I’m a pilgrim.
I’m a native of California.
I’m also a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, a pastor of my beloved Padre Serra Parish in Camarillo, CA, and a retired professor of Sacred Scriptures at St. John Seminary, Camarillo, CA.
I’ve made a number of pilgrimages to Rome, the holy sites of the Holy Land, the footsteps of St. Paul in the near East, to Lourdes, and the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. They were all graced, but not really the starting point of my understanding of myself, as I started this bio, as a pilgrim.
In my mid-fifties, I first journeyed with a priest friend on a two-week walking pilgrimage from Porto, Portugal, to Santiago de Compostela. That experience, filled with great conversation, foot pain and prayer, led to a solitary pilgrimage two years later from Hendaye, France along the Northern and Primitivo pilgrimage routes. That pilgrimage led to a major transformation of my sense of self. I long to return, and am planning to do a walking pilgrimage on the Francigena, when my pastoral responsibilities will permit.