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April 3, 1956 ~ June 11, 2014 |
“He was very dedicated to taking care of the sick. He was a good confessor. He was kind, patient and gave good advice. He was also a good homilist, a good priest,” Msgr. Roger Smith, pastor at St. Patrick’s, said.
Msgr. Smith was the Vocations Director when Father Cain first approached the diocese with his desire of becoming a priest for the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Father Cain had converted to Catholicism as a young man and entered Holy Trinity Seminary for the Diocese of Alexandria, Louisiana. He made friends with seminarians from Corpus Christi and, subsequently made the switch in diocese.
Father Cain was born on April 3, 1956 in Winnsboro, Louisiana to Fate M. and Minnie E. Cain, both now deceased. He grew up Baptist with two sisters and four brothers.
In 1981, he received a bachelor of art's degree in elementary education from the University of Corpus Christi and in 1987 a master’s in Divinity from the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He received his seminary training at St. Mary's Seminary in Houston from 1984-88.
Bishop Rene H. Gracida ordained Father Cain on Jan. 30, 1988, alongside his friend Danny Flores, now the bishop of the Diocese of Brownsville.
“Father Randy was a generous and kind man who loved the church and loved being a priest…We were good friends since seminary days, and we were ordained together at Corpus Christi Cathedral in 1988,” Bishop Flores said. “He was always fun to be with; he knew how to laugh and see the humor of life. He was a great person to travel with, and I have fond memories of traveling with him and other friends to Mexico City to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe, of trips to his family home in Louisiana…
“His death came as a sudden shock to me. I will miss him terribly much, as I know many others will also,” Bishop Flores said.
After his ordination, Father Cain was assigned briefly to St. Philip the Apostle in Corpus Christi, before going to Laredo where he served in a number of parishes. When the Diocese of Laredo was erected in 2000, Father Cain was pastor of St. John Neumann in Laredo. He remained in Laredo until 2002, after which he took a sabbatical.
In 2004, he returned to the Diocese of Corpus Christi as parochial vicar of St. Patrick’s. In 2005, he was named pastor of St. Theresa in Corpus Christi, where he served until 2012, with a one-year assignment at Holy Family in Taft in 2009-10. While at St. Theresa’s, Father Cain suffered a stroke and after his recuperation returned to St. Patrick’s.
Msgr. Smith said that Father Cain loved life. He loved to go to the movies and he especially loved science fiction movies, he loved to cook and he loved cats. Everyone agreed he had a good and self-deprecating sense of humor.
Msgr. Smith recalls that Father Cain was very aware that he might suffer a second stroke and would tell Msgr. Smith that if he passed away he wanted an open casket with a bowl of Hershey’s Kisses next to it so everyone could place one in his mouth. At other times he would joke that if he died while asleep, that monsignor should prop him up on his kneeler with a rosary so he could “look holy.”
“If I was to characterize Father Randy, he was a very gentle and kind man. He also had a dry, wonderful sense of humor that could many times catch you off guard,” Bishop Michael Mulvey said. “He was deeply loved by his parishioners and having celebrated his funeral Mass in Louisiana, he was also deeply loved and respected by his family.”
Before his second and fatal stroke, Father Cain had attended a weeklong gathering with priests in Port Aransas. He had an opportunity to spend some fraternal time with his brother priests. “Several priests have commented to me that they were able to visit with him at length and through those visits got to know him better,” Bishop Mulvey said. “They were very shocked, of course, just a few days after that, that the Lord took him home and he is no longer with us.”
In addition to the funeral Mass in Louisiana, Bishop Mulvey celebrated a memorial Mass at the Corpus Christi Cathedral where his brother priests and parishioners from his various parishes had the opportunity to celebrate his life.
“He will be greatly missed by the priests and the people of this diocese and we ask the Lord to receive him into eternal life,” Bishop Mulvey said.