A priest of the archdiocese since his ordination by Bernard Cardinal Law on June 20, 1987, Father Ronald A. Gomes died at Lahey Clinic, Burlington, on May 8, 2024.

He was born in Boston on Nov. 26, 1939, and was the son of the late Louis and Hilda (Correia) Gomes. He was a son of St. Anthony of Padua, or Lisbon, (Portuguese) Parish in Cambridge. He graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in 1957 and was granted a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 1961. He also had a master's degree in public health from Yale Medical School, New Haven, Connecticut.

He was commissioned in the United States Public Health Service and served for 22 years in postings across the country. He retired in 1983 with the rank of captain in the United States Navy.

An alumnus of Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary, Weston, he was assigned as a parochial vicar at his home parish, serving until 1989. He was named parochial vicar at St. Anthony of Padua (Portuguese) Parish, Lowell (1989-1994).

He had health problems, which increased with age. Between 1994 and his senior priest status granted in 2004, he was on health leave.

Neither health issues nor his senior priest status prevented him from making himself available for either regular or occasional assistance at Sunday, or weekday, or funeral Masses and services.

Among those parishes were St. Mary, Walpole; Sacred Heart, Watertown; Sacred Heart and Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted, both in Waltham; St. Brigid, Lexington; Holy Family, Concord; St. Thomas of Villanova and St. Dorothy of Cappadocia, both in Wilmington; St. Eulalia, Winchester; St. Camillus, Arlington; St. Joseph and St. Luke, both in Belmont; St. Michael, Bedford; St. Patrick, Stoneham; as well as Youville, Cambridge and Lexington.

Father Walter A. Carreiro, pastor of Transfiguration of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Wilmington, was the principal celebrant and homilist of Father Gomes's funeral Mass at St. Anthony of Padua, or Lisbon (Portuguese), Church in Cambridge on May 14, 2024.

Concelebrating with Father Carreiro were Fathers Michael Harrington and Antonio de Souza, present pastor and parochial vicar, respectively, of St. Anthony, Cambridge; Fathers Thomas Nestor and James Savage, previously pastors of St. Eulalia, Winchester; and Father Richard Fitzgerald, pastor of St. Columbkille, Brighton, and a seminary and ordination classmate of Father Gomes.

Following the funeral Mass, Father Gomes was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge.