The Diocese of El Paso (, ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the El Paso Valley in Texas in the United States. It is a suffragan see of the metropolitan Archdiocese of San Antonio.
The mother church of the Diocese of El Paso is St. Patrick's Cathedral in El Paso. As of 2023, the current bishop is Mark J. Seitz.
Statistics
The Diocese of El Paso covers , it encompasses the Texas counties of El Paso, Brewster, Culberson, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Loving, Presidio, Reeves, Ward and Winkler.
As of 2023, the Catholic population of the diocese was approximately 686,000. The diocese had 56 parishes and 17 missions.
History
Name changes
The El Paso region was part of several several Catholic jurisdictions before becoming the Diocese of El Paso. The Diocese of Durango was under Spanish, then Mexican control. After 1850, the succeeding vicariates and dioceses were under American control.
Diocese of Durango (1620 to 1850) Vicariate Apostolic of New Mexico (1850 to 1853) Diocese of Santa Fe (1853 to 1868) Vicariate Apostolic of Arizona (1881 to 1897)
From 1891 to 1914, the El Paso area was taken from the Vicariate Apostolic of Arizona and divided between the newly formed Dioceses of Dallas, San Antonio and Tucson.
1600 to 1800
In 1680, several of the Pueblo clans in present day New Mexico revolted against the Spanish occupiers. After taking heavy losses in Santa Fe, the Spanish were able to flee with many of their Native American enslaved people to the El Paso Valley. Many in this group elected to stay in the area instead of returning to the Spanish provinces in Mexico. Several Catholic missionaries also stayed in El Paso.
The missionaries in 1680 established the Mission Corpus Christi de la Isleta del Sur in what is today the Mission Valley district of El Paso. The mission is considered the oldest continuously functioning parish in the United States. The same missionaries established the Mission Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción de Los Piros de Socorro del Sur near El Paso that same year. Its purpose was to serve both Spaniards and Native Americans from New Mexico. In the 1770s, missionaries built a presidio chapel at a Spanish military outpost in San Elizario.
1800 to 1868
After the Mexican War of Independence ended in 1821, the new Republic of Mexico took over Texas from Spain. Eastern Texas in 1836 became the Republic of Texas, but West Texas, included the El Paso Valley, remained disputed territory. However, the peace treaty ending the Mexican–American War gave the United States control of West Texas.
San José de Concordia el Alto church was erected in 1859 on the site of the present Concordia Cemetery outside of El Paso. It was the nearest Catholic church for El Paso residents at the time. Often Catholics from El Paso boarded a hand-pulled ferry to attend mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Juárez.
1868 to 1914
The Sisters of Loretto opened St. Joseph's Academy, later to be called Loretto Academy, in 1879 in San Elizario. The first Catholic church in the City of El Paso, St. Mary's, was opened in 1882.
In the 1880s, the new railroad lines in El Paso creating an influx of Catholic immigrants. In 1892, the Jesuit missionary Carlos Pinto, superior of the Jesuits in the region, became pastor of St. Mary's in El Paso. Over the years, he established the Sacred Heart, Immaculate Conception, St. Ignatius, Guardian Angel, and Holy Family parishes. Pinto sent Jesuits through the rural areas in West Texas and southern New Mexico by car and horseback. St. Mary's School was opened for Catholic children in 1903.
By the 1890s, many tuberculosis patients were coming to El Paso due to its healthful climate. To accommodate their needs along with the growing city population, the Sisters of Charity opened the Hotel Dieu Hospital there in 1894. The Temple San Ignacio de Loyola was established in El Paso in 1905, and underwent extensive remodeling seven years later.
1914 to 1924
On March 3, 1914, Pope Pius X established the Diocese of El Paso, with territory taken from the Dioceses of Dallas, San Antonio and Tucson. The new diocese contained counties in both southern New Mexico and West Texas. The pope named Jesuit John J. Brown as first bishop of El Paso in January 1915, but poor health forced him to resign in June. In 1915, the pope named Reverend Anthony Schuler as Brown's replacement.