A funeral Mass for Father James “Jaime” Arrambide, CSsR, was held on April 16 at St. Clement Redemptorist Mission Community in Barnhart. Father Jaime died on April 6 after a brief period on hospice care at St. Clement Redemptorist Mission Community. He was 79.
He was born to Jesus and Stella (Perkins) Arrambide on Oct. 6, 1946, in San Antonio, Texas. He grew up with four doting older sisters in nearby Sampasco. His family attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, a mission of the Redemptorists at that time. He felt a call to the priesthood in elementary school, so with the encouragement of his parents, he enrolled at Holy Redeemer College in Lacombe, Louisiana. He proceeded to St. Joseph’s College in Edgerton, Wisconsin. He completed novitiate and professed temporary vows at the newly opened Holy Redeemer College in Waterford, Wisconsin, on Aug. 2, 1968. After completing theology courses at Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary in Esopus, New York, he professed perpetual vows on Aug. 2, 1971, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 23, 1973.
After completing Tirocinium at St. Alphonsus Ligouri “Rock” Parish in St. Louis, Father Jaime was assigned at two English-speaking parishes: St. Leo Parish in Versailles, Kentucky, and St. Mary’s Assumption Parish in New Orleans. Father Jaime returned to Texas in 1978, serving there for the next 41 years. He served at Holy Redeemer Parish in Odessa, Casa Redentor in El Paso and Perpetual Help Church in San Antonio.
Father Jaime was transferred to Holy Ghost Parish in Houston in 1990. Initially he served as pastor of two missions: St. Mark the Evangelist from 1991-95 and St. Raphael from 1995-2011, when he was appointed pastor and superior of the local community at Holy Ghost, then served as associate pastor.
Father Jaime joined the Hispanic Ministry team at St. Gerard Majella Parish in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2019. Health issues necessitated his move to St. Clement Redemptorist Mission Community last December.
Burial was in Ligouri Cemetery.
