Our Catllolic H eritagc i11 Texas
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Mexico and Arizona were rapidly settled after 1900. El Paso in 1880 had not one Catholic church in the city and the few English-speaking Catholics had to go to Ciudad Juarez to hear Mass. In 1914 it could count but three churches for its more than ten thousand Catholics. It was no longer necessary, however, for the faithful to go across the river to attend services. The little congregation of the Holy Family had grown into three parishes. The indefatigable Father Carlos Pinto, S. J ., its founder, had labored incessantly in the early years of the century to build the churches of the Immaculate Conception and the Sacred Heart. He was now engaged in laying the foundations for St. Patrick's. The growth and development of El Paso were typical of the great changes that were taking place in Arizona and southern New Mexico. When the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Santa Fe met in 1913, Bishop Henry Granjon of Tucson explained that his vast diocese, which included all of Arizona and southern New Mexico, had grown too large for him to administer to the faithful properly. The spiritual needs of the people of Arizona could not be served adequately unless the Diocese of Tucson was limited to the State of Arizona. He pleaded, therefore, that the territory in the extreme southern part of New Mexico be separated from the Diocese of Tucson. Although the provincial council was ready to accede to the proposal, it was faced with the problem of whom would care for the Catholics in the detached district. The portion of southern New Mexico included in the Diocese of Tucson was too small to be erected into a separate diocese. On the other hand, it was too large to be added to any of the adjoininp; dioceses which were already unwieldy. Bishop Joseph P. Lynch of Dallas and Bishop John W. Shaw of San Antonio were consulted by the pro- vincial council to ascertain if they were willing to cede part of the territory under their respective jurisdictions to be added to southern New Mexico in order to form a new diocese. Both Bishops readily agreed to the proposal and the matter was then referred to the Holy See for final action. The Sacred Consistory of Congregation of Cardinals gave its consent and Pope Pius X, persuaded that the creation of the new diocese would contribute to the spiritual welfare of the faithful, saw fit to grant the request and ordered by the Bull of March 3, 1914, that "a proper and distinct diocese be formed." For this purpose he separated from the Diocese of Tucson the territory lying outside of the State of Arizona in i;outhem New Mexico, consisting of five counties known as Grant, Luna,
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