The following was written by Archbishop Jose Gomez and published in the Los Angeles diocesan newspaper Angelus News on July 2:
St. Junípero Serra was a 56-year-old Franciscan friar when he came to California; when he first set eyes on the native peoples of California, he literally kissed the ground and gave thanks to God.
Late in his life he would write: “The trust they have in us is based on the fact that … we have given them birth in Christ. We have all come here and remained here for the sole purpose of their well-being and salvation. And I believe everyone realizes we love them.”
As I have shared before, I have a strong devotion to St. Junípero. So, I was saddened to read recently that the University of California at Santa Cruz has removed the El Camino Real mission bell on its campus, calling it a symbol of racism and the “dehumanization” of native peoples.
St. Junípero has long been misunderstood and, in my opinion, wrongly used as a symbol for the tragic abuses committed against California’s first peoples.
I hope that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent apology to California’s original peoples will help in the long process of healing these historic wounds. I hope it will also inspire new reflection on our history.
The governor’s apology is rooted in well-documented facts. In the 1850s, California’s secular government pursued what the state’s first governor called “a war of extermination … to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct.”
This is the truth. But it is important to remember that this history has nothing to do with St. Junípero or the missions. By the time California declared its “race war” and the U.S. Cavalry was called in to support these genocidal policies, St. Junípero was long dead and the missions had been closed or “secularized” for nearly two decades.
In fact, the loss of an authoritative Christian voice in California society meant the indigenous peoples in the 1850s had no one to defend their rights in the face of state-sanctioned violence and the ruthless appetites of ranchers, soldiers, and mining interests.
History is never simple. The facts matter, the truth matters, and distinctions are necessary. We cannot learn the lessons of history or heal the wounds of the past, unless we first understand what really happened and why.
Full story at Angelus News.
Thank you, Archbishop Gomez. He is absolutely correct, Saint Junipero has been misunderstood for a long time, especially since inaccurate history has been taught and political correctness dominates. I used to edit a magazine that republished the story of the life of Father Serra, written by one of his confreres. Saint Junipero Serra is surely a great and holy man. “Always go forward and never turn back,” was a motto of his as he advanced the kingdom of God here in California. Saint Junipero, pray for us!
While Serra and other Friars sought spiritual betterment, many Spanish explorers sought land and ‘el dorado’ for the secular king.
Thank you Archbishop Gomez. Fr Serra was a humble priest trying to spread the Gospel and improve the lives of the native peoples. I have a strong devotion to this Saint and agree Fr Serra and his intentions have been grossly misunderstood and misrepresented. Perhaps a bit of good ole American anti- Catholic bias is at play here?
Perhaps all these people whom have put down St. Serra should start praying to him after the terrible earthquakes that Southern California has experienced in the last few days!!
I don’t know how much longer Our Good Lord is going to be merciful to the entire state of California or as it is known to be Sodom and Gomorrah of the West Coast!!!!!!
And I say this as a 4th generation San Franciscan and MANY generations of native Californians.
Amen! Diane. I shop at shopping centers named after him and the Franciscans all the time. How many of us, whether from a native American Indian tribe or not want to go back to our pagan past. How many of us women want polygamy and other pagan practices to return, whether of the native kind or European kind. Not me.
St. Junipero Serra pray for us Californians and our return to Christian morality.
Fr. Junipero Serra is castigated but Fr. James Martin, S.J.LGBTQ is celebrated. What’s wrong here?
“By the time California declared its ‘race war’ and the U.S. Cavalry was called in to support these genocidal policies, St. Junípero was long dead and the missions had been closed or ‘secularized’ for nearly two decades.” -Gomez
Gomez conveniently omits that it was Mexico who closed, secularized, and sold off the Missions. It was a Christian US, particularly a Protestant Lincoln, who returned those Missions to the Catholic church. Ah, the Rule of Law … at long last.
The first half of his sentence is a complete falsehood. I’m betting Gomez doesn’t know what Cavalry means.
Gomez grossly misrepresents the very source he links to – or didn’t bother to read:
http://governors.library.ca.gov/addresses/s_01-Burnett2.html
It’s a State of the State address by California’s first civilian governor, a Catholic convert. The relevant portions (para. 8-14) were a thoughtful, humane assessment of, and reponse to, incessant Indian depredations along California’s frontier.
That secular document was more of an ‘authoritative Christian voice’ than anything ‘Catholic’ Mexico or Spain could have produced.
Sadly, we seem incapable of stomaching the proper response to Gomez’s fraud.