Saint Junipero Serra Walking Pilgrimage / stserrapilgrimage.org
CV NEWS FEED // Over 300 pilgrims participated in this year’s 35-mile trek from the Santa Barbara Mission to the San Buenaventura Mission Basilica in Southern California, standing up for St. Junípero Serra, the founder of the Missions and the patron saint of California.
The fourth annual Saint Junipero Serra Walking Pilgrimage took place from Aug. 10-11, continuing the tradition established in 2020 by Greg and Mary Wood, who were inspired by the Spanish friar and his missionary life.
Angelus News reported on Aug. 16 that the pilgrims, consisting of young adults, parents, children, and religious men and women, spent two days walking between the Missions. They camped overnight at St. Joseph’s Parish in Carpinteria. Local Knights of Columbus provided them with meals.
St. Serra is “the apostle of California,” one pilgrim told Angelus. “We’re living in a crazy upside-down distorted world … so you have to stand up and do something beautiful like have a pilgrimage in the honor of Junípero Serra.”
The pilgrimage concluded with Mass, which Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez celebrated in the San Buenaventura Mission Basilica in Ventura, and the dedication of the statue of St. Serra. The statue had been removed in 2020 amid safety concerns due to protests.
Addressing the hundreds who gathered for the statue’s blessing, Greg Wood reflected on the persecution of the saint’s legacy as their motivation to begin the pilgrimage.
“It just tore my heart in half,” he said, according to Angelus. “We knew we had to stand up for what we know is true.”
Catholic News Agency reported in July, “Amid a national debate and sometimes violent reckoning on race and racism in 2020, Serra was singled out by California activists as a symbol of colonialism and oppression.”
However, St. Serra frequently defended Native Americans from Spanish military abuses, and, after funding from the Spanish government ended, he drafted a 33-point “bill of rights” for them, according to CNA. He also traveled from California to Mexico City, even though he was in poor health, to present it to the viceroy.
Fr. Tom Elewaut, pastor of the San Buenaventura Mission and director of Historic Mission Sites for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is a vocal defender of St. Serra’s legacy and has consistently refuted the accusations that St. Serra was responsible for abuse of Native Americans.
“The missions in California remain a testament to the founding of Western civilization and the introduction of the Catholic faith — which most Indigenous descendants in California profess,” said Fr. Elewaut, according to a September 2022 Angelus News article.
Angelus reported on Aug. 16 that Fr. Elewaut spent three years negotiating with tribal leaders and city officials before finally receiving permission to restore the statue in the gardens of the Ventura Mission in February.
In an email thanking the attendees, Greg Wood described the pilgrims who supported this year’s event as “faithful, courageous, willing to sacrifice suffering for a greater good, generous in help, camaraderie in spirit, and joyful of heart!”
The pilgrims seemed to take inspiration from Greg Wood himself, according to one St. Junípero Serra Pilgrimage attendee who wished to remain anonymous. The attendee shared with CatholicVote that Wood “was a shining light of joy and humor and kindness appearing everywhere among the pilgrims.”
The source shared that Wood was brought to tears at the blessing and reinstallation of the statue in its proper place. Restoring it had been a cause close to his heart ever since the statue was removed from its place in front of the old Ventura courthouse.
