St. Michael's pastor strives to aid entire Royal community

ROYAL CITY — One of the Rev. Jesus Ramirez's first acts as pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in 2000 was to have a sign placed outside the church, the better to increase visibility.

Some members of the congregation were initially against paying for the sign, Ramirez explained as he looked at the sign, but they are all happy now.

Of course, he said, the more visible he is, the more work there is for him to do.

It sounds like there's a lot of need for Ramirez in Royal City. In the six years he has been with the parish, Ramirez has tried to make himself readily available to his congregation and the community at large.

"I do a lot of counseling, because our people are just surviving; they need a lot of education and some times the majority of the problems that we have here are related with alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic violence," Ramirez explained. "People work too much. Over time, it's like they don't even have time to spend with their own children. It's just working, working, working."

Ramirez uses the media to promote his pastoral counseling, and often receives calls from different parts of the state, sometimes from hospitals and cantinas, from people without the opportunity to go to a church.

"We do a lot of ministry, but also with the help of the local agencies, like New Hope, PARC, some places in Seattle for the treatment centers," he said, noting he also calls on Canadian and Mexican agencies to learn from them to better help his community. "English-speaking, Spanish-speaking, or whoever belongs to our parish. We help not only Catholics. Sometimes people bring me people in trouble who are not even Catholic, but we need to support them in a spiritual way."

Ramirez started two Al-Anon groups in his parish, one for teenagers and one for parents.

"Also, sometimes during the baptism talks, I invite the AA members to talk about it," he said. "When we have quinceaneras and weddings, we talk about being careful with their fiestas, telling them not to give drinks to minors. We do a lot of things, not only talking about the Bible. We have to do more than that."

Ramirez also has different members of the community, like former Royal City mayor Phillip Leitz, visit the congregation.

"I think that it's important to bring faces that people can become aware of," Ramirez said, noting he also set up a meeting between Quincy mayor Dick Zimbelman and 200 Basin teenagers several years ago. On Wednesday, Ramirez brought in two ex-gang members from Yakima to talk with the community. "I bring people to talk about AIDS, domestic violence. It's important because they are the expert, (the community) can listen to them better and in case they have an emergency, they can go and talk with them."

Sometimes, Ramirez even calls on a family before trouble like domestic violence gets started, which isn't always well received, he said. But still he persists, because he doesn't want his congregation to get into trouble with the law. The English-speaking community comes to him on a less frequent basis than the Hispanic community, he said.

He also tries to have celebrations to observe cultures and bring the two communities together, such as a September fiesta, in hopes both come away from such festivities with ways to refresh themselves and become more united.

For the Hispanic youth, Ramirez stresses becoming a part of American culture, but also retaining their heritage in order to become a better citizen and do greater things in society. He calls upon the Hispanic community to become good leaders so the youth can see good leaders in action. Ramirez adds that he appreciates the Anglo community for their efforts with the Hispanic community to educate children and invite them not to turn to violence.

"Even our own teenagers, sometimes their parents are working too much, they don't come to church, and it worries me that they don't have a lot of spiritual background," Ramirez said, explaining the church is offering English and Spanish-language summer sessions Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. As the children are learning about their faith, Ramirez brings in speakers to talk with parents about different topics.

He also offers marriage counseling, which he views as another way to help families and children.

When he preaches, Ramirez knows people will get mad at him, and figures those people who get angriest or disagree with him are the ones who need his love the most.

When he first began preaching, some angry people would respond questioning where he got his "power" to preach to them.

"Well, I got it from the Holy Spirit," Ramirez said. "Once in a while, people get resentful. Maybe because they want to have an Anglo priest, but there is no more priests. I tell them, 'I came here to love you, not to be fighting.'"

Some people have asked him not to address some of those issues he talks about.

"I tell them, these certain issues belong to everybody, not a specific culture, like the drinking, the domestic violence," he said. "A young lady came and said they didn't want me to preach about domestic violence at the English mass. 'Oh, we don't have those problems.' No, we have those problems."

Ramirez wishes churches and pastors would do more for illegal immigrants. He sees overreactions about their presence in the U.S., he said, and noted that one of the reasons he was invited to come to the U.S. from Mexico was to help with the illegal immigrants, but he also has to balance that with his work with the rest of his community.

Ramirez calls for more family time together and spiritual nourishment. He considers his first mission to help people worship God.

Originally from Santiago, Nayarit, Mexico, Ramirez returned to Royal City, where he had been a seminarian in 1982, as pastor June 18, 2000. He lives with his father, Filiberto, in the St. Michael's rectory, and said his arrival at the parish was due to the Yakima Diocese bishop requiring a bilingual priest to work as pastor.

"The community in Royal City, the majority are Hispanics," Ramirez said, "but at the same time, to serve both communities, not only Hispanic."

Attending a Catholic university in Washington, D.C. in order to learn about American culture, Ramirez spent four years working with Latin American youth and families, listening to them about experiences of war in such places as El Salvador and working to help teenagers stay out of trouble.

Ramirez was ordained as a priest in Grandview, where he remained for a little over three years. He spent eight years as a pastor in Granger, two and a half years in Moses Lake and then arrived in Royal City.

Ramirez will celebrate his 20th anniversary as a priest Aug. 29. Prior to that, he was an industrial engineer.

"I like singing, and I used to go to a nursing home for more than two years, to sing after the Mass," Ramirez explained, noting he sang in a choir and would visit with the elderly, which helped him consider the priesthood as a vocation, as well as spending time with friends in the seminary. "When I went the first time to the seminary, I really enjoyed the way they were praying, the way they were doing ministry and the needs of the people — there was a lot of spiritual need."

Ramirez likes music, and will often go listen to musical performances in town when they do happen in his spare time, as well as eating with friends. His preference is for music helping people to have good moral principles, and do better things, religious music and also dancing, particularly mariachi and folkloric.

He also likes to write religious music, noting a company is preparing a CD he made, which will be available in Wal-Marts across the country later this year. But Ramirez also likes to compose romantic music, songs about love between a boyfriend and a girlfriend, although not written from his perspective, or love between a father and a son, or any of the other kinds of love. He uses music as a way of reaching out to his congregation, he says.

"I also have a song written about gangs, about AIDS, about domestic violence," Ramirez. "Topics to help people to be more aware of (them). And another song about taking care of the one society rejects. I tell them they can become saints also, if we take good care of them. People who are like the drug addicts, people who are in trouble. They need to be part of our community, part of our church."

Longtime St. Michael's congregation member Mary Messer said she considers Ramirez very special, noting he comes to visit her.

"If I ask questions, he listens," she said, noting he pays attention and comes when they ask him to visit them at their home, noting she doesn't get to church as often as she would like.

St. Michael's parishioner and CCD teacher Mary Vaqsquez said one of Ramirez's first acts as pastor was performing her mother's funeral. Even though he did not know her, he did a wonderful job, she said, and her family has a bit of a soft spot for him as a result.

"He's quite willing to be there for anybody," Vasquez said. "He's got his door open 24-7. I think that's too much sometimes, he doesn't close the door for anybody. He's very accepting. He's there for anybody, other parishes as well, and sometimes I just think he spreads himself a little bit too thin. But he's there for you when you need him."

Parishioner Laura Guadarrama told an antecdote about Ramirez staying with several community members upon his arrival, not realizing there was also a boa constrictor sharing his room.

"He's not afraid to go out of his league to tell us what is right and wrong," she said. "Being a small town, you have big issues, and it's nice to have somebody who's different than normally just do a mass on Sundays. I think it's very good of him, and he's always wanting to help other people."

Guadarrama said it's easy to talk to Ramirez, either as a priest or as a member of the community. The congregation has taken him under its wing as he has taken them under his, she said.

"Some people many not feel very comfortable with the issues that he talk in our Sunday mass," she said. "But he's always willing to say it once, and over and over. It's like a child, you have to tell them everyday you love them. In his own way, he kind of tell us that. For some people, it may take a long time to accept that, and for other people, we accept it really easy and fast … We are very lucky to have him over here in this community."