011
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| BISHOP RICARDO RAMIREZ In his office at the Las Cruces Diocese center, Bishop Ricardo Ramirez stands in front of his desk where the church’s Coat of Arms hangs. Ramirez may be retiring in September when he turns 75. |
The Las Cruces Bulletin
One gets the sense that Las Cruces Roman Catholic Bishop Ricardo Ramirez isn’t in a hurry to retire.
But Canon Law will require him to submit a letter of resignation when he reaches the age of 75 on Sept. 12, even if his health is good, his mind still sharp and his heart devoted to the diocese he was charged with establishing nearly three decades ago.
That’s because the Catholic Church holds his soul, since he was a youth in a small Texas town. In his letter to the Pope, Ramirez said he will write that he is “at your service.”
Born to parents devoted to the church,Ramirez said he has family roots to the area as his grandmother on his father’s side was born in Las Cruces. Early on, the church called to him, he said.
“Once I became an altar boy, I became a church mouse,” Ramirez said.
The first time his priest, Father Max Murphy, asked him to help serve Mass, Ramirez felt he had performed miserably, including spilling incense that burned a hole in the rug. After a couple of days avoiding the priest, Murphy caught Ramirez and asked him, “Where have you been? I need you all the time.”
“Now as I look back on that, it was a prophetic statement,” Ramirez said. “Throughout my life, the church has always needed me.”
Ramirez said Murphy was his inspirationand he admired how he brought comfort to the sick, dying and grieving. But Ramirez also was under the false notion that only the smart and rich became priests.
Still, Ramirez attended a Catholic university in Houston, focusing on philosophy and liberal studies as he aspired to be a teacher. But he also felt the pull of the church – its sights, sounds and smells filling his senses – and decided to see if priesthood was his calling.
Ramirez was sent to a novitiate – which he describes as a “boot camp” for priests – in Pontiac, Mich. Ramirez recalls this period, however, as one of the happiest times of his life. He enjoyed the monastic traditions, from the quiet of long meditations to the awesome power of Gregorian chants.
The same year John Kennedy became president, Ramirez was ordained. He taught in Catholic schools in Michigan, but would also be sent on assignments to Mexico and Canada. In 1981, he became an auxiliary bishop in San Antonio, Texas. It was a short-lived but fateful assignment, because a new diocese was being formed for southern New Mexico, which was then under the El Paso and Santa Fe dioceses. Nine months in, he was picked to be the new diocese’s spiritual and administrative leader.
As its bishop, Ramirez was given the task to create the new diocese, almost from scratch. In a small Downtown office, the diocese then was basically Ramirez and two other priests.
“The first challenge we had to do was to get the people to identify themselves as the Las Cruces Diocese,” he said.
Creating that sense of identity as the Las Cruces Diocese is what Ramirez cites as his greatest accomplishment. And it is a vibrant diocese. The diocese’s center located in the Med Park area off Idaho Avenue is a “beehive” of activity with 30 full-time and part-time employees, along with assistance from numerous volunteers.
Ramirez also has translated his passions for education and social justice into driving concerns for the diocese. Ramirez said he made reaching out to young people an early focus of the diocese.
“From the beginning was the understanding that we have to start with the youth,” he said.
The early organization of the church included reaching out to the communities, the Catholic schools and even out into the farm fields. The desire was always to bring people together to work on problems and improvelives, he said. Ramirez has written two pastoral letters to address chronic community problems. The first was on domestic violence called “Speaking the Unspeakable.” Through the Internet, it has gained international attention as far away as Spain and India, he said.
The second pastoral letter was a follow-up to the first, this time focusing on the problem of child abuse, spurred by the shock of infant deaths, such as Brianna Lopez, now more commonly known as “Baby Brianna.” The second pastoral letter was called “Speaking For Those Who Have No Voice.”
Ramirez also is known for his proactive response to issues. Though not totally devoid of priest abuse cases, there have been very few under Ramirez’s watch and the bishop said he has worked to make sure the diocese has very clear policies to prevent the abuse and a caring response to those who have suffered from abuse.
Ramirez said the Las Cruces Diocese was one of the first to establish policies and to take proactive measures – such as intensive workshops to detail the damage to lives and the church from priest abuse.
“Now, every diocese has these kinds of policies,” he said.
Though proud of the Las Cruces Diocese’s progress, Ramirez is quick to add that he has not been perfect, but he said his strengths are that he is a good listener, compassionate and has done his best to lead by example. Ramirez said he also still has a great love for learning and teaching what he has learned.
Ramirez also has found his home in Las Cruces. When a new leader occupies the bishop’s residence, Ramirez doesn’t plan to leave the area to find his new home – all he asks is that it have a small chapel for prayer and meditation. He would also like his future home to be near a hospital as Ramirez said he likes to minister to the sick.
“I really want to stay here,” Ramirez said. “This is my extended family now. This is where my home is.”
This is my extended family now. This is wheremy home is.
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