Walkers Pursue Father Serra’s Sainthood

A group of San Diegans will begin a 740-mile relay walk Saturday, following the path of Father Junipero Serra as he established a series of missions from San Diego to Sonoma.

Their aim is to draw attention to efforts to have the famous Franciscan priest declared a saint by church officials in Rome.

The “pilgrimage,” sponsored by the California Knights of Columbus, will involve hundreds of people. Members of the Catholic benevolent association’s San Diego council will carry a staff, symbolizing “Fray Serra’s Cross of Christ,” northward from Mission San Diego de Alcala, the first mission founded by Serra.

Walking on weekends along the old “El Camino Real” route of Serra, members of Knights of Columbus councils from throughout Southern California will eventually carry the staff north to Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Carmel, where Serra is buried.

At the annual convention of the California Knights of Columbus in San Diego last year, state deputy Richard Jufiar made canonization of Serra one of the organization’s high priorities. The march was conceived by Bob Kundinger of the St. Mark’s council in San Marcos, who said the idea was inspired somewhat by the Olympic torch run.

“When the Pope visited Canada, the Canadian Knights of Columbus had some sort of pilgrimage, carrying a cross between the churches of this one province,” Kundinger said. “That gave me part of the idea, then seeing the Olympic run made me think, ‘Here’s the El Camino Real, and I think it might be nice to have the Knights walk up to Carmel.’ ”

At Carmel, they plan to meet May 17 with Northern California “pilgrims” heading south from the mission in Sonoma. The meeting will mark the beginning of the organization’s state convention. The walkers also hope the convention will coincide with a California visit by Pope John Paul II.

“We’re hoping that . . . (the Pope) will visit Carmel and declare Father Serra blessed,” said Thomas Conners, deputy grand knight of the San Diego council, which will begin the walk Saturday.

A blessing from the Pope would be another step in the 50-year campaign for Serra’s canonization. However, Bishop John J. Ward, vicar general of the Archdiocese in Los Angeles, said the walk by the Knights of Columbus will probably have minimal impact on Vatican officials.

“It certainly would dramatize their individual interest in the cause,” Ward said. “But as far as the cause itself, that would be up to the Congregation for Canonization in Rome. They would consider the life of the man, whether this man, by his life, his action and his works, embodied the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is an evidentiary procedure and a careful one.”

In addition to attracting attention to the Knights’ campaign for Serra’s canonization, Dudinger said he hopes that the walk, which will include services at all the missions founded by the priest, would offer the opportunity to gain proof of the priest’s sainthood for church officials.

“We are hoping that there would be documented miracles,” he said. “At mass at one of the missions, someone who was sick could come and pray and be cured. I know it sounds corny, but miracles do happen and we hoped it could promote Father Serra’s canonization.”

Serra founded Mission San Diego de Alcala shortly after arriving in San Diego from Mexico City in 1769. Over the next 13 years he established eight more missions to spread Catholicism throughout what was then “Upper California,” helping to strengthen Spanish control of the region. Although Serra died more than 200 years ago, only recently has the church hierarchy in the United States begun to lobby actively for his canonization, Ward said.

“There has been stepped-up interest in it the last 10 years or so,” he said. “When the bishops meet each year, they recommend to the Holy See that (Serra) be considered for sainthood.”

The documentation in favor of Serra’s canonization is extensive, including a document published in 1981, featuring more than 600 pages of depositions and church records, culled primarily from California missions, Ward said.

Conners said he believes Serra warrants canonization primarily because of his service to the church in bringing Catholicism and Spanish agricultural methods to California Indians.

“The conversion of the Indians to Christianity would be No. 1,” he said. “Also, there would be his efforts in building the missions in California, helping the poor and teaching them how to farm.”

Conners said the efforts by the Knights of Columbus in seeing Serra achieve sainthood more than 200 years after his death are rooted in a concern that the priest’s contributions be recognized.

“It would be similar to say, ‘Why should (Steve) Garvey be in the Hall of Fame?’ Because the deeds that he’s done deserve recognition,” Conners said. “We feel that because of his accomplishments, (Serra) deserves to be canonized as one of the saints.”