Catholic Diocese closing San Jose Catholic Church

The San Jose Catholic Church in El Paso’s Lower Valley will be officially closing its doors soon, parishioners told ABC-7.

“This community is San Jose,” said Hector Lopez, a San Jose Church member. “This church has been here more than 100 years.”

Members said the church, which has suffered many maintenance problems over the last three years, will be merging with the Santa Lucia Church, creating a new congregation and church.

That’s not the solution members wanted.

“We didn’t want a humongous church, you know,” said Xavier Lerma, a former San Jose member and area resident. “We just wanted a little chapel to go in and and do our prayers.”

An official announcement from the Catholic Diocese of El Paso is expected Sunday.

The new congregation made up of Santa Lucia and San Jose members will be required to choose a new saint to name the new church after.

As ABC-7 reported three years ago, San Jose’s church building collapsed. According to church members, $1.4 million was raised to rebuild the church. At this time, it is unclear how the Catholic Diocese of El Paso plans to use the $1.4 million.

“A lot of elderly people, like myself, go to San Jose,” Lopez said. “We’re offended. We can’t believe it. What did they do with the money?”

Lopez doesn’t understand why the money they raised isn’t being used to build a new church.

“We’ve been going to church at Zarogoza and North Loop,” he said. “They have a big church, but we have room here to build a new church.”

In the past, El Paso Bisho Mark Seitz has said the congregation at San Jose had dwindled and it would not be prudent for the Diocese to invest money in building a new church at the location. In an email to ABC-7, the Diocese says they are sending a letter that will be read to the congregation Sunday.

The Diocese will not comment until then.