Father Ramon Bolatete

Father Ramon has been our pastor since November 14, 2023. Father Ramon became the fourth pastor in St. Faustina’s history on June 1, 2018, after spending nine years as Parochial Vicar and the past six years as Parochial Administrator at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and Academy in Lakeland, Florida, the oldest Catholic Church in Polk County. Born and raised in Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines, Father Ramon entered the Divine Word Seminary and studied at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, Philippines. He attended the Divine Word Major Seminary in Tagaytay City, where he earned his Master’s Degree in Philosophy. Fr. Bolatete was ordained a Divine Word missionary on October 19, 1985, and spent the next four years as a missionary in Papua, New Guinea. He also has a Master’s Degree in Missiology from St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, Canada.

While in Canada, Fr. Ramon took graduate studies for two years before working with the Diocese of Grand Falls, Newfoundland, as a Parochial Administrator to the parishes of Harbour Main and Clarenville for the next three years. He then enjoyed his next five years serving God as Pastor of the Immaculate Conception Parish of Harbour Grace. From there he moved to the United States and was incardinated into the Diocese of Orlando, Florida in early 2010.

From an interview with Augie Salzer, September 2025:

1. What led you to become a priest? Who was your greatest supporter?

My mom was the vocations promoter par excellence. She took me to church every weekday and/or Sunday morning to gain the graces of holiness and to nurture the desire to serve God in the priesthood. 

2.  Could you tell me about your family support here in FL?

I have three sisters and two brothers who live in Florida with their respective families. We often meet and hold reunions during Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, weddings, funerals, and any other major life celebrations. They seem to be proud of having a priest in the family, and the feeling is mutual.

3. How did you come to relocate to FL?
I came to Florida in 2001 from Canada as a clergy member of the Diocese of Grand Falls, N.L., Canada. The Orlando Diocese, through the late Bishop Norbert Dorsey, accepted me, and the rest was history.

3. What was your greatest achievement, in your opinion, during your 40 years as a priest?

For me, the greatest achievement from those forty years was to behold, in the faces of those I serve, the joy of seeing and knowing Jesus Christ more fully in their very own personal lives, immediate family members, and friends. People feeling forgiven; enemies reconciling; people getting married; people celebrating key moments in life, and moving forward with an enriched sense of hope for the future.

4. What are your plans for the future?

To keep serving the Lord in whatever shape or form I can, thankfully placing everything under the will of God, in my elderly years as a priest and missionary.

I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. John 10:10