California pilgrimage part of spiritual reawakening, Anthony Petz says
Detroit native Anthony Petz, right, who moved to San Diego in 2015, recently completed a pilgrimage to visit 12 California mission sites established by St. Junipero Serra. He is pictured with his cousin, rad Petz.Photos courtesy of Anthony Petz.
SAN DIEGO — 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 moved from the Detroit area to San Diego in July 2014 for work, rediscovered his faith and its deep history in the rolling hills and trails of California where St. Serra once walked.
“When I moved, I didn’t have a strong grounding in my faith,” Petz told The Michigan Catholic by phone. “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.”
A photo collage of some of the missionary outposts established by St. Serra along the El Camino Real in California.California’s heritage traces back to the missions set up 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 Mission San Antonio de Padua in northern California, visiting as many missions as possible.
Petz started his trip at Mission San Diego and hiked along the El Camino Real as much as possible in order to reach Mission San Antonio de Padua in Jolon, Calif. The trail, which translates into “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’ 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. 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.”
