About Dallas/Fort Worth:
The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Metroplex has seen explosive population growth over the years as many corporations…and their employees…moved to “the Sun Belt”.
The metropolitan area had grown from a population of about 1,440,000 in 1965, to 2,719,000 in 1989 and then to 8,344,012 by 2024. The cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, 30 miles apart, have grown to the point where they are almost inseparable, with just a few suburbs (no longer small) such as Irving, Grand Prairie and Arlington in between, and many fairly large cities such as Garland in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the entire area is often just referred to as the DFW Metroplex.
In geographic terms, The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Metroplex covers approximately 9,286 to 9,600 square miles of land in North Central Texas. As an 11 to 13-county area, it is larger in land area than the states of New Jersey, Connecticut, or Rhode Island.
Fort Worth had the nickname “cow town” due to its location on the Chisholm Trail, which resulted in one of the largest cattle markets in the world. The Fort Worth stockyards became a pivotal point in the movement of cattle to main population centers of the eastern U.S. and grew accordingly.
Dallas, meantime, developed a reputation as a financial center and was given the nickname as the “Chicago of the South” due to its financial institutions and corporate headquarters re-locations (mostly from northern states) in the 1960’s and later.
Both these cities were helped immensely by the construction of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, located approximately mid-way between the two cities, which became an economic engine for the area, and is usually among the top three airports in the U.S. for passenger traffic. The smaller Dallas airport, Love Field, remains in use, served primarily by Southwest Airlines offering flights to and mainly serves cities in Texas and some surrounding states.
Catholic Shrines & places of interest in Dallas/Fort Worth:
The growth of the area over the last 40 years has resulted in many newcomers to the area, many from predominantly Catholic areas of the Northeastern U.S. as well as Mexico, resulting in increasing the percentage of Catholics in what was once a heavily protestant area known as “the Bible belt”. Catholics still are in the minority among religions in the area, but are close in numbers to the protestants.
Since the cities are so connected, we have combined both on this page, even though they are two separate Dioceses.
The Catholic Diocese of Dallas has 69 parishes and 5 quasi-parishes, with an estimated total Catholic population of 1.4 million.
The Diocese of Fort Worth has 92 parishes, with an estimated total Catholic population of 1.2 million.
Arlington:
Coppell:
Dallas:
The National Shrine Cathedral of the Virgin of Guadalupe (seat of the Diocese of Dallas)
Fort Worth:
Saint Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church: neo-gothic church with magnificent stained glass windows
Saint Patrick Cathedral (seat of the Diocese of Ft. Worth)
Garland:
St. Thomas the Apostle Syro-Malabar Forane Catholic Church
Grand Prairie:
Irving:
Cistercian Abbey Our Lady of Dallas
Saint Basil the Great Byzantine Catholic Church (Byzantine Rite in full communion with Rome)
Keller:
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church
Lake Dallas:
Montserrat Jesuit Retreat House
Muenster area: Discalced Carmelite Monastery near this German town.
Traveling to Dallas/Fort Worth:
With the DFW International Airport located mid-way between these two major cities, the DFW Metroplex is accessible from all parts of the country. In addition to the DFW International Airport, the city of Dallas has Love Field, which is the home of Southwest Airlines and a few other commuter lines that offer service to many cities in the U.S. There is also limited train service on Amtrak.
There is also commuter train service between the two cities, which are about 30 miles apart.