El Paso Diocese To Consolidate Two Lower Valley Church Congregations

For three years, parishioners at San Jose Catholic Church in the Lower Valley have been trying to get the Diocese of El Paso to rebuild its 100-year-old structure when it began to crumble.

The church parishioners raised $1.4 million to rebuild their church, but the Diocese said that there were not enough people attending the church to justify building a new church. It's not known what the Diocese will do with that money, but what is known is the San Jose community will have to merge with another church community and will no longer be known as the San Jose parish. The Diocese has been facing a shortage of priests for some time and that, along with the cost of building and maintaining a new structure worked against the San Jose parishioners.

San Jose parishioners are not happy with the Diocese's decision. They said they didn't want a large church, just a little chapel to say their prayers. A new congregation will now be made up of Santa Lucia and San Jose members. They will have to choose a new saint to name a new church after.

The Diocese would not comment on the situation and would only say they sent a letter to the congregation that will be read on Sunday.