NOVI — Whether as a teacher or administrator, Fr. Raymond Paramo, CSB, profoundly affected his students at Detroit Catholic Central High School, and never was this more apparent than with the significant number of them who showed up to his wake and funeral.

“He certainly had an impact on the lives of the students he taught,” said Fr. Dennis Noelke, CSB, the Novi school's principal from 2014-19. “When I think of the number of people who came to the wake and the funeral, you just knew that he impacted them that they would take time to be present.”

Fr. Paramo died Jan. 27 at the age of 83. 

Born in 1937 in Houston, Raymond Paramo was the oldest of seven children. He entered the novitiate of the Congregation of St. Basil in 1955, and was ordained a priest in 1966. 

Shortly after ordination, Fr. Paramo was appointed to Detroit Catholic Central High School, where he served for more than 50 years in a variety of roles. He taught science classes, specifically physics, as well as mathematics and religion, and also served as dean of students, vice principal and director of missions. Before he retired in 2017, Fr. Paramo served as editor-in-chief of Catholic Central's alumni magazine, Aluminator. 

Fr. Paramo’s legacy lives on at the school in the form of the Dillon Trophy, which he established in 1968 to recognize and honor the graduating senior student with the highest GPA, according to a statement from Catholic Central High School. 

The priest also will be remembered for his classroom demeanor, which allowed students to ask difficult questions about the relationship between God and science. 

Fr. Noelke first met Fr. Paramo in 1967 when Fr. Noelke started as a student at Catholic Central. Fr. Noelke remembers Fr. Paramo for his intelligence and knowledge on a wide variety of topics, from theology to politics to travel. 

“He was great conversationalist,” Fr. Noelke told Detroit Catholic. “He was a real intellectual. He never shied away from controversial or complicated issues.”

Fr. Paramo was also a profound homilist, Fr. Noelke said. 

“His homilies really made you think — they really challenged you, and they had a depth to them they got you thinking,” Fr. Noelke said.

Fr. Paramo’s homilies often tied in issues of social justice. In one homily delivered to Catholic Central students in 2017, Fr. Paramo told a story of racial discrimination that he witnessed as a young priest in Detroit in the 1960s, using it as a segue to call Catholic Central students to be disciples who use their gifts to serve one another. 

“The most important gift that we bring to each other is this — a commitment to accept each other as being more than we appear to be,” Fr. Paramo said. “This is what the apostles shared first with each other and then with the world. … We are pilgrims on a road we are called to make bearable for those that journey with us.” 

Fr. Paramo’s impact on those he taught was apparent until the end, Fr. Noelke said. His students would frequently visit him, and groups of former students would come every other Wednesday to have lunch with Fr. Paramo and hear his take on the world. 

Fr. Paramo is survived by his paternal aunt and godmother, Dolores, his six siblings, 31 nieces and nephews, and numerous grand and great-grand nieces and nephews.

A funeral Mass for Fr. Paramo was celebrated Jan. 30 in the Detroit Catholic Central High School Chapel.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Paramo Scholarship Fund.