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Padre Ramirez Mendoza informed La Prensa that he realized he had “some big shoes to fill” by exclaiming, “Father Richard Notter served our community with relentless faithfulness and care!”
Padre Ramírez Mendoza felt that his experience not only as a priest but as a worker in factories and migrant fields gave him the ability to relate to the Latino community in northwest Ohio.
But here is a brief history of Padre Ramírez Mendoza, who so recently departed: He is the son of Jesús Ramírez and Natalia Mendoza. He was born in a town called Canada de Caracheo in the State of Guanajuato México, and is the sixth son out of eleven brothers and sisters.
He was born May 31, 1965 and attended elementary school Felipe Carrillo Puerto at the age of five years old. He attended high school Tecnica #2 in the city of Cortazar (state of Guanajuato); thereafter, he attended the Instituto Superior de Salamanca, Guanajuato, where he obtained an Associate’s Degree in accounting.
Since early childhood, Padre Ramírez Mendoza was inspired by the stories told by his grandmother about a priest who served in his native town and was a martyr during The Cristeros Wars in México, 1927-1935. It was this inspiration that made him enter the priesthood in México City.
He studied philosophy in the Instituto de Formación de la Arquidiocesis de México and theology in the Colegio Maximo de Cristo Rey de los Padres Jesuitas anexado el Instituto a la Univercidad Iberoamericana, where he finished Theology, Political Science, and Psychology.
After finishing his studies, his congregation sent him as a missionary to the Diocese of San Cristobal Chiápas, San Juan el Bosque Church, where he became a Deacon by Padre Obispo don Samuel Ruiz in the year 1999. He worked there from 1999-2002, he was then sent to la Ciudad de Puebla to Our Lady of Refuge.
He was then sent to México City to the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in the Colony of Puebla, serving 2003-2007.
He visited Toledo in interludes beginning in the year 2000 to baptize various nephews, and his contact with St. Peter and Paul Parish began. Padre Ramírez Mendoza was thankful to Obispo Leonard Blair and to his Provincial Superior, Javier Alvarez Osorio, who were instrumental in his coming to Toledo.
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