
“If it’s not good, I don’t eat it,” said Dolores Dominguez, 88, who lives in public housing in the neighborhood. Juan Diego when the Virgin of Guadalupe is said to have appeared in Mexico nearly 500 years ago, has been a community mainstay since it opened in 2003, run by a chef who often makes dishes familiar to new immigrants from Mexico.įish or vegetarian specials, like lentil soup, enchiladas and capirotada - a type of Mexican bread pudding served only in the lead-up to Easter - appear on Fridays during Lent, when many Christians forgo red meat. La Tilma, named after the cloak worn by St. In the center of El Segundo Barrio, where many Mexican immigrants live in poverty, Sacred Heart is known to the mostly Spanish-speaking residents as a place to get rental assistance, take English classes and find a hot meal.
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It is where her daughter sang in the choir and had her first Communion, and where Lopez Patrykus took free adult education classes and found a job - at La Tilma, the restaurant that offered her that early meal. She had just arrived from Jalisco, Mexico, with her children, and in those first few years in Texas, the church provided a lifeline, offering staples like rice and cans of tomatoes, and spiritual and educational support.

The line was just blocks from the Rio Grande, separating Mexico from her new home in the United States.


EL PASO, Texas - Twenty years ago, Amelia Lopez Patrykus stood outside Sacred Heart Catholic Church, waiting for a free meal and groceries.
