Mission San Buenaventura requests the honor to relocate the historic Padre Junipero Serra statue to Mission grounds. After consultation and consent among the Chumash Elders and Archbishop Jose Gomez, Fr. Tom Elewaut, pastor of Mission San Buenaventura, formally expressed to City Council Members that should a decision be determined to relocate the statue in front of City Hall, the Mission would accept the statue and place it in a prominent location on mission grounds.

A call to action by lay Catholics: “The City of Ventura Historic Preservation Committee’s July 1st finding that the bronze Father Serra statue located in front of the Ventura City Hall is deemed NOT to be an historic landmark No.3 monument.”

“The Ventura City Council will meet on Tuesday, July 7th at 6pm, to determine whether the Serra Statue will be removed where it has stood since 1989 and the former concrete statue had stood since 1936. Please join Catholics, other Christians, and all concerned residents of the area to congregate at the statue on July 7th between 5pm and 6pm prior to the Ventura City Council meeting. Let us show support for keeping the Serra Statue standing as it has stood for decades. Please join fellow supporters of the Serra Statue and celebrate the Lord’s work through our California founding Saint!”

Click Here for City of San Buenaventura to hold public comment meetings regarding the future of the Serra Statue

Letter To The Faithful from Archbishop Jose Gomez

Catholic News Agency Article, June 22, 2020

The Saint Junipero Serra Calfiornia needs now

Recent Biographies on St. Junnipero Serra

The statue of St. Junipero Serra is on a city public park and was sponsored by the citizens of the city, not the Mission itself. The disposition of the statue is under the direction of the City Council and Historic Preservation Committee, not the Chumash Tribe or the Mission pastor.

This bronze statue was designed by John Palo-Kanges and represents an idealized image of Father Junipero Serra, the founder of Mission San Buenaventura. Located in front of Ventura's City Hall on California Street, the original cement statue, was a WPA project, was unveiled in November 1936.

The protest was initiated, not by the Chumash Elders nor the Mission, nor City Council. It was thrust upon us by others.

Fr. Tom Elewaut, pastor of Mission San Buenaventura willfully embraced a joint statement so that the statue would be relocated intact and not by force and possibly destroyed as is the case with many statues across the nation and world presently.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles welcomes to relocate the statue to Church property at the appropriate time when the City, after due process, determines the statue needs to be relocated.

Mayor, Chumash Elder and Fr. Tom signed a joint statement because we are confident that a peaceful resolution regarding the Father Junipero Serra statue can be reached, without uncivil discourse and character assassination, much less vandalism of a designated landmark. As stated by Julie Tumamait Stenslie, the Tribal Chair of the Barbareño/ Ventureño Band of Mission Indians: “True conversation starts with an open heart and mind. Change comes when there is no judgement or assumptions. To listen to and to be heard is crucial.”

Fr. Tom's personal comments: I am proposing this dialogu not because of demands made nor because I agree with statements presented about the historical record of Padre Serra, but I am sympathetic about the historical mistreatment of California's native tribes and the generations of suffering they endured. I see no reason to prolong or contribute to that suffering, especially with a public monument that is for them a daily reminder of a painful history.

The public will be invited to engage in this process and share their input. When a community discussion has been scheduled to discuss the Father Junipero Serra statue, this information will be shared openly and transparently by the City of Ventura.

I emphatically state my admiration for the Chumash elders who, through their support and direct requests for a non-violent relocation of the Serra statue, perferably on Church property, are primarily responsible for the present  statue not being desecrated or torn down unlike other citys across the state.

There is a quote of Padre Serra here in California, wherein he stated "there is no reason my name should be mentioned save for the mistakes I have made in carrying out the work."

Weekday Mass M-F: 7:30 AM

Weekend Mass:

    Saturday: 5:30 pm English and 7:30 PM Spanish

Online registration required for each individual attending Saturday and Sunday Masses (see website top right MASS REGISTRATION).  If you have no computer or iPhone, please request assistance from others or call the parish office, and speak in person with staff, no messages for registration will be honored.

Confessions: Friday at 5:00 PM; Saturday at 4:00 PM

Parish Office Hours: 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday

Gift Shop Hours: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Sunday through Friday and 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturday.

Main Street closed 200-600 blocks. Access to the Mission upper parking lot from Palm Street is via Santa Clara Street and Poli Street. Access to the lower parking lot on Main Street is via Ventura County Museum parking lot from Santa Clara Street.  Mission Garden gate remains locked on weekends and after 7:30 AM Mass on weekdays.

Face Masks Required on premises at all times.

Restrooms are not presently open to the public.

All Faithful in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles remain dispensed from any obligation to attend Mass on Sunday (per Archbishop Jose Gomez) because of the continuation of restricted attendance and for concern for those over the age of 65 years or who have health concerns and need to avoid larger gatherings. No one should feel compelled to attend Mass in person and especially if not feeling well or potential symptoms of COVID19.

Church sanitization:
Once all parishioners have vacated the church the doors will be locked to allow maintenance staff to sanitize the pews, etc. using the proper cleaning supplies.

PROTOCOLS:   Click here for English Guidelines      Haga clic aquí para ver el video de pautas en español

Click here for family prep for weekly Sunday Mass at Home / por su familia preparandose cada semana for la misa casa

Click here to preprare for Mass at home.   Click here por preparandose para la misa en casa

Click here: Daily Mass at the Mission is now livestreamed on Facebook at 7:30 AM and downloaded to YouTube by 10:30 AM

Click here: Saturday Spanish Vigil is livestreamed on Facebook at 7:30 PM and downloaded to YouTube by 10:00 PM

Click here: Sunday English Mass is livestreamed at 7:30 AM and downloaded to YouTube by 10:30 AM.

Click here to view Mass at the Mission on YouTube.  

Click here to see schedule of livestream Masses throughout the Archdiocese. 

See website for online Baptism Prepration and Marriage Classes

Click here for an Act of Spiritual Communion Prayer/Acto de comunión espiritual

Click here for Prayers and Spiritual Resources

If you cannot go to confession...Pope Francis.

Click Here for Stations of the Cros video to address racism

Op-Ed, Ventura County Star
June 12, 2020

“I am a racist. I live in a racist society which benefits me and oppresses people of color in ways that I am not even aware.” So spoke Methodist minister Rev. Rick Pearson in 2015, preaching at Bethel AME church in Oxnard. Courageous of a white man to stand in the pulpit of a historically black church and say those words.

Since the death of George Floyd, we in the faith community have responded to the glaring truth of racial injustice in our country. We begin by witnessing what is happening in our streets, and we must continue by looking deep within. We must understand we all have been a part of a racially unjust America.

“Those of us who are white need to examine our own hearts, to see the ways that we have benefitted from – and even participated in – oppression. We need to listen to the stories Black Americans tell of their lived reality – and we need to believe them,” Rev. Dana Worsnop told members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura.

That message of responsibility was echoed across denominations as Rev. Bonnie Rose, Ventura Center for Spiritual Living, spoke to her congregation. “The tragic killing of George Floyd has led many of us to anger and despair. We cannot allow anger to move us towards violence, nor can we allow despair to immobilize us. Instead, we awaken to the disturbing fact that we live in a society that tolerates cruel racism. We ask ourselves, ‘how did I participate in creating this society?’ We call out our own conscious or unconscious bigotries and take a hard, honest look at them.”

At St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Rev. Susan Bek said, “We offered the opportunity to confess the ways in which we personally, as a church, and as a society, have failed to hear and respond when our neighbors, people of color, for generations have cried out for our help. We listen, we pray, we confess, and we hold up hope as we dedicate ourselves to the challenges necessary to be a just society that honors the blessing in every human child of God.”

In the urgency of this moment, communities of faith are drawing inspiration from Deuteronomy’s clarion call to righteousness: “Justice, Justice shall you pursue” (Deut. 16:20). We are called to realize the vision promised in Psalm 133:1, “How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony,” Mary Peterson-Healy, president of Second Church of Christ, Science, reminds us.

What does the road of justice and reconciliation look like? We do not know. But “until all people promote justice, education on the dignity of every person, and advocate for faith and just systems so that all people may live without fear and violence, peace remains a challenge,” writes Father Tom Elewaut of the San Buenaventura Mission.

That challenge is exacerbated because we are cut off from each other in silos that connect us with people of our own race, economic standing, background, political beliefs. These are divisions to be overcome, for us to be reminded “that every one of us is created in the Divine Image, b’tzelem Elohim,” say Rabbi Lisa Hochberg-Miller of Temple Beth Torah.

Rev. John Forrest Douglas told the Church of the Foothills, “All of us should respond to the call of this moment to listen carefully and empathetically to the stories of our neighbors. We (especially white people) must recognize the broken systems that we consciously and unconsciously benefit from. We can join together to create a more just, generous, and kind world for all God’s children.”

Though the path ahead is yet unclear, as people of faith we know this is the moment. “People of faith answered the call of Dr. King to Selma. We are hearing another call. The holiest work is that which binds people together, repairing and restoring what is broken among us,” says Rev. Worsnop.

As Ventura faith leaders, we bring a voice of unity that this moment can become a movement that brings us to the Promised Land of living free from racism, at long last.

VIMA MISSION STATEMENT
As members of the Ventura Interfaith Ministerial Association, we gather to support one another in intentional ways. We seek to understand one another and to be understood. Out of gratitude for religious freedom and diversity, we seek an appreciation and understanding of our differences as well as our similarities. Mindful of the interdependence of the world, we seek to promote understanding and cooperation in the communities we serve and in the larger community. This we do through interfaith dialogue and interfaith services, as well as through various forms of service.
VIMA is dedicated to the health and well-being of our communities by promoting respect and appreciation for all.