Welcome to Mission San Buenaventura!...open 361 days of the year!

At the Mission, 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 (8:15 AM on Tuesday 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

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.

Saint Junipero Serra
(1713-1784)

July 1 is the feast day of St. Junipero Serra on the Liturgical Calendar.  Masses the weekend of Juky 1-2 will be celebrated with greater solemnity.

Born Miguel Jose Serra at Petra on the Spanish Island of Mallorca, Spain. At the age of 16 he traveled to Palma, the capital of Mallorca, and entered the service of the Catholic Church, the Order of St. Francis of Assisi and took a new first name, Junipero. Serra stood just 5 feet, 2 inches tall. He received a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Luliana in Palma and taught at the Convent of San Francisco in Palma. 

In 1750, Serra volunteered to serve the Franciscan missions in the new world and left Cadiz, Spain and sailed for Vera Cruz, Mexico, at the age of 36. He traveled by foot to Mexico City to dedicate his mission vocation at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He spent 17 years in missionary work in the Sierra Gorda in the present area of north-central Mexico.

When the Franciscans were asked to take over the missions from the Jesuits in Baja California in 1767, these remote facilities became Father Serra's responsibility. In 1769, he set off on an expedition with Gaspar de Portola to found missions at San Diego and Monterey, to establish the Spanish right to California and convert the indians to Christianity. He would spend the rest of his life in Alta California.

When Father Serra founded the first of California's missions in San Diego, he was 56 years old. He had asthma and a chronic sore on his leg that troubled him for the rest of his life. Serra himself established nine missions, with a total of twenty-one missions eventually being established along the El Camino Real, from San Diego to Sonoma, a distance of 700 miles. On August 28, 1784, at the age of 70 and after traveling 24,000 miles, Father Junipero Serra died at Mission San Carlos Borromeo and is buried there under the sanctuary floor.

To read a translation of a letter written by Father Serra, about his trials, hopes and observations of California and its native peoples, please click here.

When Father Serra died in 1784 he had established nine California missions and baptized 6,000 anf confirmed 5,000 Indians, about 10 percent of the California Native American population. Those nine missions grew to 21.  Today, more than 60 percent of the state's nearly 26 million people live in areas surrounding the missions, and El Camino Real, the road that Father Serra traveled on a tour of the missions shortly before this death, established a major artery running much of the length of the state.

In 1988 St. Pope John Paul II elevated Junipero Serra to "Blessed", the fist stage toward canonization as a saint in the Catholic Church.  Pope Francis canonized Saint Junipero Serra on September 23, 2015 in Washington, D.C. while visiting the United States.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles Office of Immigration Affairs is pleased to announce the launch of TheNextAmerica.org (FuturoEstadosUnidos.org), a new bilingual website aiming to raiseawareness, provide resources to parishes and our community of faith, and share the Christian perspective on immigration. The website was launched on the heels of the Mass in Recognition of All Immigrants, a special Mass presided by Archbishop José H. Gomez at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels which united thousands in prayer and celebration of the immigrant spirit of the U.S.

The Mass was attended by thousands from around the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Dioceses of Orange and San Bernardino. For the text and video of the Archbishop’s homily please visit:

• English: http://thenextamerica.org/2017/06/21/homily-mass-recognition-immigrants/
• Spanish: http://thenextamerica.org/es/2017/06/21/homily-mass-recognition-immigrants/
• To view the entire Mass, visit: https://www.facebook.com/olacathedral/videos/10155483812606383/

The Mass is a culmination of a novena at parishes throughout the Archdiocese, and a three-day,50-mile walking pilgrimage by a group of faithful from Orange County to the Cathedral for all thoseimpacted by the broken immigration system.

TheNextAmerica.org provides information and resources for anyone interested in or affected by immigration in the U.S. The site includes an overview of immigration from a Christian perspective, Archbishop Gomez’ vision of immigration in the U.S., outlines the need for reform, and provides resources for parish communities, and offers various ways in which to become involved and obtain support.

Finally, all are invited to submit prayer requests for the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe at TheNextAmerica.org. Archbishop Gomez will present the prayers at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe during a Mass for the first Archdiocesan Pilgrimage with Archbishop Gomez to the Basilica in Mexico City on July 8 at 10 a.m. You may submit prayer requests at TheNextAmerica.org though the first week of July.

Please continue to show support for our immigrant brothers and sisters is by sharing immigration stories on social media using the hashtag #PrayForImmigrants and using the #PrayForImmigrantsFacebook profile photo frame available at archla.org/prayforimmigrants.