0:04

Hello Diocese of Rio Grande. I want you to meet Alex Reyes.

0:08

Alex is the vicar of St.

0:10

Christopher's Episcopal Church here in El Paso, Texas.

0:14

Good afternoon Bishop. It's a joy to see you Alex.

0:17

Tell us about, now you're a bivocational priest, so you work, you have a day job.

0:24

Yes. Tell us about your day job and And I'm a licensed professional counselor in private practice.

0:31

I started this, uh, this career a long time ago.

0:35

I have been doing psychotherapy for families.

0:38

I'm involved also with El Paso Independent School District.

0:41

I see kids at the schools. And then in the afternoon, I see adults in the top of, uh, Issue and those things.

0:50

So you, so you know about the troubles that families and children are facing.

0:55

And how long have you been doing this work? It has been like 15 years.

1:01

Wow. Wow. In El private practice And always in El Paso.

1:05

In El Paso, yes. In El Paso. Yeah.

1:07

And I was in psychiatry hospital doing psychotherapy before.

1:10

Okay. What a blessing.

1:12

And then, and then you've been Vicar here.

1:15

For how long? Six months. Six months, officially.

1:18

Officially. But you've been working with the congregation longer than that.

1:22

Yes, I was coming, I was by vocation a long time ago when the head director, Bernal, and then it was, it was a nice experience coming.

1:32

Learning, especially learning how to be part of the Episcopal Church.

1:37

Because you were first a Roman Catholic. Yes. Tell me about that story.

1:41

How did you come to find the Episcopal Church? I was ordained many years ago in El Paso.

1:47

And I started to really not feel comfortable with different things, politics, or maybe just, uh, It was probably me, but of course I wanted to really explore more options.

1:59

And then I left the Roman Catholic Church in 2001. Okay.

2:02

So I submitted my resignation and everything. Was not accepted, my resignation.

2:08

They didn't want to let you go. No, no, it was not accepted.

2:10

Stay with us. Yeah, and it was not accepted.

2:12

But I just signed the paper and then I started to explore, explore different options.

2:21

St. Clement's. Okay. It was, in those times, Episcopal Church.

2:27

Philip Jones was a rector a long time ago and they went to all saints and those different congregations.

2:34

Okay. Started to come. More recently here.

2:37

Yeah, it's such a blessing that you came here both to the Episcopal Church, but also to St.

2:43

Christopher's. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So tell, tell the folks a little bit about the congregation.

2:47

Of course, St. Christopher's is where we host, we have the shelter.

2:51

It's in the, what were Sunday school classrooms there, but that the shelter runs really Sunday evening, Monday.

2:57

Tuesday and then sometimes Thursday, Friday, Saturday, um, the congregation worships on Sunday, but also Through the week.

3:05

So tell us a little bit about the the congregation here so I think the congregation is very energetic in a sense and then of course that we have a In a sense two different cultures by by cultural that come because I'm Hispanics And that's why of course we had this bilingual celebration on Sundays Some people ask me why we don't have two celebrations.

3:29

We don't have, sometimes the congregation is kind of small.

3:33

And sometimes they don't want to get separate celebrations.

3:38

But despite of that, we have the bilingual celebration.

3:42

And also we have social events that we do together, the youth.

3:47

And also they help here on Tuesdays for the immigrants.

3:52

And I try to help by learning Portuguese so I can communicate right now with people from Brazil.

3:59

So was that your third language? I think like the fourth.

4:02

Fourth, because I was going to say, I thought you knew a third one too.

4:05

Yeah, I know some. Yeah. That's wonderful.

4:08

So it's a bilingual congregation.

4:11

Yes, it is, yeah.

4:13

And, uh, and the liturgy, of course, from the church.

4:16

Well, like the city of El Paso is really a bilingual city, right? So, so, so, so St.

4:22

Christopher's just is representative of the people here and the culture as well.

4:27

And we were talking earlier about the, the ways in which COVID really made ministry difficult.

4:35

The congregation got really small during the COVID time.

4:39

Tell us about that, and then how, what your strategy has been to help grow the congregation.

4:45

So, I think I remember, uh, we had only ten people attending Sunday Liturgy, ten.

4:51

And then we started to, I started to really communicate with the committee here about how to start.

4:56

And then I started with the basics, something simple.

4:59

We developed like a directory, or we revised the directory.

5:04

And then I started making phone calls to some other people.

5:07

people started to make some other phone calls to see who was active or at least to return.

5:13

And that was so important. I mean, it's sometimes hard for me to remember what the, what those early days after COVID were like, we were all worried.

5:21

Will the people come back? And, uh, and for you to say, we're going to call them, let's get a list.

5:27

Let's reach out. Are you, are you okay? Are you, do you, are you still interested in church? What can we do for you? So what, when you tell me about those phone calls, when you called people, what What were those phone calls like? The first thing was to explain that it was time to return to worship again, and also they had some type of need, especially going to pray for someone or take communion to someone.

5:52

They started to realize that maybe this was the time to return to liturgy, and also, of course, maybe find new members in a sense.

6:03

And then also we started with flyers, of course, traditional flyers.

6:07

We did all some fires to invite people for posadas, some events, and we had some response.

6:14

So it was really basic. But really important, really personal, right? Yes.

6:19

I mean, to get a phone call after the isolation of COVID, right? To have your community reach out and say, it's time to come back to worship.

6:26

Do you need us to bring you communion if you're sick or, you know? Do you have someone we could take communion to or someone who needs a visit that kind of pastoral reaching out? I think you you had said we have to go out.

6:38

We can't just sit here And wait for them to come to us, right? So that reaching out pastorally is really important to establish the trust And also also remember we start to hear more people for confirmations more candidates or for first communion I remember the first time after covet.

6:56

I think I was here We were like 10 or 11 confirmands all of a sudden.

7:00

Yes. It was. It was really wonderful.

7:03

It was a good group. Yes. Yeah. And then, and, and little ones for First Communion as well.

7:08

Yes. Which First Communion is always a, you know, it's a conversation in the Episcopal Church, right? But tell us about First Communion and how it's practiced here.

7:17

And how important it is for the Hispanic community.

7:21

So, I think for Hispanic communities, it's very important, First Communion, but also the idea of catechism, like traditional catechism in the Roman Church.

7:29

Uh, sometimes you need to go for two years, if you belong to the diocese of El Paso, the Catholic diocese, two years.

7:36

So, we try to accommodate. Before First Communion? In First Communion, yes.

7:39

So, two years of Catechism before First Communion is the expectation here.

7:43

In the Hispanics, yes. Which is wonderful.

7:45

I mean, I wish we, I would like to make that the expectation everywhere.

7:49

You know, we want you to take your faith seriously.

7:51

Yeah. We have a lot to teach. And, uh, so two years, so, so the Hispanic people here in El Paso have an expectation, it's going to take a couple years to get ready for First Communion.

8:02

And then First Communion really is. It's, it's an achievement that the people have worked for it and learned about it and maybe even developed a sense of community.

8:14

And I rely really on handouts talking to parents, because sometimes we only have two children.

8:21

or three. And so it's more like a, more like a personal preparation.

8:25

Like we, I might say like a tutorial, like one individually.

8:30

Yeah. Instead of just additional class. Yeah.

8:33

And that's the way they, they, but they do it here.

8:37

And that's so important also though, for them to get to know you.

8:41

And Sondra who are doing the teaching, you know, cause, uh, Sondra, we'll have an interview with Sondra too.

8:46

Uh, cause, uh, cause I want the diocese to understand the way that this is working with you as a bivocational priest.

8:54

We also have a deacon here and we're blessed to have a seminarian here as well.

8:59

So the three of you are really working together as a team.

9:02

And that's what makes it all work. And the lay leaders on the bishops committee too.

9:08

Because they are very active. They are very active in that committee.

9:13

Yeah. And we had to rebuild the committee too, after COVID.

9:16

Yes. We didn't, we didn't have any leadership.

9:18

It kind of. People were tired, and then there was COVID, and everyone was stressed out, and so it's been a real resurrection of the community.

9:28

Yeah, we can see in the Sunday liturgy more people.

9:31

You can see the numbers are better.

9:35

And you have people from all generations. You have lots of kids.

9:37

Yes, we have a lot of youth, yes. A lot of youth, yeah, a lot of young people.

9:41

We're trying to really have more activities for the youth.

9:44

Yeah. Even social or just spiritual something.

9:47

Yeah. Yeah, we were talking earlier also about the, uh, I mean, really the foundations of the life of the church, of course, are the Sunday worship, and you're talking about adding a healing service during the week.

9:58

Those liturgical events are really important, and Las Posadas, I mean, for those who don't know about Las Posadas, tell, tell about how Las Posadas is practiced here at St.

10:09

Christopher's, because it's, it's been really important for welcoming new people to the church.

10:14

Yeah, I think Las Posadas is a very good event because, uh, It relies really on the fact that we want to celebrate Christmas in the Hispanic, like, way.

10:23

So I think it's really, people stay inside of the building, some others need to be working outside with candles, singing too.

10:33

It will be welcoming into the house.

10:36

Try to remember when Virgin Mary and Joseph did the same, looking for a place.

10:41

Yeah, so Mary and Joseph are wandering, looking for a place to stay, right? So the whole congregation goes out and precessing with candles, singing.

10:49

There's some beautiful traditional songs that we sing as we go around, right? And then you come and knock on the doors.

10:55

That's, yeah. And the people say, no, and it's through singing.

10:58

So we sing with guitars, and then people sing, and then It's in Spanish, the song.

11:05

So I think we had responses to those flyers.

11:10

So people, even if they haven't been attending church, or the COVID kept them away, or whatever, they see the flyer and they go, I want to connect with Posadas, because that's, Yeah.

11:19

It's sort of like in the Anglican, in the English church, the, the lessons and carols is sort of like, it's that sort of cultural, that level of cultural importance.

11:30

I love Posadas. I remember going on Las Posadas when I was a little kid.

11:34

I remember how cold it was at night and, and singing and, and processing and knocking on the doors and being a kid, not understanding why don't they let us in? I recognize them.

11:45

They're from our church. Why don't they let us in? Uh, but then the celebration and the singing and the joy when you get to the place and the, and the answer finally is, Oh, yes.

11:54

The last door. The last door.

11:58

You can come in. Yeah. So it's a, it's a wonderful celebration.

12:01

And then there's a, then there's a fiesta. Oh yeah.

12:03

We have piñata and everything that you can imagine.

12:05

Yeah. Yeah. We get loud here.

12:20

All right. We talked a little bit about Las Pesadas.

12:22

But there are some other wonderful traditions, uh, that are in, that are in our Episcopal Church, but are particularly prominent in the Latino and Hispanic community.

12:32

So we were talking about house blessings, because that's another opportunity where people tell us about how a house blessing looks.

12:38

Yeah. I think how blessing is, is a, is a joyful event for a Hispanic culture, especially Mexican could be different.

12:45

We have Puerto Ricans here in El Paso too. But I'm thankful, especially going to a house, and that was a great opportunity for us to go to a house blessing because it's when, what happens is they call a lot of people to the house blessing, that everyone comes, it's like a huge celebration for Latinos, and then of course it's the priest going, and then there's a prayer, and there's a huge party, it's really, really nice.

13:10

People invite their colleagues from work, they invite the kids from school, the whole neighborhood comes.

13:16

And then, and you go to each room in the house, right? And you do.

13:19

Yeah, we do that. Do a blessing water.

13:22

Yeah. Prayers. And then, uh, uh, it's, it's a very important for Latinos to have a house blessed.

13:29

And they said for us, of course, go and make present because of course, uh, It's a good connection that we're trying to also to plan.

13:36

And then you get to know the family. Yes, and then you start to see, where are you? And then some other people ask you.

13:41

Can I get a house blessing? Where is your church? Yes, where is your church? Who are you? Hey, it was nice.

13:46

Or maybe just talking to them, they feel comfortable.

13:49

Hey, you know, I want to go to the church because the priest came or that he came.

13:53

And then we feel comfortable. Creating that bond of trust where if I go to the church for the first time, I know who I will see, but otherwise it's scary to go.

14:03

I don't know what they're like. Maybe I saw it online, but it's a different thing if, you know, maybe you did get to have, you know, have a hot dog or something with the person in the backyard, right? And then people they chicharrones or something.

14:18

Those opportunities that maybe we we also can take.

14:21

Yeah. Plus the quinceañeras is the big one.

14:24

Yes, talk about that. Yeah, it's beautiful.

14:26

Yeah, quinceañeras is a big, it's a big, really it's a big celebration because it's a multicultural celebration and very, very important for the family.

14:36

A young woman coming of age. And here, of course, we do quinceañeras, we prepare them.

14:44

And this is a joyful celebration too.

14:46

Yeah. Yeah. And that also happens in the church, but in the home as well.

14:51

Right? They they prefer like a specific party hall.

14:54

Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

14:57

But I know that means to start, because some, some, sometimes if they go to the, the Roman Catholic church is more like a group quinceanera.

15:04

Oh. It's only once a month. Okay.

15:06

Okay. But coming to us, you have, yes.

15:09

It's gonna be a specific for one person.

15:11

For one person, yeah. And that, and make available the celebrations on top of our class, on top of our parking.

15:19

And so what, how, what does the class look like compared to like confirmation or something? The Quinceañera's reality, the baptismal promises, is very simple.

15:30

It's not something really, really difficult.

15:32

But we explain that parents and grandparents, it's about faith.

15:35

I know that they are thinking about the party because this, of course, is very normal.

15:40

But also, we try to get the main focus of Quinceañera is that you renew your faith, baptismal promise.

15:45

You are not a child anymore. You are more like a young lady.

15:48

And this is important for you to, to come.

15:51

And then we put a review. Uh, the, the promise is important to be a disciple of Jesus and that's the basic.

16:01

Yeah, because as we, as we grow up and I think part of at least one of my ideas about why young people think church is boring, is that as they grow, and their brain is developing, and their body is developing, and their relationships are getting more complicated, the, I mean, maybe kids have complicated relationships too, but I think that young people as they grow, they go back and reimagine what things mean, you know, so that the, like, if you were baptized as an infant, you didn't even know what the promises were anyway, but then at your first communion, If there's instruction about what communion is and what the faith is, if you're in first, second, third grade, you understand your faith better than you did as an infant, but you're age appropriate in your understanding, right? You come back around confirmation, 13, something like that.

16:54

Come back around quinceanera.

16:56

Now you're 15. You're re, oh, that's what, you know, resisting evil looks different when I'm 15 than it did when I was 10, right? And, and respect the dignity of every human being looks different when I'm 15 than it does when I'm 10.

17:12

So part of what I love about the way the Latino Hispanic tradition does is there are these touch points for every young person as they're growing.

17:21

When each of them has a class. So a chance to meet with the clergy, and to get to know them, and to re examine their faith, if you will, in a way that's appropriate to where they are now, and hopefully that helps connect them.

17:35

You know, if they have a, if they have a job, I'm an acolyte, I'm a reader, the grown ups care about me at church, you know, then I have a community that's beyond my family.

17:44

And then the faith, what is our goal is to help the faith become real.

17:49

For each person. Yeah.

17:52

And there is a specific, uh, ritual in the church for the kids.

17:58

It's very simple. Just follow the reading, the readings.

18:01

And we also, it's not like complicated.

18:04

Yeah. It's beautiful too. It is.

18:07

It is. And it's where we can more bring people to the church, family members, classmates, even classmates.

18:15

Invite your friends, invite your classmates.

18:17

We're going to do this important thing. And then people come.

18:20

Yeah. So it helps expand the boundaries of the church.

18:23

Yes, that's what we're doing here, trying everything.

18:27

Yeah. Saniel, have blessings, uh, events, phone calls.

18:33

So good. It's good, it's good, and the food here is amazing.

19:00

What I like is sometimes some young people, they really don't speak Spanish, but they have the the tradition.

19:08

So Mulaka may be new Hispanic in the church. Ministry in United States, like my daughter, sometimes they don't know how to answer in Spanish, but they come.

19:18

Yeah, because each generation is different, right? So sometimes it is the grandparents generation that speak mostly Spanish.

19:27

And then the parents that speak a little bit of each, and then the kids are really mostly in English, but their hearts pray in Spanish.

19:35

And also, of course, they come to the Guadalupe celebration, people.

19:39

Yeah. It's interesting, it's in English, but Guadalupe is kind of interesting to understand, but it's very deep into the Mexican culture.

19:49

My daughters, we see a lot of people with that tradition, but they don't speak Spanish and that's difficult to understand, but it's a reality here in El Paso.

20:00

Yeah. They are so about the Guadalupe.

20:03

Yes. But the language is kind of a A bit of a barrier.

20:10

I think so. But that's why the bilingual.

20:13

Bilingual, yes. Because you never, yeah, you never, a lot of people speak both.

20:20

Some have a little of one or a little of the other, but by offering, by being a church that does speak both, and you're such a gift to be able to speak four languages, that helps you connect pastorally with everybody.

20:35

Yes. Which is wonderful, yeah.

20:39

So I think the main celebration sometimes, uh, the main celebration they are supposed to be bilingual here.

20:44

They understand Christmas Eve, or maybe, every celebration.

20:50

But we try to keep it on Sundays too, bilingual.

20:52

It's bilingual as well, yeah, yeah. Yeah, because there are some people who speak English most of the week, but they still want to hear Padre Nuestra.

21:00

Oh, yes, yeah. They want to pray in the language of their grandparents and great grandparents.

21:06

Yeah. And also one of the reader reading readings is in Spanish every time, every time on Sundays would be the person, especially the second lesson is supposed to be in Spanish.

21:17

Yeah. Which is, which is wonderful. And so people are learning the others too.

21:21

I mean, people are working on their Spanish.

21:23

People are working on the English, like the, the process of communicating in love to one another in both languages is beautiful here.

21:32

Yeah. Yeah. So we talked, we've talked a little bit about the, the special liturgical celebrations and the religious life, which anchors the community, of course, here at St.

21:43

Christopher's, but you also have social events that are outside.

21:51

Tell us about your thinking about that and why, you know, why fellowship is so important and the impact it has on the community.

21:59

I think since the beginning, we realized that people needed also ways to.

22:05

Relax and celebrate and those things.

22:09

And then we have some events for youth.

22:11

Sometimes they go to Ridoso during the winter.

22:14

Yeah, they had a sledding trip. It was like 18 kids.

22:17

Yeah, it was. It was kind of a good group recently.

22:20

And then we want to do something in the summer.

22:24

Could be a picnic this time, but also focus on children.

22:28

Or maybe they can do something. Go bowling, something like that.

22:31

It's not a good event because I think something that I noticed, especially doing psychotherapy in my practice, when I ask about the faith, they think church is boring.

22:41

That's what they do. That's what the kids say. They tell me.

22:44

Yeah. 90 percent of the times. Yeah.

22:46

So I think, okay, so how can we make it more interesting? But it's not like, it's not like this is a good place to come to pray and celebrate and relax.

22:56

Yeah. And another thing that strikes me about what you just said is that.

23:01

I think sometimes we think if we're going to have a youth ministry or a Sunday school, we have to plan it to meet every Sunday.

23:09

So I got to find a teacher or a pair of teachers or a team of teachers who are willing to teach or lead the youth group every single Sunday, which if you've got 25 people who are 13, maybe that works, right? But part of what you've talked about is instead of having it every single week when people might say, Oh, I'm not going to go this week, I can go next week.

23:32

You're focusing on specific events.

23:35

So talk a little bit about that. Yes.

23:37

So when we try to really focus on some liturgical feasts, but also sometimes, of course, try to tie it into the, the catechism and those things that we want to do, because we don't see, since we don't have a lot of students, but right now we don't have really a lot of people that are going to maybe be confirmed or first coming away.

23:56

Maybe in the summer, we have more, but right now, but when we have.

24:01

That kind of a situation that we don't have a lot so we can just really focus on and then but then you can do like like one sledding trip on one Saturday In the winter and that brings the kids together and they get to know each other and that works, right? You don't have to have Sunday school every single Sunday.

24:21

Yes, or some a youth event every single day every single week sometimes Particularly if your numbers aren't that big Focusing on we're gonna have four events a year or something like that can really make a difference because then people can plan Oh, that's we're having a church picnic on that day.

24:36

We're gonna go and we're gonna play softball or we're gonna you know It'll be fun.

24:39

Yes, and that helps get at the kids saying, you know, it's boring I don't like church because they have to you have to learn how to pray.

24:50

It's not easy. Yes. Yeah. Yes It's not easy but having fun together as a community is really important.

24:56

God wants us to be joyful. Oh, yes. Yeah That's good.

25:00

That's good. Well, I just love how you have this team.

25:04

I mean, so there are a couple of things that I think are important for the diocese to know about the ministry here.

25:11

First of all, of course, this is where the, where Ana Reza, our border chaplain for the diocese, and Lee Curtis, their offices are here.

25:21

And this is where the shelter is for the diocese.

25:24

And, and also as a model of ministry.

25:29

We first brought in Deacon Sandra to be a deacon here, and she started organizing the community a little bit, and then you came in, bilingual, part time priest here, um, and the two of you started calling people and building up the community and reaching out and working together, and you're a great team, because, tell, remind us, Sandra does some of the finances and administration pieces, tell us what Sandra does.

25:54

I didn't know because Sandra started to really, since we, We started from almost like a scratch.

25:59

I want to say it was going to pay.

26:02

This was what's going to happen with this one.

26:04

It was really, she needed to organize all the finances, all the payroll, all the, and it has been hard because she teaches a YouTube and I'm here only like that, or sometimes once, once a week only, and then come back and she developed this kind of.

26:22

Program for the finances to organize everything.

26:24

Yeah, so, so Deacon Sandra was able to get the organizing started and get the community going.

26:30

And then you all started raising up new leaders of the bishops committee.

26:33

Yes, we have. And those people have great energy.

26:36

So this is a place where it's really not the priest running everything.

26:40

It's a team of people lay and ordained.

26:43

And then, um, and that has helped grow the congregation.

26:46

And then we're blessed to have, uh, Hannah Curtis, who is also a seminarian.

26:53

So you've got a seminarian who, and she preaches, how often do you have once a month, once a month, she's preaching as she does her studies at CDSP church divinity school of the Pacific.

27:04

And, uh, so it's a great team of people working on the life of this congregation.

27:10

Yeah. Wonderful. We have learned to rely on each other here because of the limitation of the schedule and and everything.

27:18

But we're growing. We're, we feel we're getting stronger.

27:22

And you've, tell us about the communication system.

27:24

You were saying the communication is a little tricky because everybody's moving around.

27:28

Yeah, so we rely, we use a lot of text and also like, uh, that's the main thing that we do.

27:35

So we try to see what's going on, what happens, and then can you be there or not here.

27:41

So it's, it's. Because we really have the time to meet, meet, basically.

27:45

We need to really rely on phone calls, texts, and.

27:48

But everything is going well through this, and of course, with God's grace to continue.

27:52

Yeah, yeah. And, uh, that, that community is really strong, also communication, and there is something going on.

27:59

It's wonderful. Yeah, and so you're embracing the, the technology of the era too, to, to, and I think sometimes we, we think, oh gosh, we have, the vestry has to meet all these times, and it all has to be done in a meeting, but, but you all are able to keep the community going by keeping everybody in on a group text.

28:17

You know, communicating what is needed that way.

28:21

And also happy to say that we have acolytes now.

28:24

We didn't have any, it was just adults. And it has been a long process to talk to children, to the parents, and now we can finally say that we have a group of acolytes on Sundays.

28:38

I think that's so important. I grew up being an acolyte. And I always enjoyed, even as a young kid, Church was less boring.

28:47

I won't say it was never boring because I was a kid too But but it was less boring when I had a job to do, you know I I was thinking about okay when do I need to move the cross or Here comes the gospel processional or you know Like you you have to pay attention if you're up there in your robe and you're and you're working So that's a great acolyting is such a great way to incorporate young people and to remind them You have a job, you know, when my daughter, you know, she sings in the choir at the cathedral and, and she's 10 and sometimes she doesn't want to go because she wants to sleep in and all that kind of stuff.

29:18

And we try to remind her that her singing is really important leadership in the congregation so that the hope is that our young people will realize We're not just dragging you in here to sit here and be bored, but your participation is important.

29:34

Your leadership of the congregation is important.

29:36

If you're an acolyte, if it's your time to acolyte we need you.

29:38

Yeah. Yeah. So Uh, so that's it's wonderful.

29:42

And I remember when we did that the last time Uh, the last time I was here for confirmations, there were two young people who did their first communion.

29:50

Oh, yes. And they both, as a part of that, we invited them up to stand at the altar with us and to be right there while we did the consecration of the elements.

29:59

And they were so kind of like wide eyed and a little bit embarrassed being up there, but they were also really keen and really interested in what was happening at the altar.

30:09

So I think the more we can involve the young people in our worship.

30:13

Not just as observers, um, or, you know, certainly not as sit there and be quiet, but, but rather to participate and to be valued by the community.

30:22

That's so important because I've seen it here.

30:25

People thank the acolytes in the, in the church after when we're having food and everything, people say, good job acolyte today.

30:32

Was this your first time or that, you know, that kind of thing.

30:36

So I still need to grow on that. I know we have my.

30:39

job to do. More flyers maybe, go back to the flyers, advertise.

30:44

Oh, I go to an adult daycare called La Victoria.

30:48

So to really make the, for the church present there.

30:51

Yeah. Yeah. So you, you have a wonderful way of looking at the community and saying, where are the people that might need the church? And so that's where going to the adult daycare first started, right? So you, you said, Hey, I'd like to come and visit.

31:06

Tell me, tell us that story about how that relationship was developed.

31:09

It was some, some, some time ago when I went to offer Ash Wednesday service there.

31:15

And then, of course, they started going and it was a good response.

31:20

We understand they have a lot of Roman Catholic roots, most of them.

31:25

And I started going to make a connection with the director of the place, the director of activities, with people, so.

31:32

Because you gotta learn, you gotta earn some trust, particularly if you're visiting someplace in the community, because not everybody who's religious is trustworthy or helpful, right? So it takes a little bit to kind of get to know the director.

31:45

And then I started going to, continue going to, Pray.

31:50

We cannot do the Eucharist, celebrate the Eucharist there because it's, it's, it's not a like a good place.

31:56

It's very hard for the, this is more like a like an activity room.

32:02

It's like a, it's not necessary. We don't have privacy to have the Eucharist or sacraments.

32:07

Though I went one day for, for the anointing on the sick.

32:11

Okay. Oh, that's good. Of course, it's, they're elderly.

32:13

They have different illnesses.

32:15

Yeah. And they knew it was a, a good experience for them.

32:18

Mm-Hmm. prayers and anointing.

32:20

So many gifts the church can bring to people that can really touch their hearts.

32:24

Mm-Hmm. You know, the, if you can't, we ate sometimes think about the Eucharist and getting people into church for the Eucharist as our primary thing.

32:31

Mm-Hmm. And that's important. But I love how you were saying, well, let's go for Ash Wednesday and, and bring the ashes and say the prayers.

32:38

Let's do prayers and anointing for healing at the adult daycare center.

32:42

Yes, healing. Like those, those are things that we can take the church to the people.

32:48

Yeah. We're slowly doing things.

32:51

The growth has been slow but steady.

32:54

Yes, we see more people. Yeah.

32:56

And the congregation is filling up now. Yes.

33:00

It's really good. Alex thank you for your ministry.

33:03

Thanks for all that you're doing and for the creativity of Reminding us about the basics like you got to call people follow up.

33:10

Let them know their love You were talking about bringing the flyers to people in the neighborhood here as well Yes, and and I think I remember you saying that you would ask them, you know, do you know somebody tell us about how you help? advertise in the flyers about confirmation and and first So I think the fires are something we try to explain that everyone who needs to be confirmed comes, but also the congregation talk to family members, and there is only one in the family that needs some type of a sacrament.

33:41

That's kind of normal. Baptism, Confirmation, First Communion.

33:46

So I think it's a way to really We invite people and also have more people attending, and hopefully they stay.

33:53

Most of them stay here. Some don't, but this is most, okay, so this is a good place, because I need the baptism of confirmation, first communion.

34:03

Those are all entry points into the life of the community.

34:06

And I love how you, you had said to me earlier that, you know, maybe they don't have child, but they know, you know, do you know somebody who's looking for baptism? Do you know somebody who's looking for confirmation? And, and so then people do come just to be baptized or just to be confirmed, just for First Communion.

34:25

But then they stay, because they find the community in that sort of a way.

34:29

Yeah, so I think it's sometimes we, we sit back and wait for them to come to us too much, you know? Yes.

34:36

Or we're sort of bashful about offering things.

34:39

Like, does, do you know anybody who needs prayers and anointing? Is there a neighbor or? Yes.

34:43

Or a relative who needs something, and if we as a church can provide prayers, anointing, um, Ashes on Ash Wednesday, or Confirmation, First Communion, Baptism, people who may not currently be in a church may still need those things, and they don't know how to find the right church for that.

35:06

But if we offer and are available, they might say, No.

35:10

Oh, I know who you should talk to. And that's where the trust is built up, right? That's what we try to do now.

35:18

The more people can come and feel comfortable, welcome.

35:23

Usually people feel really comfortable coming here.

35:27

That's what we feel. We see.

35:30

It's a well, it's such a welcoming place.

35:32

It really is. Yeah. But you've talked a little bit also about some people coming from a Roman Catholic background are a little nervous at first.

35:41

Tell us about your experience of that when, when people are nervous about.

35:44

trying the Episcopal Church for the first time. Because sometimes when they hear, when they hear the, the word Episcopal Church, they, they, they think it's not, they don't, yeah, like it is more like a really more like a Protestant, evangelical, just a traditional.

35:57

But I start to understand that we, we celebrate the sacrament because devotions, we follow the Book of Common Prayer, they start to feel comfortable.

36:08

And then, because it's a process for some of them to, to trust and, It's all about building that trust.

36:15

Yeah, like that, yeah. And caring for the people.

36:18

That happened to me. Yeah? Tell that story.

36:22

Yeah, that's a great story. I started going to different places.

36:24

St. Clement's. I started to go to St.

36:26

Clement's. And then, of course, St.

36:29

Francis on the Hill. And I started to feel comfortable.

36:32

So it was a long journey. It takes a while to feel comfortable.

36:35

It was years. A long time.

36:37

Yeah, and we need to be patient with people. Yeah, I needed to see, okay, about this.

36:41

And then I went to Old Saints.

36:44

And And also here, so it has been, it has been a long, yeah, it has been a lot of years since he's come here and started to think about to join the diocese and those things.

36:58

And for them it's the same, coming to the Episcopal Church, okay, what do they do? What do they believe? Do they pray to Virgin Mary or not? Do they do this? And they say, okay, yeah, I can relate to this church again.

37:11

It's familiar and they connect.

37:13

Yeah. Wonderful.

37:18

Thank you, Alex. Thank you for all you're doing. It's wonderful to be here.

37:21

It's God's grace. Amen. That's right. That's right.

37:24

That's right. Okay. Good. Anything else you need to say? I'm happy to be in this place.