Annual Report

This past year 2022 began with a desire to get the Mission to “return to normal,” and to get back to work as a place of inspiration, education and preservation. However, that notion was quickly tethered by a cognizance that things won’t ever be as they were in 2019.  In that realization, we shifted to focus on the silver lining of this time. We did so looking to new and old friends to help.

The prospect of a new year brings with it hope and a chance for reflection.  

The purpose of this annual report is to review the past year and share with you all the silver lining that comes from the challenges of the day.  In doing so, we discover that the silver lining is best seen as the broad support that the Mission has from its many constituents that comprise the spirit of this place.  

Founded over 245 years ago, Mission San Juan Capistrano stands as an architectural embodiment of the very notion that love endures. We reflect that Saint Serra out of love for his faith, founded the Mission and sacrificed his family in order to carry the word of his faith and the intention of his king.  We remember the Mission’s original builders, as baptized indigenous, lived in these lands prior to Spain’s arrival also put their very hands into the earth in order to build the Mission and their lives manifest in the architecture that stands. Through the founding of our nation, through chapters of societal change and challenge, and with the arrival of invention and unparalleled technology we see the Mission as physical evidence of the people who have carried the spirit of this place. 

It was fortuitous now to consider how the advent of the automobile, the plein air painters, the construct of tour buses, and the arrival fourth graders eventually set their sights on the Mission for purposes of art, destination, and learning thereby evolving and expanding the meaning, purpose and impact of this place into the 21^st century.

The journey of this place is truly the collective expression of so many lives lived over two centuries. Your involvement helps carry the Mission to its next chapter. It is with your support and care today that we get to, as 21^st century guardians, ready the Mission for the next generation. We do that knowing that Love Endures. And the best evidence of a life well lived is in what is left behind by you. 

Mission San Juan Capistrano 2021/2022 in review: