National Gathering of Ministers Features COPS/Metro Collaboration w/San Antonio Archdiocese
At a national gathering of Catholic Social Ministers organized by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), COPS/Metro's work with San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller was featured prominently in plenary sessions and a workshop around local organizing for gun safety reform.
During a panel discussion with the Archbishop, Josephine Lopez-Paul shared how COPS/Metro worked with the San Antonio Archdiocese in the aftermath of the massacre at Uvalde in 2022. The Archbishop made an impassioned plea to infuse love into a "culture of death" through faithful participation in the political process around issues impacting life, including gun safety reforms.
From the Archives: COPS Launched Efforts in 1974 to Improve Basic City Services
[Excerpts below]
In August 1974, the same month that President Richard M. Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal, COPS members marched on City Hall and demanded better drainage.
Some areas of the city lacked paved streets, running water, sanitary sewer service, adequate police protection and other basics.
The group won the support of Mayor Charles Becker, who worked to pass a $46.8 million bond issue to fund long-neglected drainage projects on the West Side.
With a power base that was rooted in Catholic parishes, COPS members focused their anger in a positive way, remaining vocal but never violent, and brought lasting change.
[In photo: Candidates for District 6 listen to a question in a 1983 COPS “accountability session.” Staff File Photo, San Antonio Express-News]
Grassroots Group Energized Hispanics: COPS Launched Efforts in 1974 to Improve Basic City Services, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]
Archbishop Flores Remembered for Support of COPS & More
When Archbishop Emeritus Patrick Flores died, stories about his life and legacy as the first Mexican-American Catholic bishop quickly surfaced.
Read moreCOPS / Metro Raises the Stakes on San Antonio Wages
Over 400 leaders of COPS / Metro Alliance assembled at St. Henry's Catholic Church, to confront the top candidates for Mayor and City Council (Districts 2, 3, 5 and 7) on wages, workforce development and housing in the City.
Leaders asked candidates to commit to raising wages for the lowest paid city employees from $11.47 to $14.91 / hour over three years, starting with $13 / hour for fiscal year 2016; establishing a wage floor for contracted and outsourced workers to at least the City's current minimum of $11.47; stabilizing city funding for workforce development program Project Quest at $2 million per year; and working with COP / Metro leaders on a 2017 city bond for housing rehabilitation.
Read moreSan Antonio CDP Honors Sr. Christine Stephens & Sr. Pearl Ceasar
"A prime example of how the Sisters of Divine Providence practice ... is through the decades of dedication, hard work and efforts put forth by Sisters Christine Stephens and Pearl Ceasar. For over 30 years, these women of faith have worked diligently.... Their work and that of others from the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) has created a domino effect nation-wide that has trained thousands of ordinary citizens to be leaders and organize to be heard and bring about change. Hundreds of communities have become stronger, more viable and visible. IAF is a national network of organizers acknowledged by the Catholic Bishops to train and engage citizens within not only Catholic parishes and surrounding communities but from congregations of many faith traditions, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Unitarian."