Share:

On Saturday evening, Catholics from all 39 parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Santa Barbara pastoral region gathered to honor their newly canonized patron, St. Junipero Serra, and their new episcopal vicar, the Most Rev. Robert Barron. Present for the joyous occasion were the College’s dean, Dr. Brian T. Kelly (’88), and his wife, Karen (Stuart ’88); two College chaplains, Rev. Paul Raftery, O.P., and Rev. Michael Chaberek, O.P.; Resident Assistant Sarah Dufresne (’14); and three members of the Senior Class, Jonathan Chavez, Matthew Murphy, and Margaret Smillie.

The celebration began with a procession from Ventura’s Chumash Hutash Festival grounds to the Mission San Buenaventura, the last of the nine missions that St. Junipero established in California in the late 18th century. It then continued with a Mass in the Mission, where worshippers commemorated St. Junipero’ s recent canonization and watched as the Most Rev. José H. Gomez installed Bishop Barron as the episcopal vicar for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Santa Barbara pastoral region, which includes Thomas Aquinas College.

As part of the tribute to St. Junipero, the procession carried a first-class relic of the saint as well as the altar stone, chalice, and monstrance that he used at the Mission San Buenaventura’s Dedication Mass in 1782. In his homily, Bishop Barron invoked the intercession of St. Junipero, noting that he, like the newly ordained bishop, was an academic called at midlife to serve in California. “Curiously, I came to the same place with the same mission,” His Excellency observed.

“It was a wonderful event,” remarks Dr. Kelly. “It caused me to reflect on the Catholic history of Southern California and Ventura County; and it gave me a tremendous sense of joy that we are going to be working with Bishop Barron.”