This is the nicest and most impressive church built in the Dominican Republic since Joaquín Balaguer built the Basílica Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia in Higüey in the 1970's.
Some people say that the government shouldn't build churches, but the Dominican government has the Catholic church as its official religion and the concordat between the Vatican and the DR basically states that the Dominican government builds and maintain every single Catholic church in the Dominican Republic.
There are other tell tale signs that the DR has never been a country where state and religion is separate. For example, the flag of the country has a Christian cross (not the giant white one), a Bible, and mentions God. The country has three fathers of the country and they were a part of the secret society of "La Trinitaria" (The Trinity) based on the holy trinity of God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The government has built many monuments, mainly in Santo Domingo, where the Christian cross is an integral part of its shape (examples is the Plaza de la Bandera, which is the largest Christian cross in the Western Hemisphere but the cross is most visible from the air or Parque Independencia which actually makes the shape of the cross with the Altar de la Patria -look at the name, it starts with 'altar'- in the middle of the cross). Even government built buildings have the shape of the cross from the air, such as the Teatro Nacional Eduardo Brito (or Teatro Nacional del Cibao which is identical in Santiago). Many institutions in the government have their own assigned saint and they either celebrate or hold in a special way the day of the saint. A perfect example is the National Police which has its saint with a cross and all as a statue on the northeastern corner of the police headquarters property in Santo Domingo. The auditorium of the Central Bank has a giant Christian cross on the wall benind the stage and every event there, even yearly reviews of the economy by the governor of the institution starts with everyone making the sign of the cross and a prayer is held from the person on the podium. The vast majority of official holidays are Catholic holidays. Next to the National Palace on the same property is a Catholic chapel im the same architectural style and color as the palace and is of the exclusive use of the president, his family, and several high ranking functionaries. In the San Carlos neighborhood there is a park built and maintained by the government dedicated to Jesus Christ and the main piece is a central statue of him. In the northern part of the city is another well maintained government built park named Cristo Mío (My Christ). Do you really need an explanation of what it means? The traditional entrance of Santiago, with the monument as a background, has a traffic circle with a ststue of Saint James on a horse in the middle. Not only was the statue created by the government, its flanked by flags of the Dominican Republic on one side and Santiago on the other. On the main desk area of the Supreme Court where the main judges sit and is often presented in television, right in the middle is a unmistakable Christian cross with a Jesus Christ hanging in the middle. Every inauguration the president does includes a ceremony that doesn't consist of only a few words from him and ribbon cutting, but also a public prayer by the priest abd his sanctifying the place by spreading holy water (this is also done in private inaugurations, but in this case a person or group can inaugurate something without a priest). It goes on and on.
Even more important is that all of that and more are supported by most Dominicans and, in fact, that's one of the reason it still exist as a dependency of the government. For some its a religious manifestation and its important for the government to back the church, while for others itsjust a tradition that must be maintained for the simple fact that its a tradition.
Just because some expats moved to the Dominican Republic and apparently didn't became aware of the religious connection until after they settled in the country doesn't mean that all of a sudden their beliefs of religion and state based from where they came from is going to be accepted by Dominicans in general, regardless if they are practitioners or simply see the Catholic church as a cultural tradition. More so, expats as a whole are a very small part of the population, in fact so small that for the most part expats aren't very noticeable in places where expats presence is suppose to be the highest in the country, much less elsewhere where expats basically don't exist (and that's most of the country).