For anyone who knows Pueblo or anyone from Pueblo, they no doubt have heard of a place colloquially and affectionately known there as ‘Dogpatch.’ It’s a mostly Latino, eastside community that took its name from the long-ago comic strip, “L’il Abner.”
Abner was a slow-witted, muscle-bound fellow who resided in the fictional town. How the name stuck in Pueblo remains uncertain. Perhaps it was the number of dogs owned by residents—many of the animals might today be called ‘free range.’ Or perhaps it was poverty. Somehow, the name stuck.
But much has changed over the years in this eastside enclave, today more formally known as Eastwood Heights. For one, most of the streets are paved. Stop signs are now common and indoor plumbing is no longer the exception. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the community’s reverence for Saint Anne’s Church, for seven decades its spiritual anchor.
Santa Fe native, Father Joseph Vigil, pastors St. Anne’s. He’s only been there for six months, but the church and the community have both amazed and deeply touched him. “They’re very welcoming, very open and very close knit,” he said. The connection “is deep.”
“They volunteer their love and work,” Father Vigil said. “They take pride in St. Anne’s.” Volunteers,” the parish shepherd said, keep it spotless.
“They’re always taking care of it.” Without the countless volunteers, “our church could not survive.” Actually, it almost didn’t.
Saint Anne’s was once a World War II Army chapel on the grounds of what is now the city’s airport. But there was no need for a church at the airport, so it was moved—literally. The structure was uplifted and mounted on rollers and trucked to its present location, 2701 East 12th Street.
The Pueblo Chieftain wrote a story on the sight of the structure coming to its new home as its steeple came into view. A founding parishioner said the first sight of the alabaster steeple seemed “as if God was bringing the church to us out of nowhere.”
A foundation was set in place for the church, at the time called Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini, and the first mass was celebrated there in May 1956. An anonymous donor, the story said, made a $10,000 donation to pay for improvements but also requested that it be renamed Saint Anne’s. Today, seven decades later, in Pueblo, the community is Saint Anne’s and Saint Anne’s is the community.
The recent Feast of Saint Anne’s, an annual event that draws residents, former residents and visitors to the community, he said, was once again testament to the connection between the church and its flock. “It was unbelievable,” the New Mexico native and shepherd said. About 200 volunteers made it happen. “They cooked everything” for the hundreds who showed up. “It all came together without a lot of planning…it was with dignity and honor.”
Father Vigil said Saint Anne’s has made him feel a sense of home. “I grew up with a strong work ethic and large family,” including five brothers and two sisters. “Religion and faith,” at Saint Anne’s remind him of his own spiritual roots.
His call to the church, Father Vigil recounted, was not a direct line. He’s trained as a clinical social worker and once taught university classes at the University of New Mexico’s Taos and Española campuses. But his deeply rooted faith and upbringing made the calling and the priesthood an easy and natural choice.
Saint Anne’s is not Father Vigil’s first stop in Pueblo. He pastored Saint Joseph’s Parish—a ‘mega-church’ by comparison—for ten years before being called back to New Mexico. But the time away was short, just months, before the bishop asked him to return. Coming back, he said, was an easy decision. In Pueblo and at Saint Anne’s, he said, he found “a connection.”
