El Paso Diocese says new Lower Valley Catholic church to be named after St. John Paul II

The Catholic Diocese of El Paso announced on Monday the new name of a parish in the Lower Valley will be St. John Paul II Catholic Church.

In a news release, the diocese said Santa Lucia Catholic Church and San Jose Catholic Church, which are being consolidated, will merge together to create the new church.

The official site of St. John Paul II Parish will have its primary facilities at the former Santa Lucia
Church which is located at 518 Gallagher St.

As ABC-7 reported back in January, parishioners at San Jose were upset that their church would have to close its doors.

Three years ago, San Jose’s church building collapsed. According to church members, $1.4 million was raised to rebuild the church.

The diocese addressed this issued in the news release stating:

” Should the active members of the new parish who live within the neighborhood of the former parish of San Jose wish to continue a presence of church facilities in their part of the new parish territory they will be able to pursue this goal with the pastor and pastoral council of the newly created parish. The official decree establishing St. John Paul II Catholic Church states, ‘the patrimony of San Jose Parish that had been set up as a building fund can be used to maintain, update or build edifices at 8100 San Jose Road, not excluding the creation of a small space suitable for liturgical devotion and prayer.’ ”

The news release also goes on to state that that all records of baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, marriage, and death that are currently preserved at both Santa Lucia and San Jose shall be transferred to the Saint John Paul II Parish office.