Sister Mission Covenant

Recognized as the Head and Mother of all Missions in Alta and Baja California, the faithful parishioners of Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó, founded in 1697 in Baja California Sur, and the faithful parishioners of Mission San Buenaventura, founded in 1782 in Alta California, commit to support each other in prayer to: witness the Gospel, cultivate our religious heritage, provide temporal resources and encourage pilgrimage to all the missions in the Californias in fidelity to Holy Mother Church, the Holy Father, our respective bishops and dioceses as Sister Missions.

For centuries Loreto was inhabited mainly by pericúes Indians, who lived from picking fruit, hunting and fishing. The arrival and unsuccessful colonization of the Spaniards in 1533, and the subsequent successful Jesuit missionaries in 1697, who established in this locale the first mission of the Californias led by Father Juan Maria Salvatierra, Loreto became the historic capital of Alta and Baja California until 1777. Loreto is the starting point for the historic El Camino Real corridor that follows north along the ancient route of the Spanish missions from Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó to Sonoma, in Alta California.

From Loreto, Franciscan Friar Saint Junipero Serra planned the missionary expedition north to Alta California. In 1782, he established Mission San Buenaventura among the native Chumash Indians who inhabited the coastal areas for centuries and were known as "bead maker" or "seashell people" who as hunters, gatherers, and fishermen, recognized their dependency on the world around them. The Mission by the Sea across from the Channel Islands became the ninth and last mission founded by Saint Junipero Serra.

In 2015, our representatives in civic government adopted a Sister City relationship. Respectively, the two national parks off our shores have inaugurated a Sister Park/Sister Reserve Project: Bay of Loreto National Park-Channel Islands National Park and the University of California Natural Reserve System.

These initiatives will benefit the greater Loreto and San Buenaventura communities by creating new economic opportunities, facilitate cultural exchange and expand education opportunities for residents. With extended outreach and ecotourism programs, the business network and social fabric of our communities will be strengthened, benefiting present and future generations.

Unique to this relationship is the religious history of our missions, which is the foundation and very fabric of our mutual heritage that has sustained our communities for centuries.

These Sister partnerships may also support each other during natural disasters or other emergencies by raising funds or collecting needed-supplies. By sharing each other’s cultures through sister relationships, communities can gain insight into the history, values and spirit that make up their sister mission, sister city, and sister national parks and reserves.

Click here to lear about the Official Sister City Charter

Click here to learn about travel to Loreto

October 22-27, 2017 Travel Information

UNESCO: Mexico-USA Mission Preservation

Acuerdo de Hermandad de Misiones

Conocida como la cabeza y madre de todas las misiones de la Alta y Baja California, los feligreses fieles de la Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó, fundada en 1697 en la Baja California Sur y los feligreses fieles de la Misión San Buenaventura, fundada en 1782 en la Alta California, se comprometieron en apoyarse mutuamente en rezar a: ser testigos del evangelio, cultivar nuestro patrimonio religioso, proporcionar fuentes temporales y fomentar la peregrinación a todas las misiones en las Californias en fidelidad a la Santa Madre iglesia, el Santo Padre, nuestros respectivos obispos y diocesis como Misiones Hermanas.

Por siglos, Loreto fue poblado principalmente por indios pericues, quienes se sostuvieron recogiendo fruta, cazando y de la pesca. La llegada y fracaso de la colonización de los españoles en 1533 y la exitosa subsecuente llegada de los misioneros jesuitas en 1697, quienes establecieron en este lugar la primera misión de las Californias, guiada por padre Juan Maria Salvatierra, Loreto se convirtió en la capital historica de Alta y Baja California hasta 1777. Loreto es el punto de inicio del historico, El Camino Real, que continua hasta el norte junto con la ruta antigua de la misiones españolas desde la Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó a Sonoma, en Alta California.

Desde Loreto, el padre Franciscano, San Junipero Serra, planeó su viaje hacia el norte de la Alta California. En 1782, el estableció la misión de San Buenaventura junto con los indios nativos Chumash quien habitaron las areas costerias por siglos y fueron conocidos como “fabricantes de cuentas” o “gente de concha” quienes como cazadores, recolectores y pescadores, reconocieron su dependencia en su entorno. La Misión San Buenaventura fue la novena y última misión fundada por San Junipero Serra, la misión del mar, frente a las Islas del Canal.

En 2015, nuestros representantes en un acto cívico de gobierno realizaron una relación de ciudad hermana. Respectivamente, los dos parques nacionales inauguraron un proyecto de hermandad entre parques marinos: Parque Nacional Bahia de Loreto, Parque Nacional de las Islas del Canal y el sistema natural reservado de la Universidad de California.

Estas iniciativas beneficiarán las grandiosas comunidades de Loreto y San Buenaventura creando nuevas oportunidades económicas, facilitando intercambios culturales y expandiendo oportunidades educativas para los residentes. Con el alcance logrado y los programas de eco-turismo, la red de negocios y social entre nuestras comunidades serán fortalecidos, beneficiando presente y futuras generaciones.

Unica en esta relación es la historia religiosa de nuestras misiones, la cual es la fundaciòn y nuestra mutuo patrimonio que ha sido sostenido a nuestra comunidades por siglos.

Este hermanamiento puede también apoyarse, uno al otro, durante desastres naturales u otras emergencias, recolectando fondos o viveres. Al compartir la cultura del otro, a través de relaciones hermanas, las comunidades pueden obtener una perspectiva mas profunda de la historia, los valores y el espíritu que componen la misión hermana, ciudad hermana y parques y reservas nacionales.

Archbishop José H. Gomez, joined by health leaders, mothers and babies, launched a digital App designed to offer prayers, resources and support for thousands of women and girls nationwide in crisis pregnancies. The launch coincides with the 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

"Today we are taking a big step to expand our circle of care and concern for unborn children and their mothers," said Archbishop Gomez. "Through this App we are launching today, we are creating a network of prayer and practical support to help women facing crisis pregnancies. This App will also engage Catholics and others, especially our young people, in the great spiritual work of praying and building a true culture of life here in Los Angeles and throughout our nation."

The Archdiocese's Office of Life, Justice and Peace has partnered with Options United, a Pasadena-based nonprofit, on the App available on smartphones and iPads by visiting www.optionsunited.org.

The Options United App lists services such as free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and post-abortion healing. App users, including friends and relatives of expectant mothers, are also just a click away to send a call for prayers to support pregnant women and girls in their decisions.

At the press event, Archbishop Gomez launched the App by sharing the App through his Facebook page and asking followers to join the virtual community and share the App with their family and friends.

Archbishop Gomez was joined by Jaime Hernandez, President of Manto de Guadalupe, Astrid Bennett, Executive Director, Los Angeles Pregnancy Services and Thomas Rudkins, of Options United. Archbishop Gomez was also joined by mothers, children and two women, Irene Beltran and Estella Piña, who delivered post-abortion testimonials.

The southern California region of the App includes 78 pregnancy centers in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and neighboring dioceses that include the following counties: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties. People, pregnancy centers and pro-life resources nationwide are invited to register.

The App was prompted by national statistics reporting about 1.2 million abortions per year. (Source: Guttmacher Institute.) In Southern California, about 220 abortions happen daily.

PHOENIX (CNS) -- California Catholic leaders will revamp church curriculum and museum programs on the California mission system to more accurately present history, the perspective of California Indians and the missions' impact on Indian life.

"We have told the story of the missions in a way that has shown them as harmonious. In reality, conquest does not work that way," said Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Edward W. Clark, one of several people working on the project. "We see weakness in our curriculum on the mission era. We want to strengthen that."

The initiative is part of a larger program of the California bishops and Franciscan leaders preparing for the canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra, Spanish Franciscan missionary and founder of the California mission system.

Pope Francis will canonize him during a Sept. 23 Mass in Washington.
Many Native Americans and organizations have criticized the upcoming canonization, saying that Blessed Serra was part of a system that destroyed Indian life

"The Indian experience has been ignored or denied, replaced by an incomplete version of history focused more on European colonists than on the original Californians," said the president of the California Catholic Conference, Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto, in a Sept. 4 statement on the curriculum and cultural review.

"The time has come to confront that incomplete history and to work with Native American educators, respected historians, Catholic school officials and others to change that and to reflect the best scholarship we can about that era," added Franciscan Father Ken Laverone, provincial vicar of the Franciscan Province of Santa Barbara, and co-postulator in the cause of Blessed Serra.

With backing and oversight of the Spanish crown, Blessed Serra founded nine missions in California between 1769 and his death in 1784. Another 12 were erected after his death.

Before Spanish colonization, Indians in California numbered more than 300,000. By 1860, there were just 30,000, a consequence of diseases that had been unknown there before the Europeans' arrival, assimilation, the influx of gold miners and other factors. Franciscan missionaries had baptized around 80,000 California Indians. Historians say that by 1834, 60,000 of them had died.
Two church committees -- one looking at Catholic school history curriculum for third and fourth graders, and the other looking at mission displays and programs -- will review and revise materials to "better reflect modern understandings of the mission era and the relationship between Spanish civil authority, the Catholic missions and local Indian tribes," said the statement.
Following the committee work, new guidelines will be presented to archdiocesan and diocesan leaders and educators through the California Catholic Conference, Bishop Clark said.

He said descendants of mission Indians make up part of each committee, and access to missions by California Indians is one issue they will consider.

Andrew Galvan, an Ohlone Indian Catholic and curator of Old Mission Dolores in San Francisco, heads the committee on cultural review of mission exhibits. Earlier this summer, he told Catholic News Service that he is dismayed by how Indians are treated and represented at the missions.

He said he is "outraged" when he walks up to a mission, one that his ancestors likely built, and he is told, "That will be $5 to get in." Or when a mission guide says, "The padres built the missions."

"Could we simply get every guide in California that gives a tour at a California mission to say it this way, 'The Indians, under the supervision of the padres, built the missions?'" he asked.

In the first 60 years of the missions, every baptism, marriage and funeral is of an Indian. Indian burial grounds are located at the missions.

"So the mission churches are churches built by Indians, before anything else, used by Indians before anyone else," Galvan said. "But today those same people feel so unwelcome to come there."

He said the church today is asking, "What can we now do to invite and to happily have native people come to the places that they built?"

The California Catholic Conference is the public policy arm of the Catholic bishops of the Los Angeles and San Francisco archdioceses and the state's 10 dioceses.

The Franciscan Province of Santa Barbara encompasses California and Washington, Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico.

The Franciscan province administers three of the 21 California missions. Sixteen have oversight by the dioceses within which they are located. Two missions are state parks and not active churches.