After one hundred years, the creativity, faith, and spirit of Guadalupe Church has not been exhausted. This parish, originally founded to serve the needs of a small, poor, and exploited community, has grown into one of the landmarks of San Antonio's cultural, historical, and religious heritage, and it only continues to grow. It has been a place of pilgrimage for many: for Eleanor Roosevelt in 1937, and for Pope John Paul II half a century later. For Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who visited Guadalupe Plaza in 1991, and for then-Senator Barack Obama, who visited the same plaza in 2008. For a group of students of the University of Texas in San Antonio, who manifested in front of the church during their twenty-two-day hunger strike in support of the tragically defeated pro-immigrant DREAM Act. For Miss San Antonio 2011 Domonique Ramirez, who bequeathed her crown to the church in honor of la Virgen, “the queen of queens, the keeper of all crowns.”

But most of all, this is a place of pilgrimage for the hundreds of thousands of Catholics who have lived their lives here under the protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe and contributed to the parish community – or who have visited this beautiful sanctuary from near and far to plead for help and healing, to offer thanks and praise, and to pray for the Church and for the world.