Sacred Heart Church’s holistic approach
Photo credit: Jose Marquez de Soto was a Sacred Heart alumnus, who was tortured and killed in Mexico in 1937 due to his support for the Catholic church. Published by El Paso Herald Post in 1957.
Sacred Heart Church’s holistic approach to serving the community of El Paso is longstanding. When the Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910, thousands of refugees sought refuge across the border. According to Sister Liliana Owens, on May 3, 1918, Father Garde was assigned to Sacred Heart at a “crucial time.” The civil and political turmoil, paired with the beginnings of decades-long religious persecution in Mexico, resulted in an overwhelming number of new parishioners coming from Juarez and those clergymen and women fleeing Mexico in search of religious freedom. Father Garde welcomed the new public and began an expansion of the church to accommodate the growing number of parishioners. Father Garde left Sacred Heart on December 12, 1929.