CA Pilgrimage to the Father of the Missions: Junipero Serra

On September 12, the Feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the communities of California traveled to Mission San Carlos Borromeo located along California’s picturesque central coast in historic Monterey County.

On September 12, the Feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the communities of California traveled to Mission San Carlos Borromeo located along California’s picturesque central coast in historic Monterey County. Known as the “Father” of the chain of 21 missions founded by the Franciscans along California’s Camino Real in the late 1700’s, Mission San Carlos Borromeo houses the tomb of Blessed Junípero Serra, and has been the annual pilgrimage destination of the CL communities in California for eleven years. Since the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Communion and Liberation’s ecclesial recognition, the people of the movement in California have faithful visited this sight, asking the Blessed Mother to safeguard and guide the charism and thanking God for the grace that has entered our lives through the life of Fr. Giussani.

This year’s pilgrimage held special significance because of Pope Francis’ impeding visit to the U.S. and his forthcoming canonization of Blessed Junípero Serra, founding father of the California missions. Damian Bacich, a mission era scholar and the responsible of the CL communities in California, reminded us of Fr. Giussani’s insistence on the importance of historical circumstances. Reiterating the themes of the International Responsibles Assembly (AIR), Damian highlighted the fact that awareness of our historical circumstances is key to understanding the type of witness called for in the world by Christians. Facing the controversy surrounding the canonization of Junípero Serra head on, Damian pointed out Serra’s witness as missionary through his passion for the indigenous people of the California and the spreading of the Christian event to the whole world. Distinguishing between colonizer and missionary, Damian explained one who brings his or her culture to a new place with the desire of imposing that culture at all costs, even that of suppressing or supplanting what culture already exits through neglect or violence, is a colonizer. A missionary, on the other hand, has a passion for unveiling the truth through sharing life with the people he meets, learning their struggle, valuing all that is inherently good, and becoming vulnerable to them. A colonizer carries weapons and violence, a missionary, mercy. This confounding of colonizer with missionary is at the heart of the controversy surrounding Junípero Serra. And yet, the historical evidence reveals Serra as one who entered the lives of the indigenous Californians, living with them patiently, witnessing to the Divine who has entered history as the only way to spread Christianity. One concrete example of Serra’s witness that Damian shared was the fact that he wrote to the viceroy of Spain after an particularly violent rebellion of some of the Indians who burned down a mission, killing many of their fellow Indians and a Franciscan friar, a close friend of Serra’s. Serra wrote to the Spanish viceroy asking him to pardon the aggressors and insisting that he do the same thing should Serra be killed in a similar attack. Historical sources bring into relief much more such evidence of Serra’s disposition of mercy and love for the native people of California (visit http://www.juniperoserra.net/). The look of mercy embodied by Serra points to Pope Francis’ understanding of our particular historical circumstances. Through the Pope’s decision to canonize Junípero Serra, we see him guiding us to the type of Christian witness needed in the world today. Passing on to us what he heard communicated at “AIR,” Damian reminded us that the problem of our time is not that the world is bad, but that what the world needs are credible witnesses of Christ’s mercy in the world.

Emily Cardenas, an audiologist and recent “immigrant” to the Southern California community, gave her own testimony regarding the experience of this gaze of mercy. Through her friends in Omaha she encountered the charism of Fr. Giussani and spoke of the revelation that all of reality was “for her,” even to the point of understanding that the sadness she experiences in the circumstances of her life has the same root as the incomparable joy that enters her life through meeting Christ in the charism. Connecting her experience to the theme of this year’s Meeting in Rimini, “What is this lack a lack of, oh heart, of which all of a sudden you are full?” Emily spoke of the value of sadness and longing as the sign of the presence of One who activates her heart through a dialogue in history, both personally and globally.

Sharing more about the focus of the “AIR”, Damian drew out from Emily’s testimony the link between her experience and that of Abraham’s in the Old Testament. As explicated at AIR and in an exhibit at the Rimini meeting, God’s dialogue with Abraham becomes the first time humanity is able to address the Mystery as a You, and thus human freedom is provoked to respond; hence, the birth of the “I”. We are have inherited the “I” of Abraham and God never tires seeking our response.

After the gift of these witnesses, we headed out to the mission courtyard where we began a pilgrimage on foot through the streets of Carmel while reciting the rosary, praying for the protection and growth of the charism and thanking God for what He has brought about in our lives and in our country, beginning with the witness of Blessed Serra and finally reaching us through Fr. Giussani. The day ended with Mass celebrated in “Our Lady’s Chapel” in the mission by Fr. Stephen Akers, a recently ordained priest in the Diocese of Monterey and an ambassador of the Bishop’s paternity towards us, who met the charism during his time in the seminary. For the past decade we have been blessed by the presence of Bishop Richard Garcia of the Diocese of Monterey who has welcomed us warmly and faithfully, offering the Mass for us each year and reiterating his friendship with us that stems back to his time of residence in Sacramento where he first met Communion and Liberation through his friendship with Holly Peterson (now living in New York.) Due to the multitude of events surrounding the canonization of Junípero Serra this year, Bishop Garcia schedule did not allow him to be with us physically, but he sent his warmest greetings, and through Fr. Akers we experienced his continuing paternity.

The day ended with an invitation to visit the tomb of Blessed Junípero Serra, located at the foot of the alter in the Mission Basilica. The Annual Pilgrimage to Mission San Carlos Borromeo continues to be a moment of great beauty, communion, and memory for the communities of California, linking our contemporary life to the origin of the Christian experience in California, carried here in the flesh by Blessed Junípero Serra over 300 years ago.