Archbishop Jose Gomez:
“….The real St. Junípero fought a colonial system where natives were regarded as ‘barbarians’ and ‘savages,’ whose only value was to serve the appetites of the white man. For St. Junípero, this colonial ideology was a blasphemy against the God who has ‘created (all men and women) and redeemed them with the most precious blood of his Son.’
“He lived and worked alongside native peoples and spent his whole career defending their humanity and protesting crimes and indignities committed against them. Among the injustices he struggled against, we find heartbreaking passages in his letters where he decries the daily sexual abuse of indigenous women by colonial soldiers.
“For St. Junípero, the natives were not just powerless victims of colonial brutality. In his letters, he describes their ‘gentleness and peaceful dispositions,’ he celebrates their creativity and knowledge; he remembers little acts of kindness and generosity, even the sweet sound of their voices as they sang.
“He learned their languages and their ancient customs and ways. St. Junípero came not to conquer, he came to be a brother. ‘We have all come here and remained here for the sole purpose of their well-being and salvation,’ he once wrote. ‘And I believe everyone realizes we love them.’
“I like to think that his deep reverence for creation was influenced by his conversations and observations among this land’s first peoples.
“St. Junípero became one of America’s first environmentalists, documenting California’s diverse habitats in diary entries and letters where he described mountains and plains, the blazing sun and the effects of drought, the overflow of brooks and rivers, cottonwood and willow trees, roses in bloom, the roar of a mountain lion that kept the missionaries awake at night.
“St. Junípero understood that the souls of indigenous Americans had been darkened with bitterness and rage at their historic mistreatment and the atrocities committed against them.
“In 1775, when Kumeyaay attackers burned down the mission in San Diego, torturing and murdering his dear friend, Father Luís Jayme, California’s first martyr, St. Junípero was not outraged. He was concerned for the killers’ souls. He pleaded with authorities to have mercy.
” ‘As for the culprits, their offense should be forgiven after some slight punishment,’ he said. ‘By doing so they would see we were putting into practice the rule we teach them — to return good for evil and to pardon our enemies.’
“This may be the first moral argument against the use of the death penalty in American history. And St. Junípero was arguing against its imposition on an oppressed minority….”
The above comes from a June 29 letter from Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles published in Angelus News.
Watch the exorcism of the site of the Junipero Serra statue in Golden Gate Park by Archbishop Cordileone on June 27.
Some of Archbishop Cordileone’s words:
“Evil is present here. This is the activity of the evil one, who wants to bring down the Church. Who wants to bring down all Christian believers…. I’ve been feeling great distress and a great wound in my soul when I see these horrendous acts of blasphemy.”
Thank you AB Gomez. But why was such eloquence, so much appreciated now, so badly delayed? The California bishops have had years and years to counter the PC thought police on the life of St. Serra. Still, late though it be, perhaps some good of it will come. Who knows– maybe the automatons in academia might deign to consider reading this, if AB Gomez can get this published in the secular arena. Otherwise he is just preaching to the choir.
It really doesn’t matter what is written in our Catholic spaces as long as people everywhere else are saying the total opposite. Like the other commenter says, this message needs to get out to everyone. I can’t spend hours tweeting every person who is tweeting false information about him being a genocidal, rapist, violent abuser, or being responsible for that. That’s the narrative that is out there now. About him and our church. I’m tired of it.
I read a good balanced article on this situation the other day, it was published years ago . I can’t remember where I read it. The natives liked him.
here https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/faith-and-justice/junipero-serra-saint-or-not
Dan , gomez has no more moral authority or gravitas that his position used to have , the scandals, lack of respect and contempt for Catholicism and Christianity from the media, the activists and politicians is at work here . He has not lead by example or fought for the rights of the faithful during this pandemic or during this crisis , this speaks to his faith and his role as shepherd, he should be rallying the faithful , being our voice and an example of what a leader and a successor to the apostles should be, but all we got was this op-ed. The response of bishop barron on how it is the laity’s responsibility for such matters , citing vatican 2 was just more insult and hypocrisy from the hierarchy , look to the example of Pope Leo I. and his encounter with Atilla the Hun as a model of a true shepherd.
Rick W., it is hard to argue with what you said. But if AB Gomez could get this published somewhere besides the parish bulletin, the Los Angeles Times maybe, then let the mob unleash its fury on him. That’s what Jesus promised would happen anyway. Somewhere out there is an academic with no love for the Church whose conscience might be pricked on learning there is another side of the story. At the possible cost of his or her job (see Timothy Gordon), he/she might find the courage to counter the new Marxist ideology. As for B Barron, let him hire Timothy Gordon as evidence of his new understanding of Vatican II.
Would that Gomez and the other one were as excitable about Abortion as they are about Statues and Stone Agers.
Contra Gomez (El Arzobispo of 4th World Los Angeles), the greatest threat to Mission Indians (and settled Indians) came from Wild Indians, not Spaniards, not Whites. This danger continued long after Serra, right into US statehood until Californians were forced to pacify them.