Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano

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Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano is a Catholic parish in the Diocese of Orange, located just northwest of Mission San Juan Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano, California. The church building you see today was completed in 1986. It was designated a minor basilica in 2000 and a national shrine in 2003. The parish runs several ministries, including Serra's Pantry, which helps local families with food and hygiene supplies, and the Mission Basilica School, a pre-K through 8th-grade school.

The parish’s modern history began with St. John O'Sullivan, who came to the mission in 1910 to rebuild the community after the mission’s buildings fell into ruin. It was granted full parochial status in 1918 as Mission Church San Juan Capistrano. The Serra Chapel, the oldest standing church in California and the place where St. Junípero Serra is known to have said Mass, survived the 1812 earthquake when the original stone church was destroyed. O'Sullivan served as pastor until his death in 1933.

In 1976, Fr. Paul Martin became pastor as the Catholic population grew and the Serra Chapel proved too small for the parish. Fundraising began around 1981 to support a new parish church. The first Mass in the new building was celebrated on Christmas Eve in 1984, and construction was completed in 1986. The first Mass in the completed church took place on October 23, 1986, and the church was officially dedicated on February 8, 1987 by Cardinal Timothy Manning.

The new church is patterned after the mission’s 1806 stone church, though it is not an exact replica. Architect John Bartlett designed it, and Joseph Byron, Jr. of Alex Sutherland Construction built it. The interior, designed by historian Norman Neuerberg, includes a prominent Grand Retablo: a 42-foot-high, 30-foot-wide, 16-ton cedar altar backing covered in gold leaf, reminiscent of 17th- and 18th-century Spanish and Mexican colonial art. The retablo centers on the Trinity, with Our Lady of Guadalupe below, and four saints—St. Francis of Assisi, St. Joseph, St. Junípero Serra, and St. Kateri Tekakwitha. It was created by 84 artisans at the Talleres de Arte Granda in Madrid, Spain.