As a child growing up in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, Alex Steinmiller attended public elementary and Catholic junior high school. He describes himself as being “not much of a Church kid”. When Alex was in 8th grade, a visiting Passionist, Fr. Charles Guilfoyle, gave a mission talk at St. Raymond’s.

In the years that followed, Alex received a variety of postcards postmarked from wherever Fr. Charles was giving a retreat. This was Alex’s first contact with the PASSIONISTS, an order founded in Italy in 1720 who pioneered the Retreat Movement in the U.S. and whose charism draws them into the sufferings and death of the Redeemer. Alex’s budding passion for social justice was nurtured by meeting Hispanic migrant peers at school dances and by his weekly drive through an African American neighborhood to bring home the woman who cleaned for his family. His summer with the Gants crystallized the culture and Gospel stirrings of his youth and set him on the path of immersing himself in the contemporary PASSION OF JESUS.

When Alex was a novice, Pope John XXIII died and the renaissance of Vatican II was beginning to filter down to the local Church. Alex began to see that RELIGIOUS (priests, sisters and brothers) by the nature of their vows are freed to be in solidarity with the marginated. It is the challenge of religious life, Alex believes, to search out the unmet needs of the People of God. It is that search which brought Fr. Alex to San Antonio, Texas after 21 years of ministering in Detroit, Michigan.

His first two priestly years were spent in ministry at the Passionist Retreat House. By 1973, Fr. Alex began to look at Detroit with a critical eye and was alarmed that a young person (under 16) was being killed every 18 hours in the Motor City of the early seventies. Together with Fr. John Phelps, CSSR, Fr. Alex decided to spend time in the public places where young people (13-35) spend their time. This led them to establish LIFE DIRECTIONS, an outreach program which seeks “to fill the need by helping to motivate, mature and give direction”. This immersed them in the public schools where they set up peer motivation programs in the neighborhoods where Enrichment Programs were established. Weekend empowerment retreats called LIFE SEARCH were held to train young adults. At this time, there are LIFE DIRECTION programs in operation in Tucson, New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit and San Antonio.

Fr. Alex is disturbed when Catholics “put priests on a pedestal”. He suggests that the pedestal of our times is the parish rectory and that most parishioners are happy when they find their priests in their offices. Fr. Alex believes that priests need to be immersed in the present struggles of the people and admits that it was difficult to leave the “clerical calendar” and make himself available when the majority of the people living in public housing are home. He had to break out of his priestly routine to discover the rhythm of the poor. It is this rhythm that informs his Vow of Poverty. He sees this vow as a gift of the economy of his time.

In 1991, Fr. Alex brought LIFE DIRECTIONS to San Antonio in response to the city’s oppressive gang problem. He is still deeply saddened that 50% of the Hispanic youth of our city do not graduate. The urgency of his ministry continues to press him towards an even more faithful response to the poor. He would like to see solid training for young adults in San Antonio’s neighborhoods.

Fr. Alex’s Passionist tradition convinces him that the CROSS is the missing piece in our world’s transformation. He has chosen to make his life a public witness to the cross’s message of compassion, justice, and forgiveness. It is the cross which links the rich and the poor. Fr. Alex is fortified for his ministry by congregational support and by his immersion in the Eucharist and contemplative prayer. His work is far from over because the PASSION OF JESUS is never spent.