Welcome to the Old Mission San Buenaventura!...the Mission by the Sea! 

We are open 361 days of the year!

At Mission San Buenaventura we often sing the hymn "In This Place" composed by Trevor Thompson that reminds us of the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ among us. One verse goes like this:

We are gathered at table as one in the Lord.
We are gathered as people who are living the Word.
Our hearts and our spirits are nurtured by grace.
It is Jesus who fills us. He is here in this place.

You are cordially invited to join us for our liturgies. We celebrate Mass daily at 7:30 AM (9:00 AM on Monday during the school year). We have six Masses every weekend. Since the Lord's Day begins at sunset, we celebrate the Saturday Vigil at 5:30pm in English and 7:30pm in Spanish in the Old Mission Church. We celebrate three Sunday Masses in English at 7:30am, 9am and 12:15pm. We have a hugely attended Mass in Spanish at 10:30am in O'Brien Hall, the three story building behind the Mission church.  Join us, won't you?

Click here to take a tour of the Mission with Fr. Tom and Joe Estevez as seen on "All Things Catholic" NETNY.TV Brooklyn, New York Television

Amgen Cycle Tour 2019 in Beautiful Downtown Ventura!

The Thomas Fire, December 2017 is the largest in the state of California history. Mission San Buenaventura welcomed and hosted World Central Kitchen, founded by Chef Jose Andres.  Coordinated by L.A. Kitchen, Chef Jason Collis and Chef Tim Kilcoyne with hundreds of volunteers served 36,000 meals and prepared 90,000 dishes for Thomas Fire evacuees, First Responders and young children in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. 

To help sustain the legacy of our historic Mission: please remember Mission San Buenaventura in your Will or Trust planning.

"Siempre Adelante: United in the love of God as a Mission Family."  Shalom, Fr. Tom Elewaut, Pastor.

Archbishop Jose Gomez writes: I am grateful to the California Assembly Public Safety Committee members and staff for their thoughtful analysis and deliberation on Senate Bill 360, and I am thankful that the bill’s author, Senator Jerry Hill, has decided not to continue pursuing its passage this year.

This outcome is good for the Catholic people of California and for believers of all faiths, not only in this state but across the country.

SB 360 was a dangerous piece of legislation. It was a threat to the sacrament of confession that would have denied the right to confidential confessions to priests and tens of thousands of Catholics who work with priests in parishes and other Church agencies and ministries.

But SB 360 was more than that — it threatened the conscience of every American. If any legislature can force believers to reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings shared with God in confession, then truly there is no area of human life that is free or safe from government intrusion.

In these past few months, it has been inspiring to see so many awakening to this threat and coming together to speak out in defense of religious freedom.

Thanks to the faith and devotion of individual Catholics, parishes, and organizations, tens of thousands of letters, emails, and phone calls were made to lawmakers in Sacramento — including more than 140,000 letters and nearly 17,000 emails delivered from Catholics here in Los Angeles. This is a sign of the great faith and vitality of our Catholic community and the importance of confession to our religious identity and practice.

I would like to express my personal gratitude to the many faith leaders from across the country who came to our assistance in opposing SB 360. It is a beautiful thing to stand together with our brothers and sisters in the apostolic churches of the Catholic and Orthodox East, with Baptists and Pentecostals, Anglicans and Lutherans, Muslims and Jews, and the Church of Latter Day Saints.

Religious freedom is one of the foundations of American democracy. It can never be acceptable for government to interfere in how people pray or worship or live out their beliefs in society. And a threat to the freedom of one faith will always be a threat to the freedom of all of us.

These are matters that go beyond politics. And I pray that as believers we will all keep working together to defend our freedoms and promote our values in seeking to build a society of justice and compassion that serves the dignity of the human person.

From the beginning of this debate, we have argued that SB 360 would do nothing to protect children from the scourge of child abuse that is, unfortunately, found everywhere in our society.

In the Catholic Church, we have grappled with this scandal for many years. Across the state, dioceses have put in place policies and programs to keep children safe. We fingerprint and do background checks on Church personnel, we have staff who help victims, and we have strict protocols for dealing with allegations against priests and others who work for the Church.

As a result, new cases of child sexual abuse by priests are rare in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and other dioceses across California.

We know that every case is one too many. And the Church remains vigilant and totally committed to protecting children and to helping all victim-survivors to find healing.

So, as we thank God today for helping to keep confession sacred, we need to commit ourselves again — every one of us, in every faith and walk of life — to eliminate this scourge of abuse from our society and to see that every child is welcomed and loved, protected and safe.

I am grateful to the California Assembly Public Safety Committee members and staff for their thoughtful analysis and deliberation on Senate Bill 360, and I am thankful that the bill’s author, Senator Jerry Hill, has decided not to continue pursuing its passage this year.

This outcome is good for the Catholic people of California and for believers of all faiths, not only in this state but across the country.

SB 360 was a dangerous piece of legislation. It was a threat to the sacrament of confession that would have denied the right to confidential confessions to priests and tens of thousands of Catholics who work with priests in parishes and other Church agencies and ministries.

But SB 360 was more than that — it threatened the conscience of every American. If any legislature can force believers to reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings shared with God in confession, then truly there is no area of human life that is free or safe from government intrusion.

In these past few months, it has been inspiring to see so many awakening to this threat and coming together to speak out in defense of religious freedom.

Thanks to the faith and devotion of individual Catholics, parishes, and organizations, tens of thousands of letters, emails, and phone calls were made to lawmakers in Sacramento — including more than 140,000 letters and nearly 17,000 emails delivered from Catholics here in Los Angeles. This is a sign of the great faith and vitality of our Catholic community and the importance of confession to our religious identity and practice.

I would like to express my personal gratitude to the many faith leaders from across the country who came to our assistance in opposing SB 360. It is a beautiful thing to stand together with our brothers and sisters in the apostolic churches of the Catholic and Orthodox East, with Baptists and Pentecostals, Anglicans and Lutherans, Muslims and Jews, and the Church of Latter Day Saints.

Religious freedom is one of the foundations of American democracy. It can never be acceptable for government to interfere in how people pray or worship or live out their beliefs in society. And a threat to the freedom of one faith will always be a threat to the freedom of all of us.

These are matters that go beyond politics. And I pray that as believers we will all keep working together to defend our freedoms and promote our values in seeking to build a society of justice and compassion that serves the dignity of the human person.

From the beginning of this debate, we have argued that SB 360 would do nothing to protect children from the scourge of child abuse that is, unfortunately, found everywhere in our society.

In the Catholic Church, we have grappled with this scandal for many years. Across the state, dioceses have put in place policies and programs to keep children safe. We fingerprint and do background checks on Church personnel, we have staff who help victims, and we have strict protocols for dealing with allegations against priests and others who work for the Church.

As a result, new cases of child sexual abuse by priests are rare in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and other dioceses across California.

We know that every case is one too many. And the Church remains vigilant and totally committed to protecting children and to helping all victim-survivors to find healing.

So, as we thank God today for helping to keep confession sacred, we need to commit ourselves again — every one of us, in every faith and walk of life — to eliminate this scourge of abuse from our society and to see that every child is welcomed and loved, protected and safe.

For Catholics, the sanctity of the confessional is unquestionable. It is central to our faith and to our constitutional right to the free expression of religion. Once a precedent is established to legally break the seal of confession others in time may press to open the door to other considerations.

SB 360 Mandated reporters: clergy (Hill, D-San Mateo), as proposed, attempted to undermine the seal of confession for all the faithful. Now, even though amended, SB 360 still denies the sanctity of confession to priests and to thousands of Catholics who work with priests in parishes and other Church agencies and ministries.

Clergy and ministers are already mandated reporters of abuse when it comes to their administrative duties. That is right and important. It must continue unabated. But inserting the government into the confessional is not going to help children.

Abusers are notoriously meticulous, secretive and deceptive. They would not likely seek spiritual reconciliation or counseling but rather go to great lengths to conceal their hideous crimes.

In addition, Canon law is very clear that any priest who violates the seal of confession is automatically excommunicated. That will not change. In fact, several priests have been martyred rather than violate the seal.

The free exercise of religion has been recognized for centuries by nations around the world. SB 360 would undermine that, create confusion, deter counseling and discourage spiritual counseling without gaining any protection for children.

Please urge a NO vote on SB 360 unless it is amended. Any law that does not keep this unique form of religious communications private and available to every person, is wrong and violates Californians’ rights to practice their religion freely.

Click here to register your vote online.

Click here to download petition vote in English

Clck here to download petition carta en espanol

Click here to read Archbishop Gomez letter to the Faithful June 15-16, 2019 in English

Click here to read Archbishop Gomes carta en espanol 15-15 de Junio

To the leadership and community members of the Islamic Center and the Citizens of Ventura,

This letter comes to you from ministers, pastors and rabbis of many congregations, representing many faiths, which co-exist in the City of Ventura. We have struggled with how best to express to you our horror at the murderous rampage that recently took the lives of Muslim worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand. At a time of profound loss, extreme hatred and violence such as this, it is easy to know the message we wish to send to you.

But how best to ensure that the members of your community take our words to heart, and that the community-at-large takes to heart this message from all-faiths: that religious intolerance, bigotry, racism, and fear of those who practice a different religious faith has no place in a worthy world. We simply struggle with how to amplify our voices for good, and against evil. And so we send you this letter, so that you might add our voices to the many you have undoubtedly heard from good people condemning unthinkable, ungodly violence.

How best can we stand with you? Know that we are ready to stand side by side, to connect our faith communities, to be public in our affirmation. After Temple Beth Torah was vandalized in January, Rev. Dr. Matthew Hoyt of Orchard (Presbyterian) Community Church wrote to Rabbi Lisa Hochberg-Miller of Temple Beth Torah, “We understand our calling to a better way of living with one another, one that can see in the command given in Leviticus 19:18 for us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Our hope is that together we can model this better way, this way of love, for our community. We believe love will prevail over hate, and for this we pray.”

This is the message we send to you and your congregation, as we send you prayers of healing, love and support at this time of loss. Our communities, our countries, our world, must be better than this.

In peace-Shalom-Salaam,

Ventura Interdenominational Ministerial Association

Peace Prayer of Saint Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy. 

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive, 
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.