About Our Lady of Peace · La Casita, Texas
Our Lady of Peace is a small Roman Catholic mission church serving the linked rural communities of La Casita and Garciasville in southern Starr County, Texas. It is one of two mission churches (alongside Cristo Rey Mission in La Victoria) of the Church of the Holy Family in nearby La Grulla, which is staffed by Franciscan priests of the Diocese of Brownsville. Mass and the sacraments are celebrated in Spanish for the predominantly Hispanic, ranching-and-farming population of the Rio Grande Valley, and the mission shares its life with the neighboring community of La Casita, with which Garciasville also shares a post office and Union Elementary School.
- Patron
- Our Lady of Peace (a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Brownsville
Why belong here
Our Lady of Peace is the spiritual home of a tight-knit, bilingual Catholic community on Farm Road 1430 between Rio Grande City and the Starr County ranchlands. Worship is celebrated in Spanish — the language of the surrounding families — with a Sunday morning Mass and a midweek Wednesday evening Mass that fits the rhythm of working ranching and farming households. The mission offers weekly confession before the Wednesday Mass and monthly Eucharistic Adoration on the third Thursday, giving the small flock regular access to the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation without having to travel to the larger Church of the Holy Family in La Grulla.
Mass times at Our Lady of Peace
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Wednesday 6:00 PM (before the 6:30 PM Mass)
Adoration times
- Thursday 6:30 PM (3rd Thursday of the month)
Parish Identity and Mission Status
Our Lady of Peace is a Roman Catholic mission church — not a standalone parish — under the Diocese of Brownsville. It operates as a satellite mission of the Church of the Holy Family in La Grulla, the parent parish founded in 1967 and staffed by Franciscan priests. Together with Cristo Rey Mission in La Victoria, it forms part of the Franciscan pastoral cluster radiating out from La Grulla into the small ranching communities of southern Starr County.
- Mission of: Church of the Holy Family, La Grulla
- Jurisdiction: Diocese of Brownsville
- Rite: Roman (Latin)
- Served by: Franciscan priests
Community Served: La Casita and Garciasville
The mission sits on Farm Road 1430 in the linked communities of La Casita and Garciasville, about a mile south of U.S. Highway 83 and roughly ten to twelve miles east of Rio Grande City. The two settlements share a post office, a school (Union Elementary, part of the Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District), and Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church. The area lies within the original Spanish land grants north of the Rio Grande given to José de Escandón's colonists from Camargo, Mexico, in the mid-18th century, and remains a predominantly Spanish-speaking, Hispanic ranching and farming community.
- La Casita, Texas — adjoining Garciasville on FM 1430
- Garciasville, Texas — named for an early settler; post office established 1929
- Population: tiny (Garciasville had 43 residents at the 2020 census)
- Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District (Union Elementary)
History of the Catholic Presence
Catholicism in the La Casita–Garciasville area dates back to the 1890s, when an earlier San Ignacio de Loyola Catholic Church was built to serve the Spanish-speaking ranchers of the region. As the local population grew through the 20th century, that original chapel was eventually replaced by the present Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, which continues to serve both communities today.
- 1890s: San Ignacio de Loyola Catholic Church built in the area
- 20th century: replaced by the present Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church
- Shared parish facility for both La Casita and Garciasville since at least the mid-1970s
Contact and Diocese Directory
Day-to-day inquiries for Our Lady of Peace are handled through the parent parish, the Church of the Holy Family in La Grulla, which shares the same phone line and email address. The mission is listed in the Diocese of Brownsville's online parish directory.
- Phone: (956) 487-3365 (shared with Holy Family, La Grulla)
- Email: [email protected]
- Diocese of Brownsville parish directory: cdob.org/parishes-directory
The Diocese of Brownsville
Our Lady of Peace belongs to the Diocese of Brownsville, the ninth diocese in Texas. It was established on July 10, 1965 by Pope Paul VI through the bull Ad Perpetuam Rei Memorian, separating the counties of Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo, and Starr from the Diocese of Corpus Christi. The diocese traces its roots to the Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville, created in 1874, and today serves more than a million Catholics across 72 parishes and 44 missions in the Rio Grande Valley.
- Established July 10, 1965 by Pope Paul VI
- Covers Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo, and Starr counties
- Roots in the 1874 Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville
- More than 1 million Catholics; 72 parishes and 44 missions