Jesuit missionaries established several parishes in El Paso and one in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, including an English-speaking congregation near Sacred Heart. All the Jesuit missionaries lived at Sacred Heart, which is now the only remaining Jesuit parish in Texas.
Sacred Heart became widely known as a spiritual haven during the Mexican Revolution, after strict laws banned public worship in 1917. Mexicans crossed the international border to participate in mass and receive the sacraments and found community and faith at Sacred Heart. Today a significant number of regular attendees still cross the border for Sunday mass.
The Segundo Barrio, known also as the“ Ellis Island of the Southwest,” remains a Hispanic neighborhood that proudly displays its deep cultural heritage— illustrated via vivid street murals— but corresponds to one of the poorest zip codes in the United States. It is part of a border city with a long history as a transient community of immigrants and refugees. Sacred Heart serves as a resource to all residents and visitors of El Paso, supporting the community far beyond the parish. Throughout the week, hundreds meet on Sacred Heart’ s campus to participate in dozens of activities and programs, including food assistance, rent and utilities assistance, adult education, community organizing, and outreach to migrants and refugees. The food assistance program feeds 240 individuals and families twice each month. Robust adult education classes help community members prepare for citizenship and naturalization, improve their English and computer skills, and complete their GEDs. In 2025, 338 students participated in these classes.
Sacred Heart gained national recognition in 2022 and 2023 for the aid it provided during an unprecedented influx of refugees at the Mexico-El Paso border. For 687 nights— nearly two years— a makeshift team of staff and volunteers operated a full-service shelter, 24 hours per day, providing over 200,000 meals and helping an estimated 25,000 individuals and families access medical services and orient themselves as they traveled to reach their
Sacred Heart gained national recognition in 2022 and 2023 for the aid it provided during an unprecedented influx of refugees a the Mexicon-El Paso border. sponsors.“ I was overwhelmed by the generosity and support of the Sacred Heart and El Paso communities during this time of great, unanticipated need,” said Rev. Garcia, who served as pastor from 1994 to 2007, and again since 2020.
Sacred Heart’ s buildings have suffered from significant wear and tear due to active programming and lack of appropriate maintenance. Thankfully, community efforts to preserve the Segundo Barrio inspired Rev. Garcia and a local small group of competent leaders to pursue a multimillion-dollar restoration project. This restoration will be the first of its kind in the recently designated historic district. The three parish buildings— the church, the pastoral center( previously the school), and a parish residence / office building— are all in need of major infrastructure repairs and upgrades.
Though the needs of operating the shelter slowed things down temporarily, in 2024 Sacred Heart launched a campaign to help redirect giving toward their multiphase restoration project. Fundraising began in 2020. The church’ s exterior structure, including the bell tower, is the focus of the first phase of the restoration, for which the parish received a grant from the National Fund for Sacred Places.
The original church was designed by renowned architect Ernest Krause and completed in 1893. Krause also designed the Sacred Heart School and many of El Paso’ s downtown buildings. The church was expanded in 1923 by George C. Burnett, who incorporated portions of the earlier church structure and designed a monumental neo-Gothic façade, prominent in the neighborhood skyline. Many call Sacred Heart Church“ the Heart of the Barrio.”
The present project will restore and repair several of the church’ s defining features, including the brick, stone, and terracotta surfaces, the large windows, and the wooden entrance doors.“ I’ m excited to lead the parish through this monumental project,” Rev. Garcia said,“ and to honor the traditions of the community through the restoration of these historic buildings.”
8 SACRED PLACES • SUMMER 2026