St. Junipero Serra’s heroism did not change when California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to ensure that his statue will no longer stand on the state capitol grounds, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco has said.
“This new law does not change the facts: Junípero Serra spent his life caring for and defending the indigenous people of California to the point of heroic virtue. Indian and Spaniard alike mourned when he died,” Cordileone said on Twitter Sept 29. “We would do well to imitate his virtues. We ignore history to our peril.”
Gov. Newsom signed Assembly Bill 338 Sept. 24. It replaced a law requiring a statue of St. Junipero Serra at the state capitol with one requiring a statue to honor local indigenous populations. The bill text claims that Serra and his missions were responsible for a host of atrocities against native peoples, which drew strong objections from Catholics who said it was inaccurate and misrepresented Serra.
Newsom signed other bills. One replaced Columbus Day with Native American Day as a judicial holiday, while another protected Native Americans who wanted to wear “items of cultural significance” at high school graduations….
The above comes from a Sept. 30 story on the site of the Catholic News Agency.
What have the native peoples contributed to California? Serious question.
Contributed — my serious answer— perhaps their attitude “that it is better to receive than to give”.
The indigenous of the East Coast taught my ancestors to use fish fertilizer. I know. I once put my foot into a bucket of fish emulsion when gardening. (Laughter.) It is a good but smelly organic way of fertilizing ones garden, especially small food crops. As far as the California indigenous, we got corn and a flat bread from them — corn tortillas, which developed into flour tortillas. Many of the lovely paintings and decorations on the missions were done by the native Californians. They gave us adobe pottery and brick making, and how to use sage and cacti in recipes.. Anyone is welcome to add to that.
St. Junipero please pray for California (even though we don’t deserve it).
I think a broader and much more mature understanding of history is needed by the Governor. No historical heroes or groups of people are “perfect,” humanly. The contributions of both St. Junipero Serra and the Native American indigenous peoples of California, are significant, worthy and important, historically. Both should be recognized. And any normal human failings should be forgiven and forgotten.
the capitol has proven itself unworfhy of the presence of anything holy, even a glimmer of the statue of st junipero of reflected in a pond. the unchristening of california does not bode well for the state or the country.
In the State Capitol, I think that there ought to be a statue of St. Junipero Serra, and a statue of the Native Americans, with a nice historical write-up, separately, of the historical contributions of each, long ago. They could put each statue in a different place.
The canceling of St. Junipero Serra is all about removing Christianity from society and embracing paganism.
Yes and no, Clinton. There are non Christian, non pagan groups who want to get rid of statues, who sometimes collaborate with other iconoclasts to get rid of statues of any kind. We seem to have more of them now.
On Friday, Oct. 1st, Archbishop Cordileone’s “Rose and Rosary for Nancy” Campaign delivered 1,000 roses (a rose from each Campaign participant) to Nancy Pelosi’s office, as a group led by a priest recited the Rosary, outside, for her conversion. The Campaign had thousands signed up, and hundreds more participants signing up by the hour, but 1,000 roses was the best they could do– they blew up the rose market for the cityl! So, the Campaign started a fast and a Rosary each Friday, from Oct. 1st, dedicated to Nancy’s conversion. Want to join? Go to
https://benedictinstitute.org
we know, we know
for the jillionth time
all together everyone:
White Man Bad !!”
If you say so Kemosabe, but don’t tell that to my quarter Cherokee cousin who has pale skin, sandy hair (now turned white) and blue eyes. Then there are my more bronzed relatives with darker eyes, or my light olive skinned relatives relatives of Mexican ancestry with green eyes that have more French blood than I do.
One time I was sitting by a Mexican American co worker as we were watching a Cinco de Mayo celebration. They were telling how the Mexicans conquered the French. I said to my friend, “Except the ones they married,” and we both laughed. That’s California AND the U.S.
Newsom is smearing Serra like Gomez and Cordileone are smearing American California and Governor Peter Burnett who was more of a Christian than they’ll ever be.
Newsom does it for votes and Indian casino money. Gomez and Cordileone do it for free.
Anne TE:
But I feel like Rodney Dangerfield,
can’t get no respect
except in the extended family,
we’re runnin’ a united nations
round these parts, with every continent
‘cept micronesia & antarctica represented
cheers to your “diverse” (in a good way) heritage.
An excerpt (the preface) from the conversion story of Peter Burnett, California’s first civilian governor:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/mcnamarasblog/2010/11/roads-to-rome-governor-peter-h-burnett-1807-1895.html