A Bronx visitor brightens Deline’s religious celebrations
Published 3:03 am Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Father Tulio Ramirez recently made his fourth trip to lead the congregation in Deline, travelling from his home parish in the Bronx, New York.
He had been in Deline before at Easter and, in 2024, he stayed for the entirety of December.
This is a radical departure to lead these Holy Week services to a congregation of 50 to 70 from those in his own church in New York, where several hundred people would have gathered over the Easter weekend to hear the message.
Coming to this small, primarily Dene community in the Northwest Territories was Ramirez’s choice, and it was a brave one considering he originally hailed from the tropics before landing in the Bronx many years ago.
Making sure that as many parishes as possible in the NWT would have a fully ordained priest heading special services at Easter and Christmas was the vision of Bishop Jon Hansen in Yellowknife. Ramirez volunteered to be in Deline during his first visit in 2018. An Easter service led by an ordained priest is especially important, as it is when baptisms and confirmations occur. Two babies were baptized over this year’s Easter weekend.
In its own way, coming to Canada to serve a modest congregation in a small community is a sacrifice in its own right. Ramirez has a regular congregation in the Bronx exceeding 1,000, but exact numbers are difficult, he notes, because many that attend are undocumented citizens. To protect them and their families, they would not reveal their citizenship status to anyone, Ramirez explains.
Nevertheless, they were left in good hands with Ramirez’s companion priest, since the two of them alternate providing services and travelling to churches that need priests each year. This year it was Ramirez’s turn to travel.
He continues to return to Deline because of his admiration for the people and his awareness of their historic hardships.
Deline has not had a full-time priest for many years. Instead, people there have relied on the services of a lay priest. It’s the dedication both of that lay priest and of the congregation itself that keeps Ramirez coming back because he says they are run so efficiently, it’s difficult to tell they haven’t had a regular priest leading them.
Ramirez also says he deeply admires the way the group conducts its services in the community’s Indigenous language. Further, he says that while women still cannot be ministers within the Roman Catholic church, in this happy and brightly-coloured church and in this community, the women have a voice equal to that of men. Ramirez made sure of that by inviting women to repeat scripture lessons first.
Although it’s a Roman Catholic service, Ramirez opened his arms wide to anyone on a spiritual path. In his words: “All are welcome here.”
During the Holy Week earlier this month, Ramirez offered services most days at 5:30 p.m. and on Saturday, April 4, the day before the resurrection, a few dedicated parishioners walked through town carrying a cross made from beams that probably stood 8-feet tall, when upright. A 92-year-old parishioner was one of those who helped carry it around the community, stopping at every intersection where the group paused to read scripture and pray; no mean feat at -35 C.
It is that same dedication that brings Ramirez back, even though he could be somewhere much warmer and knowing that these weekends are also the time when many locals head to the land or drive the winter road one last time. Nevertheless, the goal is to provide services to those who need and want them.
Aiming for December return
In Deline, about 50 people attended mass on April 4 and close to 70 showed up on the morning of April 5.
And true to Dene traditions, the morning service was followed by a huge feast at the nearby hall, open to everyone.
But it’s not a numbers game, notes Ramirez. It’s about faith.
The trip, he says, was entirely paid for by a group out of Scarborough, Ont., most elderly parishioners themselves with little money, concerned that all the churches without regular ministers have someone during weekends such as these.
Ramirez hopes to return this year for all of December to spend the Christmas season with his second congregation here in the NWT.
He says he considers himself lucky to have good health, which allows him to make these trips.
As a bonus, he notes, in Deline he can also go for walks at night without being fearful — something he cannot do in the Bronx.
Now that Easter weekend is over, Ramirez has gone home hoping that the circumstances will allow him to return to Deline later in the year. In the meantime, he says, he has a few pictures to share and more stories to tell about the NWT and his favourite spot in the north: Deline.