THOSE WHO SERVE
ro opened up in the late ’80s. We’d donate clothing; we’d make sandwiches for the mi- grants that came to Casa Romero.” “When I saw her in McAllen, I said, ‘OK, here we go again!’ ” “We started talking to the mayor and the city commissioners … sending them my report, my findings,” he said. “I remem- ber saying if we don’t do something for this population, we’re going to have a lot of them either abducted, abused, or some harm will happen to them. These were women and children at the time. So our concern was that we needed to help them somehow. “By this time we were getting thousands of people on a daily basis,” Deacon Ramirez said. In his roles in city government, he be- gan requesting and applying for assistance. “The City of McAllen started getting emergency funds from state, county and city resources, (so) we were able to manage,” he said. “We used the mercy response com- ponent to allow us to use resources. And we did, successfully.” This occurred about the time he was pursuing a master’s degree – and had start- ed formation for the diaconate. “I got the message. God wants me where he needs me,” he said. “That’s the interest- ing part. We leave it to up to him to take us where we are needed. “So I was busy. I like to stay busy, I guess.” Asked why he decided to become a dea- con, he said, “I don’t think it was my deci- sion. I was told, I was called upon!” “It opened up doors for me, and all things fell into place.” He said he was already helping the dio- cese and Catholic Charities when he began to hear a calling. Three different priests, including Father Jorge Gomez, now rector at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle-Nation- al Shrine, advised him to keep praying for guidance. His wife was also supportive. One day at Mass, he was praying and asking God what to do. At that very mo- ment, he said, the priest invited those pres- ent to the diaconal vocation. “ ‘We’re now accepting diaconal applications. Please come forward, and see me after Mass,’ ” he remembered the priest saying. “That was my calling.” “That’s one of the things we talk about … with young adults. When you pray, if he’s calling you, answer. Say, ‘Here I am, Lord. Tell me what to do.’ ” Diaconal candidate Ramirez was part
D eacon Josue “Josh” Ramirez is a soft-spo- ken, unassuming man who has lived his life with a steady devotion to service. He attributes his impressive list of accom- plishments to answering God’s call to take action on behalf of others – and then doing so. “If God opens the door for us, then he wants you to go through that door,” Deacon Ramirez says. He notes that Mass ends with an exhortation, “Go in peace.” That’s the time to go act and lead by exam- ple, he says. “Not just go think about it. Show it. Do it. Get it done.” “That’s the beautiful part of it for me,” he says. “Taking the service. Even at work. … ‘How can I help?’ ” Deacon Ramirez’s work includes three decades of city jobs throughout the Rio Grande Valley. He is currently the assistant city manager of the City of Harlingen. Previously he was public health director for Brownsville, then health and code enforcement director for McAllen, followed by environmental health director in Harlingen. Interwoven with these posts has been his higher education, church work at his home parish of Holy Family in Brownsville – and family life with his wife Mary and their three chil- dren, all now adults. A graduate of Porter High School in Brownsville, he has earned certifications, bachelor’s and mas- ter’s degrees during his studies at Texas Southmost College, the former UTPA and UTB, University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley and Our Lady of the Lake University. He is now closing in on a doctorate from OLLU. While in McAllen, he became the liaison between the city and Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Val- ley during the refugee crisis that emerged during the years 2012-14. Eventually this led to support from the city, Hidalgo County and the federal government for the incipient Humanitarian Respite Center. “I was at that time overseeing emergency man- agement” for McAllen, he said. “We started noticing a lot of people hanging around parks. And then they were in the streets as well, sleeping on the sidewalks in the downtown area. Our mayor heard that there was a nun out there going around and feeding those people. ‘What’s going on?’ we said. ‘Let’s go find out.’ “Interestingly enough, when we started looking into it, we came across Sister Norma (Pimentel, di- rector of CCRGV),” he said. “I had known her for a long time as well. I had helped her when Casa Rome-
ABOVE: Deacon Josue ‘Josh’ Ramirez distributes Holy Communion during Sunday Mass at Holy Family Parish in Brownsville. BELOW: Opening prayers at Sunday Mass. OPPOSITE PAGE: Deacon Ramirez speaks about vocations as part of his Sunday homily.
of the famed “Class of 2018” when Bishop Daniel E. Flores ordained 43 new deacons on Feb. 3 of that year at the Basilica. “It was amazing to see so many of us or- dained at the same time, which Bishop tells us was historic – it had never happened like that,” he said. “The commitment that grew out of that was outstanding.” He still serves at his home parish in Brownsville, although he said some Catho- lics in Harlingen would like to see him move there. Change was in the works in 2018, as Deacon Ramirez took on a new govern- ment post there. “I remember telling Sister Norma, ‘Well, I have to move on. Harlingen’s been calling me,’ ” he said. Then, two years after taking that job, the COVID pandemic broke out, bringing an unprecedented challenge. The virus hit nursing homes in the area very hard. Harlingen at that time “did not have the capacity to provide vaccines or anything else to help their citizens,” Deacon Ramirez said. Once again, he used his experience and position to pull in funding and grants. “The blessing was, I was able to get it,” he said. “We started providing the vaccines at the time that was crucial because we were losing a lot of people.” “I was proud of my work that year be- cause our citizens needed help, and I was able to provide, to bring the resources that we needed,” he said, adding that people still
come up to him with thanks for saving their lives with the vaccinations. Summing up his career, Deacon Ramirez says, “I’ve done a little bit of everything. … I’ve been doing my best work now. And I’ve enjoyed it so much – being called upon.” He remains powered by his faith in Our Lord, and the example he left us. “I always say, what did Jesus do? What would Jesus do today in this world? … We have a role model in Jesus.” 0
Deacon 'Josh' Ramirez answers God’s call by getting things done
Stories and photos BY PAUL BINZ
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DIOCESE OF BROWNSVILLE
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THE VALLEY CATHOLIC
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