Rodolfo Gaytán Ramírez, 30

First assignment: St. Tarcissus, Chicago

Education: Netzahualcoyotl, Viudas de Poniente; Ciencias y Humanidades; Seminario Diocesan de Santa Maria de Guadalupe; all in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Parents: Juana Ramírez Carlín and Francisco Gaytán Montañez

First Mass: 1 p.m. May 19 at St. Gregory the Great, Chicago

Rodolfo Gaytán Ramírez knew early on that he might have a calling to the priesthood—so early that he entered the seminary in his home state of Aguascalientes, Mexico, after finishing elementary school. He pursued his high school and college-level studies in the seminary for 10 years, before going to the rector and telling him that he wanted to leave for a time.

“I did that because almost all my life, I was in the seminary,” Gaytán said. “Living in the seminary was living in a very protective environment. I needed to be out and do the things for myself, do the things other people do.”

So for two years, Gaytán lived on his own and worked as a teacher, but his calling never left him. When he decided to begin studying for the priesthood again, he heard from Father Alberto Rojas, a Chicago archdiocesan priest who had studied at the same seminary in Mexico at which Gaytán studied. Rojas told him of the great need for Hispanic priests in Chicago, and about the program at Casa Jesús.

Adjusting to Chicago—the language, the culture and especially the weather—was tough, Gaytán said, so tough he thought about leaving midway through the first year. But he stayed, and four years later, will be ordained.

His first assignment, at St. Tarcissus, puts him in a mostly Anglo parish. There, he hopes to start a Hispanic ministry program, but also absorb more of the language and culture from the English-speaking parishioners and staff members.

As for the ongoing sexual abuse scandal, he said, “it’s a very real challenge for me and my class. I know all the priests are not like that. There are so many good priests who work hard and are good role models for me.”

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