continued...

When Bishop Sidney M. Metzger succeeded Bishop Schuler in 1942, one of his immediate challenges was to restore the financial stability of the El Paso Diocese while adding new parishes and ministries to serve the continually growing Catholic population. Bishop Metzger also established St. Charles Borromeo Seminary to encourage native sons of the diocese to enter the priesthood. His strong support for social justice and the rights of the working people to collective bargaining received greatest notice during the garment workers strike at Farah Manufacturing Co.

Bishop Patricio Flores succeeded Bishop Metzger in 1978, but served little more than year as El Paso's bishop before being named Archbishop of San Antonio in 1979.

Bishop Raymundo Peña was named to guide the El Paso diocese in 1980, and continued to emphasize the Church's concern for issues of social justice. Taking up the cause the undocumented immigrants who are exploited by many elements in the communities on both sides of the border, Bishop Peña called for a middle ground in the blockade against the undocumented during the mid-1990s. He also established Tepeyac Institute to prepare members of the laity for many ministries within the diocese. In 1982, the New Mexico portion of the Diocese of El Paso was separated to form the new Diocese of
Las Cruces.

Since 1996, the Diocese of El Paso has been under the guidance of Bishop Armando X. Ochoa who has put special emphasis on the encouragement of vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and the strengthening of diocesan ministries. In 2004, Bishop Ochoa established a Committee on a Five-Year Plan for Vocations and a Committee on the Life and Ministry of Priests. He initiated the annual Diocesan Congresses which enable the faithful to enrich their knowledge of the faith and commitment to ministry.

In 1999 the diocese began a cooperative program with the Archdiocese of Atlanta for preparing seminarians from that area for ministry to the growing Hispanic population in the Southern United States. In 2001 the diocese entered into a pact of solidarity with the dioceses of Choluteca, Honduras, and Brownsville, Texas, in response to the devastation caused in Central America by the 1998 Hurricane Mitch. Although it is now composed only of El Paso, Brewster, Culberson, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Loving, Presidio, Reeves, Ward and Winkler counties in West Texas, the Diocese of El Paso has grown to more than 600,000 Catholics served by 64 parishes and missions.

Thirteen Catholic schools in addition to the seminary -- with another school scheduled to open in 2006-- operate under the direction of the diocesan Office of Education.

Many challenges continue to arise in the multicultural, bilingual diocese which has developed ministries and corporations to deal with them. Among these are Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, and offices for Peace and Justice, Marriage and Family Life, Prison and Hospital Ministry, Religious Education, Reverence for Life. A bi-lingual newspaper, the Rio Grande Catholic, is the third diocesan publication to serve the diocese in its 90 year history.

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