Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament

July 1, 2026

Optional Memorial of Saint Junipero Serra, Priest

Our nation is at a high point in celebrating our Sesquicentennial Celebration, 250 years of the American experiment in which we committed ourselves to live by the belief that “all (people) are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

A significant contribution of the Catholic Church came as wave after wave of immigrants flooded our shores, fleeing famine, religious or ethnic persecution, or seeking better lives. Many of them, from Ireland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Canada, and others from Eastern and Southern European countries, were Catholic. They entered a country whose population was primarily white, English-speaking Protestants who had little use or tolerance for Catholics.

The response of the Catholic Church in this country to protect and preserve the Catholic faith of these immigrants for two centuries was unparalleled. Many priests and religious sisters came with their immigrants, and, together with the thousands of young men and women who founded or joined religious congregations, they created a Catholic subculture to protect, preserve, and grow this Catholic community.

Throughout the country, ethnic parishes were established, in which religious services, grade schools, and cultural societies preserved the faith and the national language and culture of their respective nationalities. Numerous studies have shown that it was this religious and cultural insularity that allowed the children of the immigrants to move into American society as productive and proud Americans eventually.

The religious congregations of women and men founded academies, colleges, hospitals, foundling homes, homes for the aged, and a wide variety of social service agencies that served not only Catholics but the whole of society. There are eleven canonized American saints. On this memorial of Saint Junipero Serra, the Apostle of California, we also remember, with gratitude, our Catholic role in building and sustaining this nation. This Franciscan priest established eight of the twenty-one Spanish missions in California, from San Diego to San Francisco.

It is right for us, as Catholic Americans, to celebrate what we, as Catholics, have done throughout our country’s history. We have lived out the Gospel and the Eucharistic command, “Do this in memory of me.”

Let Us Pray:

Creator God, you called us, from our founding as a nation, to believe that all of us are created equal and have dignity inherent in our DNA as your daughters and sons. You inspired hundreds and thousands of women religious, religious brothers and priests, strengthened by their daily celebration of the Eucharist, to lead us in reaching out in loving care and kindness to those on the periphery, immigrants, children, orphans, the aged, the ill, the despondent, lonely, homeless, and friendless. Give us, inspired by their love and service, an abundance of your grace to follow them in our own day and in our own corner of your creation to be you to them. Amen.