Good afternoon, my name is Juan Elias, a member of this parish. I attend the Noon Mass on
Sundays. I hope that all of you have been taking care of yourselves in these most difficult times
dealing with this horrible Covid - 19 pandemic.

I’m here today to share something with you as a member of our church group, “Faith in
Action”. People sometimes ask, where is your church? What church do you attend? I
immediately said; Of course, Devine Providence Catholic Church, but then I think; my fellow
parishioners who attend Mass with me on Sundays are the Church; the people who are there
with me become the church. So we the people here who attend Mass are indeed the church.
And as a church, we need to help each other; we are here for each other whenever needed.
That is one of the first things we learn as Christians. We’re here to watch over one another
and to give back whenever possible.

So as hard as it may be, the church has to continue to try and move forward even in these
most difficult times. Even now, as part of the “Faith in Action” group, we have been very
involved in pushing forward and demanding that our local government not forget the people
of this city, the people in most need, especially those who have been hit hard by economic
hardships. At present, we are aligned with the group, COPS/Metro along with many other
parishes to help the citizens of San Antonio. City Hall has heard us and has passed city
policies to help in rental and utility assistance. They have also put money into workforce
development which will retrain people for better jobs. We have been in City Hall on behalf of
our parish several times now to demand these actions.

So my purpose here today is to ask you to join us in trying to continue pushing forward with
new agendas to better help the citizens of this city. Father Ryan is very committed to this
cause but he can’t do it alone, he needs us to join him in this fight to make this Parish and
community a better place for all of us to live in.

I can assure you that the demands are few but the rewards are plentiful if you get involved.
We will be having a video conference this Tuesday night at 7:00 PM in the St Teresa room to
better prepare us for what’s next. You are welcome to sign up today and join us. There will be
masks available to you unless you bring your own. We will also be practicing social distancing.
So I’m asking you to please sign up even if you’re just curious and want to learn more.
Thank you for your time and I hope to see some of you join us in this worthwhile effort.
Have a blessed day.