NYPD Officer Rafael Ramos saw streets as his ministry
updated 9:15 PM EST, Thu December 25, 2014
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Rafael Ramos, 40, saw being a NYPD cop as "God's work," chaplain says
- He was about to graduate from a 10-week lay chaplaincy program
- "He was the best father I could ask for," son says
- Ramos and another cop, Wenjian Liu, were gunned down while in patrol car
New York City (CNN) -- Rafael Ramos was an unusual cop.
He saw the streets of New York as his ministry.
In fact, he was just hours away from becoming a lay chaplain and graduating from a community-crisis chaplaincy program before he and fellow New York City police officer Wenjian Liu were gunned down in their patrol car Saturday.
Ramos, 40, enjoyed the spiritual dimension to life and work. His wake is Friday afternoon at Christ Tabernacle Church in Glendale, New York. It will be followed by a memorial service at 7 p.m. ET Friday and by a funeral service Saturday morning, where dignitaries and hundreds of police officers from across the country are expected to attend.
"He told me that his job even with the NYPD, he felt he was doing God's work," the Rev. Marcos Miranda, president of the New York State Chaplain Task Force, told Arise America on YouTube.
"He felt that he was protecting and serving his community and that was a sort of a ministry for him. And I totally agreed with him," Marcos added. "He said this type of ministry, the chaplaincy, he could see himself doing this in the future as a full-time ministry after he retired from the NYPD."
Officer Rafael Ramos
Marcos heads an organization that runs the 10-week course for lay chaplaincy, which Ramos completed, Marcos said.
Widow and two sons
Ramos always carried a smile, Marcos said.
"He had the kindest eyes you could see. They radiated kindness and compassion," Marcos said.
Ramos leaves a wife, Maritza, whom he married in 1993, and two sons, Justin and Jaden, said Rev. Adam Durso, executive pastor of Christ Tabernacle, which Ramos attended for nearly 14 years.
To his close friends and even to his family, Ramos often went by Ralph, not Rafael.
"Ralph was definitely a family man. He always talked about his kids and how well they were doing athletically and academically," Durso said.
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