Segundo Barrio Churches
| “Si desaparece el barrio, tiran el Sagrado Corazón de
Jesús. ¿Que lo quieren dejar como un museo? ¿Como va a ser justo que el templo
lo vayan a dejar como un museo? Mire, yo lo quiero tanto a este barrio como no
tiene una idea.”
“Do they want to leave it like a museum? How is it
right they are going to let the church turn into a museum? Look, I love this
neighborhood so much you have no idea.”
Hortencia Villegas, interviewed February 17, 1976.
Translation into English by John Paul Nuño.
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One of the most important and visible features of Segundo Barrio has been and continues to be its religious life and community. The history of Catholic churches in el Segundo Barrio is forever tied with the career of the Jesuit Reverend Carlos M. Pinto who came to be known as the “apostle and master builder of El Paso.” Dedicated on June 9th 1893, Sacred Heart church, under the guidance of Pinto, opened its doors to the Mexican population of Segundo Barrio. In 1903 the Centro de la Union Católica de San Jose was established with local physicians to give residents health care. Pinto founded a new church and school named St. Ignatius to deal with a growing community.
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Sagrado Corazon
Photo by Domini Guillén and Ruben Guillén |
In 1904 a total of 150 families were being served there. When Pinto died in 1919 he had founded numerous churches including St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1916. The spiritual communities he founded continued to grow after his death. Sacred Heart went through several expansions including the school which by 1950 had 400 students. Both churches continue today to serve their surrounding communities.
| “Que nos daban la comida en puro bote. Y mi esposo, mi
hermano, mi papá salieron a buscar trabajo. No se veía el dinero. [Si salieron
a] cortar leña, nos daban leña para la estufa, nos daban botes; era todo lo que
[les daban]. Entonces pusieron una cocina aquí en Sagrado Corazón, que la puso
el padre (se llama el Padre Sagni) y un luchador, [que] no me acuerdo el nombre
por el momento. Pusieron una cocina y allí nos daban comida.”
“They used to give us food in a can. My husband,
brother, and father would go look for work. They couldn’t find any money. They
would go and cut timber and they would give them firewood for the stove,
cans,that are all they would give us. Then the priest, Father Sagni, and a
wrestler, I can’t remember his name, established a kitchen at Sacred Heart. The
kitchen would give us food.
Voluntarias de la Ciudad Carpas, (referring to the
Great Depression), interviewed in 1975. Translated into English by John Paul
Nuño. |
In the late 1890s Protestant missionaries looked upon the second ward as a possible area for conversions. Unfortunately this led to occasional tension between some Catholics and Protestants in the area. The earliest houses of worship included the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor of the Congregational Church and the Mexican Methodist Churches, all founded around the turn of the 20th century. More denominations quickly followed such as the Mexican Baptist Church and local Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Nazarene branches. The African American community had established their own Methodist and Baptist churches as early as the late 1800s. Around 1916 the total estimated number of Mexican Protestants was 904. The influence of Protestant religious centers has been especially felt in the areas of social and health services.
| “Our Church is called El Buen Pastor ... and that is
what our church really is to the people–it is a Good Shepherd guiding our folks
out of darkness ....”
Dorothy Little, February 1942.
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The Methodist Rose Gregory Houchen Settlement House, later Houchen Community Center, was established in 1911 in an area that became known as Friendship Square. Attached to the settlement house was a church called El Buen Pastor which opened and closed around 1897 only to re-open in 1932 alongside Houchen. In 1968 the church merged with another and moved downtown. Houchen’s goals mixed health and education services with a desire to Americanize Mexicans.
In 1914, the Methodist owned Lydia Patterson Institute opened as a place to train young Mexican men as ministers. Protestants sought Mexican preachers who could then spread their religion more effectively in their communities. They were also involved in opening a branch of the YMCA in el Segundo Barrio.
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