In annual pilgrimage, sacred images make rare stop for farmworkers in Moorpark

Every fall, images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego make an annual pilgrimage from St. Marcellinus Catholic Church in the City of Commerce to parishes and cemeteries throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which includes Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. 

This year, the images made an extra stop: the radish field at Muranaka Farms in Moorpark. Thursday's event was the first visit of the pilgrim images to a working farm, and it recognized farmworkers for their important role in the nation's food production, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.

The United Farm Workers, Muranaka Farms and the archdiocese partnered for the event. 

"This is a way for us to thank them and also pray for them and with them. The pandemic has really helped all of us really focus on the basics and fundamentals, and especially many times as a society we have taken for granted the process of how we get our food on the table," said the Rev. Juan Ochoa, pastor at Christ the King Church in Los Angeles and president of the Commission for Our Lady of Guadalupe. "This is a way for us to recognize that."

"We also know that many of our farmworkers have gotten COVID, and they themselves are putting their lives at risk to continue to feed the United States," he said. 

What is the annual pilgrimage for?

The annual pilgrimage of the images is in preparation for the 89th procession and Mass honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe in December. For the past 20 years, the archdiocese has spent the two months leading up to the procession bringing the images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego to various churches. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the name of the Virgin Mary as she appeared to Mexican natives. According to Catholic beliefs, she appeared to Juan Diego, an indigenous man, in Mexico in 1531.

A life-size image of the Virgin Mary later appeared on his cloak. The cloak is enshrined at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, which is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world. Our Lady of Guadalupe is considered the patron of Mexico and North America and symbolizes hope, peace and compassion. 

The pilgrim image of the Virgin of Guadalupe kept by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is a digital reproduction of the original image in Mexico City and was a gift to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles from Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica in Mexico City. 

'As Catholics, we feel very blessed'

Thursday's event featured a procession led by Ochoa and a mariachi band. The priest blessed the approximately 40 farmworkers in attendance, but noted that the blessing was intended for all farmworkers across the country. 

Eliseo Zavala Frutos, who has worked at Muranaka Farms for seven years, said he especially appreciated the event because he's been unable to attend Sunday Mass during the pandemic. He used to go every week. 

Dolores Gonzalez and Juan Gonzalez, husband-and-wife who work together at Muranaka Farms, say they have visited the images in the past at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Oxnard, but Thursday was the first time the images came to them. Juan Gonzalez also has a tattoo of the image on his arm. 

"I feel very happy and very joyous. As Catholics, we feel very blessed, it is a blessing to have our blessed Mother here to visit us at work," Dolores Gonzalez said in Spanish.

Bringing images to people

Ochoa says this was part of the intention: bring the images to people, instead of having people visit the images. 

"Most of the time, the images only go to the churches, and we ask people to come to the churches, but this time we wanted the images to come to the people, outside of churches," he said. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe is also important to the United Farm Workers organization, according to Roman Pinal with United Farm Workers. 

"In the UFW's culture and history, every march has always been led by La Virgen de Guadalupe. Over Cesar Chavez's grave there's images of farmworkers marching and in front is La Virgen de Guadalupe. 

"Historically, for everyone who has participated in UFW it is an amazing day, a beautiful day," said Pinal. "In the '60s, we were boycotting grapes to eliminate DDT in the fields, and today we're active politically to address the need for immigration reform for our nation's essential farmworkers, and La Virgen is still with us," Pinal said.

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The images will be at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Oxnard until Oct. 24, then will visit the San Buenaventura Mission, Our Lady of the Assumption in Ventura and St. Peter Claver in Simi Valley. 

Erin Rode covers housing, real estate and development for The Star. Reach her at erin.rode@vcstar.com or 805-437-0312.