Lord’s Ranch ministry continues Father Rick Thomas’ legacy as path to sainthood advances

VADO, New Mexico (KVIA) — It was in Vado, New Mexico, where Father Rick Thomas lived, but his ministry reached far beyond, including across the southern border into Juárez.

The Lord’s Ranch sits in a quiet patch of land tucked away from the freeway and surrounded by desert brush and mountains.

Thomas built the ranch in 1975 after he was forced to close the ministry’s previous location in El Paso. 

A few years earlier, in 1972, Thomas and a group of volunteers went to Juárez to feed people living near the city dump, and what happened next is considered by many to be a miracle.

“They packed up about 150 suppers and went to the dump,” Mike Reuter, who met Fr. Thomas in 1984, explained. “When they got there, there were way more people than that. They found out eventually that the Lord had multiplied the food. On the way home, they were giving meals to orphanages and whoever they could find. That was a big part of the ministry blooming. God was asking us to help the poor, not just in El Paso.”

That event, often called the “Miracle of the Dump,” became the foundation of Our Lady’s Youth Center and its outreach across the Borderland.

When Thomas began his ministry, he started in El Paso, but he later moved to Vado to establish a new home for prayer, service and retreats,at a place that would become known as the Lord’s Ranch.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to endorse Thomas for sainthood, formally approving his cause for canonization. 

It’s the first step in a long process that begins locally, where the Diocese of Las Cruces has been working to collect documents, testimonies and evidence of Thomas’ life of faith.

“He’s a saint,” Reuter said. “I think someday he will be canonized as a saint, because just watching his actions and his inspiration of truth, you know that Jesus is alive, and he wanted to share that with us.”

Reuter first heard about Thomas when he was living in North Dakota.

“I got to meet him,” Reuter said. “I was a little scared, I was 21 years old and didn’t know what I was walking into. But when I met him, I knew I wanted to be part of this.”

Reuter moved to the Lord’s Ranch soon after and began ministering alongside Thomas. He said that experience helped him grow in his own faith.

“We just have to rely on God’s providence,” Reuter said. “(Thomas) taught me that very well.”

Now that the U.S. bishops have voted, the case moves to Rome, where church leaders will study Thomas’ life and examine reported miracles attributed to him.

“They’re going to focus on the miracle at the dump, the multiplication of food,” Reuter said.

If those miracles are verified, Thomas could eventually be beatified and later canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church.

At the Lord’s Ranch, Thomas’ legacy lives on through Our Lady’s Youth Center, which continues to host retreats, prayer gatherings and Sunday Mass on the same property where his mission began 50 years ago.

“He taught me that God provides, always,” Reuter said. “When God asks something of you, he’ll make sure you have what you need.”