it is part of the establishment clause of the constitution. the national government is not to endorse any certain religion or hinder another unless it endangers someone else.
The most prominent example today is in schools, but this is also prominent in courtrooms.
Today several countries have the Lutheran Church as the state church. Those countries are Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Denmark and Greenland. In Finland the Lutheran Church is the national church.
Today it is state of California property and the Catholic Church still holds mass, has weddings there, funerals, and festivals.
If you are asking about the mission it is still a working church with services, weddings, funerals, and festivals. The mission is part of California state property and parks system as well as the Catholic Church. Tours are done daily and you can visit the church and gardens. The state does the upkeep of the mission and repairs the buildings.
The Pilgrims wanted freedom from religious persecution. The Church of England was the state church and all other religions were banned. Most of the Pilgrims were Anabaptists or reformers of the church. This is why the "Separation of church and state" is part of our laws, the government did not want freedom from the church, but the church needed freedom from the government.
The state of California has it as historical property open for services and visitors.
This is a concept known as "separation of church and state." This was a big issue in the civil war and today it still is.
It has given the church a bad name.
Anti-disestablishmentarianism is a political position that originated in 19th-century Britain, opposing the disestablishment of the Church of England as the state church. Proponents believed that the church should maintain its official status and privileges, arguing for the importance of a state-supported religion. This term has since become a symbol of complex political and social debates regarding the separation of church and state. Today, it is often cited as one of the longest words in the English language.
depending on which church you go to
The leader of the Catholic Church is the pope. Today (2011) that is Pope Benedict XVI.
"We missed you in church today" in English is Ci siete mancati in chiesa oggi in Italian.