Chapala’s San Francisco Church was packed to the rafters Monday, May 7 as hundreds gathered at the funeral mass for former parish priest Raul Navarro Ramos. The beloved Sr. Cura Raul died in Guadalajara the previous day at the age of 92.
Navarro was born on December 2, 1919 in Magdalena, Jalisco, the fourth child of Sabas and Maria Guadalupe Ramos. During his early infancy the family moved to Guadalajara where he grew up with three sisters and two brothers.
He entered the seminary in 1933, immediately after completing elementary school studies. He was ordained into the priesthood in 1943 during a service held on the eve of Easter Sunday at the Guadalajara Cathedral.
After short stints at churches in Puente Grande, Jalisco and Culiacan, Sinaloa, he was assigned as vicar under Chapala Curate Antonio de Alba in October 1944, taking charge of regular church services and religious instruction in Santa Cruz de la Soledad. To fulfill those duties he had rise at 3 a.m. to ride to the village on horseback in time to hear confessions prior to the 6 a.m. Mass.
In the ensuing years he became a driving force behind transcendent good works in the community, including the foundation of the Colegio Chapala parochial school, the Casa de Ancianos, and instrumental and choral groups that gave rise to an entire generation of accomplished musicians. He forged deals with local farmers and the city government to cede lands for building the old folks home, an adjacent soccer field and the town’s first secondary school.
Navarro was named to replace de Alba as parish priest in 1954 and remained in that position for 20 years. He spent the rest of his life in service at the San Felipe Neri Church in Guadalajara.
He is perhaps best remembered and cherished as an ardent champion of Lake Chapala during the terrible drought years of the 1940s and 1950s. He rallied his parishioners to pray with great fervor until the lake was finally replenished. In gratitude for the “miraculous” recovery, he organized the first Virgin of Zapopan pilgrimage to Chapala, a huge celebration that lasted for three straight days.
His last visit to Chapala was on May 24 last year when scores of admirers gathered for a mass and festive luncheon to mark his 67th anniversary in the priesthood.