Day 15: Diocese of El Paso
Part of the Diocese of Mexico when it was formed in 1530, it became part of an American-based diocese after the Mexican-American War. The city of El Paso didn't have a dedicated Catholic church until 1881; up to then most folks went to church across the border in Juarez.
The arrival of the railroad and refugees trying to avoid the Mexican Civil War resulted in a population boom for El Paso and the establishment of several new parishes. Pope Pius X established the El Paso diocese in 1914, taking parts from Dallas, San Antonio and Tucson. For all of the Hispanic influences, the cathedral is named for St. Patrick as the largest donation for the building came from Irish immigrants working the local mines. That's changed recently, as all of the bishops since 1978 are of Hispanic descent, and the diocese has been very active in issues related to undocumented immigrants and relief efforts in Central America.
While originally covering parts of west Texas and southern New Mexico, the latter territory was broken off in 1982 to form the Diocese of Las Cruces.
My original interest in picking this diocese: its coat of arms has an anchor on it, which I thought was odd as El Paso isn't exactly coastal. It winds up that an anchor was part of Piux X's personal coat of arms, and El Paso put one on their coat of arms to honor him.
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