By Michael R. Heinlein, OSV News
BALTIMORE (OSV News) — The U.S. bishops voted overwhelmingly Nov. 11 to support the advancement of a canonization cause for Jesuit Father Richard Thomas. The agenda item was presented by Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance. He was joined in the presentation by Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces, New Mexico, the diocese in which Father Thomas died on May 8, 2006.
The bishops’ consultation is a necessary step ahead of formally opening a canonization cause.
This milestone in advancing Father Thomas’ cause comes just a month after release of Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic letter, “Dilexi Te,” which outlines the church’s rationale for and record of service to the poor. Father Thomas’ life reflects many of the stories of saints and holy figures to whom Pope Leo’s letter draws attention. Father Thomas is being raised up as a model at the same time that U.S. bishops are drawing attention to the ongoing crisis involving immigrants in the United States.
While calls for Father Thomas’ canonization have continued since his death, formal steps began in 2011, after the mandatory five-year waiting period following an individual’s death. In 2012, formal permission was granted to publish devotional materials with a prayer seeking Father Thomas’ intercession.
Bishop Baldacchino noted that “countless” individuals in Mexico and the U.S. have devotion to Father Thomas, and that miracles attributed to his intercession are being reported and documented.
Auxiliary Bishop Peter L. Smith of Portland, Oregon, spoke highly of Father Thomas and remarked about the miracles that were a regular occurrence in his ministry. In supporting the advancement of Father Thomas’ causes, Bishop Smith noted, “He was always very joyful, and faith just radiated from him.”
“Father Rick,” as he was affectionately known, dedicated his life to service of the poor, and credited his vocation and work to a variety of spiritual experiences. He entered the Jesuit order in 1945 and was ordained a priest in San Francisco in 1958.
Father Thomas arrived in El Paso, Texas, in 1964, taking over Our Lady’s Youth Center, which at the time included employment and credit resources, youth athletic teams, English classes, and meals for neighboring children. During his tenure, the center’s work was expanded to include medical and dental clinics, schools, ministries to the sick and imprisoned, and food banks.
Early on in his tenure at the center, Father Thomas experienced discouragement from not seeing any real progress in alleviating poverty. But Father Thomas came to understand God’s presence and action in the midst of the poverty and suffering around him. “When I began to hear that God was doing things, you know, I said, ‘Well I want part of that,'” he said in an undated interview posted on YouTube. Father Thomas was known for his own simple living quarters, desiring to share in the conditions of those to whom he ministered.
Working as a horse trainer in high school, Father Thomas experienced a strong call from God to be a priest — a surprise as he “never wanted to be one,” he said. But about a decade into ordained ministry, Father Thomas viewed his own priesthood to be “rather stale,” before he experienced his own personal Pentecost experience at a charismatic prayer service. After being prayed over at the gathering, he woke up in the middle of the night “in deep prayer” that he had not experienced “in a long time.”
Father Thomas dedicated himself to social work after the model of the Good Samaritan, saying in the interview, “I think this is what will spread God’s kingdom on earth, when we’re all Good Samaritans.” He believed strongly that people experience Jesus Christ in a special way when serving the poor.
One of the fruits of the charismatic renewal begun at Our Lady’s Youth Center was a Christmas dinner in 1972 organized for hundreds of poor at a garbage dump across the U.S.-Mexico border in Juarez, Mexico. Father Thomas was dumbfounded at how much food was leftover given what little he had to begin with.
“Then we realized God worked sovereignly there … in such a visible way,” he said. From this experience, Father Thomas established, as an extension of his center, a “garbage dump ministry” that eventually bore fruit in a host of ways, from creative business endeavors to clinics and a daycare.
Father Thomas eventually expanded the work of his center to New Mexico, where, about 30 miles away from El Paso, he purchased a ranch in 1975. The ranch grew into an active farm and dairy. About a year later, he established a food bank for the underprivileged and elderly in Juarez.
Over the years, Father Thomas and his work were frequently featured in the media. French theologian Father René Laurentin, a notable advisor at the Second Vatican Council, visited Father Thomas, the fruit of which was two books about Father Thomas and his ministries. One was only published in French, and the other is now out of print. Canadian journalist Richard Dunstan also authored two books on Father Thomas, including a 2018 biography “A Poor Priest for the Poor: The Life of Father Rick Thomas S.J.”
While Father Thomas, in addition to a few occasions for arrest on account of his advocacy, received many accolades and awards throughout his life, his cause’s website states that “the only award he was interested in was to hear the Lord say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant … come and share your Master’s joy’ (Mt 25:23).”
“We believe he heard those words,” it says.
Michael R. Heinlein is an OSV News correspondent and analyst. He wrote from Baltimore.
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