U.S. bishops back sainthood cause for Father Richard Thomas, El Paso priest who served Borderland poor

By Daniel Perez, El Paso Matters U.S. Catholic bishops overwhelmingly supported this week a request to advance the beatification and canonization of the Rev. Richard Thomas, a Jesuit priest who participated in a multiplication of food at a Ciudad Juárez garbage dump Dec. 25, 1972. The group voted 206-4 with one abstention to advance the request at a later date to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints for further investigation. The action was taken Tuesday during the group’s business meeting in Baltimore.

Thomas, a priest of the Society of Jesus, died in 2006 in Vado, New Mexico. He had served in the dioceses of El Paso and Las Cruces since 1964. Known as a gifted preacher and teacher, he focused his ministry on service to the poor, oppressed and disenfranchised. He is buried in