500-mile pilgrimage to St. Junipero Serra missions leads to spiritual reawakening

By Dan Meloy

DETROIT
(CNS) — While everyone is called to walk in the footsteps of the saints,
Anthony Petz took things a little more literally.

The
Detroit native and San Diego resident recently completed a 500-mile, 12-stop
pilgrimage along the El Camino Real in California, touring the missionary
outposts established by the recently canonized St. Junipero Serra.

Petz,
who relocated to California in July 2014 for work, rediscovered his faith
and its deep history in the rolling hills and trails of the state where the
saint once walked.

“When
I moved, I didn’t have a strong grounding in my faith,” Petz told The Michigan
Catholic, the Detroit archdiocesan newspaper. “For whatever reason, from going
to school or Mass, I was never really invested in my faith, things really didn’t
click.

“When
I moved out to California, I found St. Brigid Parish in San Diego and met the people
of the parish, and it brought to light how deep our faith is.”

California’s
heritage traces to the missions established by Franciscan and Jesuit priests in
the 18th century, when the area was part of New Spain and later
Mexico. Surrounded by that history and aiming to rediscover his faith, Petz
decided to start a pilgrimage to San Antonio de Padua Mission in Jolon, California, visiting
as many missions as possible.

Petz
started his trip at San Diego Mission and hiked along the El Camino Real as
much as possible in order to reach San Antonio de Padua Mission. The trail,
which translates to “the king’s highway,” follows the path taken by priests and
friars to visit the missions.

Petz
made a point to stop and pray at each of the missions he visited, usually
taking time to snap pictures or purchase a souvenir from the mission’s gift
stop.

The
purpose of the trip was to visit the mission named after Petz’s patron saint,
St. Anthony of Padua, but instead he discovered something about the trip — and
himself — that he didn’t anticipate.

“There
were a few instances where I really felt God was there with me, especially when
I didn’t want to continue,” Petz said. “On the last day, I felt very humble to
make it to Mission San Antonio de Padua — it was the real heart of the trip,
but it was very anticlimactic.

“There
were certain missions where I was blown away by the historical feel to it —
certain missions I had a personal connection with. But San Antonio de Padua had
no big revelation, no huge spiritual moment I was expecting. But then I stood
back and realized, it’s not about where you end up, but how you get there.”

Petz
has returned to work with renewed vigor, looking forward to the Christmas
season and the Year of Mercy as declared by Pope Francis. He considers the trip
a great success, but has no plans for a future trip — for now.

“The
trip was all about figuring out how I reach people, doing what Pope Francis wants
me to do,” Petz said. “We have to reach people, reflect on how we do that. The
biggest takeaway: how to live my faith to the fullest and spread it. What it
means to be a Catholic today and an evangelical Catholic, just like St. Junipero
Serra, who walked this trail before me.”


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Meloy
writes for The Michigan Catholic, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

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