A Mass of Christian Burial for Father José Ramirez, SM, was to be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Chaminade College Preparatory School chapel. Father José died on Nov. 17 in San Antonio. He was 88 and a professed religious in the Society of Mary for 69 years.
José Ramirez was born on Aug. 3, 1937, in Fort Worth, Texas. He was one of five children in the family of Andrés and Benita (Hernandez) Ramirez. Baptized in 1937 at Holy Name Parish in Fort Worth, José attended the parish grade school before enrolling at Laneri High School in 1951. He first encountered the Marianists when Father Ralph Dyer preached the junior class retreat there in 1953. At one point during the retreat, José responded to Father Ralph’s invitation to come and see him for more information about Marianist life. “And before I knew it, the Marianist recruiter was knocking on the door of my home,” he would later write.
After graduating from high school, José entered the novitiate at Galesville, Wisconsin, in the summer of 1955. Traveling there by train from Fort Worth, he was invited to “overnight it” in the St. Louis area, where he remembered receiving a warm welcome from the Marianists living at Maryhurst in Kirkwood.
Brother José professed first vows on Sept. 8, 1956, in Galesville. He then headed south to begin scholasticate studies at Maryhurst — a period that proved academically challenging. He remembered “barely passing” Latin, French, and educational psychology and “flunking out” in English, literature and math, so he was expecting to be sent home. “But Someone up there liked me!” he said. Approved to continue scholasticate studies at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Brother José earned a bachelor of arts in history in 1959. He spent the next six years in Texas classrooms, teaching first at St. Joseph School in Victoria and then at Central Catholic in San Antonio. During this time, he also earned a master of arts in Latin and philosophy from Saint Louis University.
Called to the priesthood, Brother José entered the Marianist Seminary in Fribourg, Switzerland, in 1965. He was ordained there on March 22, 1969. Following ordination, Father José served for 13 years as a teacher and chaplain at four schools in Texas, Missouri and Illinois. During this time, he also became active in the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement. Experiencing his first Marriage Encounter weekend in 1974, he soon joined presenter teams in the St. Louis area, helping to lead retreat weekends for married couples while also serving as a classroom teacher at local high schools.
In the early 1980s, Father José shifted full time into leadership roles for the Marriage Encounter apostolate. He then entered a new phase of ministry in 1983, becoming a hospital chaplain at St. Anthony’s Medical Center in St. Louis. In 1988, he accepted a role as a traveling parochial vicar for the Diocese of Fort Worth. In this position, he was responsible for providing vacation, retreat and sabbatical relief for the pastors of various parishes across the diocese.
Returning to the St. Louis area in 1991, Father José joined the staff at the Marianist Retreat and Conference Center in Eureka. He served in the retreat ministry there for the next 25 years before retiring to the Maryland Avenue Community in St. Louis and then to the Marianist Residence Community in San Antonio.
Reflecting on the occasion of his 60th jubilee, Father José wrote a loving tribute to the life he had experienced as a religious: “One never knows where a ‘yes’ to God will take you. We know that God’s love does not come to us in a vacuum. It is incarnational, and God reaches us through others’ love and care for us. So, I am thankful for those persons who have, in many loving, challenging ways, encouraged and supported my vocation as a Marianist. They have believed in me and helped me keep growing and responding to my vocation as a priest in the Marianist family.”
Private burial will be in Maryhurst Cemetery.
