Thanks to the presence of a small band of Catholics, a “Tear Down Junipero Serra” event in front of Ventura City Hall on Saturday concluded with the bronze statue of Padre Serra standing unharmed.
Up and down California, mobs are destroying statues of Junipero Serra, canonized in 2015, along with statues of other prominent and not-so-prominent historical figures. Vandals toppled and destroyed statues of the saint in San Francisco and Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday.
Acknowledging the “groundswell” of enthusiasm for removing the statue, Ventura mayor Matt LaVere, San Buenaventura mission pastor Father Tom Elewaut, and the tribal chair of the Barbareno/Ventureno Band of Mission Indians Julie Tumamait Stenslie released a joint statement ahead of the scheduled Tear Down Junipero Serra event.
“The three of us are confident that a peaceful resolution regarding the Father Junipero Serra statue can be reached, without uncivil discourse and character assassination, much less vandalism of a designated landmark,” the statement said.
Junipero Serra founded the city of Ventura in 1782 when he established the mission of San Buenaventura, and his statue has stood in front of the city hall since 1936. The city installed a bronze statue in 1989 to replace the deteriorating original.
On Saturday, when the event organizers unfurled their “Father Genocide” banner, Serra supporters had already discreetly surrounded the statue’s pedestal and held up signs reading: “I ♥ Padre Serra,” “Save Serra,” and “Serra: Defender of the Chumash.” Father Elewaut and a handful of supporters stood across the street, praying.
Over the next hour, the crowd swelled to about 200, including about 50 supporters of the statue. Some supporters gathered to the side and prayed the rosary despite taunts and threats from some event participants.
The speakers voiced divergent opinions on how to remove the statue. Chumash leader Tumamait Stenslie called for peace and understanding and said that no one should have an us-versus-them mentality. She praised Father Elewaut’s understanding. Before Father Elewaut was allowed to speak, someone read a statement from one of the event’s organizers who could not be present due to his participation in the group tearing down Father Serra’s statue in Los Angeles. Among other things, the organizer’s statement said that the Church must publicly acknowledge its participation in the genocide of the indigenous people of California and that it must name every Chumash person buried in the mission’s cemetery. Father Elewaut acknowledged the pain of the Chumash people but said the history of Junipero Serra is not as black and white as it was being painted. Participants heckled and booed him.
Another speaker said that at some unspecified time she had worked for the Franciscans and had been directed to go through their archives to destroy the records of the horrific abuses Father Serra and other padres had committed against the Chumash. She said that the day she finished, she quit her job and also left the Church. The statement, as were all statements that disparaged Catholicism, met with wild applause.
Most speakers began by listing their Chumash ancestry. Some demanded that the statue “come down today.” Others said that it should be removed legally in conjunction with the city. One speaker told the crowd that the Chumash were working to get the statue down and to tear it down would be disrespectful to them, “we don’t need white saviors.” In between most speakers, the crowd broke into a chant of “tear it down.”
Event participants harassed and taunted those in support of the statue, disparaging the opinions, religion, race, and personal appearance of those they disagreed with. A man singled out a young supporter holding an American flag and shouted that the supporter had yelled “White power.” Immediately a swirling mass of people screamed at him to say it again, on video, and accused him of cowardice for refusing to do so and for saying he had said nothing of the kind. Others accused a supporter of spitting on them and she was immediately encircled, verbally abused, and scratched. One woman raced up, ripped signs away from two supporters at the base of the statue, and was dragged away, clawing, throwing things, and screaming obscenities. One man leaped up and spat on the statue, but Tumamait Stenslie, who was nearby arranging sage and eagle feathers, scolded him.
When the first speaker directly called for the statue to be torn down by the crowd, several statue supporters called the police. The 911 dispatchers told them to leave the area if they felt unsafe. No police came.
As the event wore on with the statue still undamaged, some speakers tried to work the crowd into a frenzy. When one asked, “Who’s with me?” for tearing down the statue at that moment, and pointed the way, the crowd made a rush. The supporters closed ranks around the pedestal and stared down a man brandishing a metal stake at the head of the crowd. He swung it threateningly until one of the supporters grabbed hold of it. Meanwhile, another supporter ran down the street to a parked squad car and asked the police to come closer. A few cars pulled up with lights and sirens, cooling the fervor of the crowd.
The organizers argued openly about whether they should make another push to destroy the statue, but one insisted that they couldn’t do it in front of the police. The crowd began to disperse.
Three hours after the first supporters gathered, only scattered groups remained at the park around Father Serra’s statue.
Fr. Elewaut told KEYT news that the archdiocese of Los Angeles is open to moving the statue to the grounds of the mission.
The California Catholic Conference released a statement on the removal of Father Serra statues in the state and quoted Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s defense of Serra and his “heroic sacrifices to protect the indigenous people of California from their Spanish conquerors.”
The city of Ventura told the Los Angeles Times that it has no timeline for the removal of the statue and has pledged to allow the people of Ventura to participate in future decisions concerning the statue.
This story was written for California Catholic Daily by Mary Rose.
Bravo for our Catholic brothers and sisters there! Mob violence is never the answer. The Ventura Police Department should have intervened earlier to prevent criminal acts. In a society that respects human dignity, issues can be debated, even argued, yet resolved peacefully.
It would be best for the police to end this mob violence…but that isn’t realistic. They aren’t, and nearly always it is after the destruction, after the vandalism. So Thanks again, young people !! Great Job ! And a note to young people in other Parishes…How about you keeping an eye on your Church, and your statues? Maybe even forming a group, and keeping all members informed as to what is happening, forming an impromptu surveillance network, and phoning the police if the mob shows up. We have to be very careful, and not reply to threats and violence, but brave people are needed to end this problem.
Thanks again ! Hope other courageous young people can protect their Churches….
The 1st amendment guarantees the 1st.
2nd amendment guarantees the 1st
Lines are drawn. Pick your side. Protecting our history for our children. Dont want hear dad why didn’t you try to stop it?
Thank you for praising the young people trying to protect the statue from mob destruction. What is needed however is a long term solution that will discourage ongoing attempts to desecrate our noble heritage. Flyers thoroughly explaining St Serra’s mission and goal to help to protect indigenous people need to be disseminated throughout geographical areas of concern. Confrontations like the one at the scene of demonstrations against the saint will not help resolve the issue. Excited mobs are hardly in a mood to listen to a reasoned approach.
You are too naive sir….they don’t care who the statue is…they are all coming down. Look up Tucker Carlson on YouTube. Flyers will not cut it…only physically standing up and fighting back.
Thanks very much, Catholic young people…
For standing up to those ignorant bullies…
If you are a young person out there, you can
help defend our Churches from this stupidity,
Thanks again
We’re hoping that after your example, we will
see more young people out there, guarding our Churches.
Does the Archdiocese of LA own the Mission? The Serra statue? If ‘No’ to both, then the Archdiocese has only moral suasion to influence where the statue goes.
I’m no security expert, but I would guess less than $10k would buy a pretty sophisticated set of alarms and cameras to deter vandals, and, if necessary, help convict them of a crime.
A big shout out to those Catholic defenders! Good job friends!
Angry mobs bent on destruction must be stopped NOW. Despicable activist Shaun King thinks some Jesus statues are examples of white racism and wants them gone too. Oh, and the stained glass windows of “white European” saints are also in the cross hairs. Understand, this means Catholic Churches are considered racist bastions, fair game for vandalism and destruction. Hope y’all supported getting those guards in place, you need them now.
What’s next? The closing and destruction of the Missions?
How about the casino in shoemash tear it down that is where evil is….
St. Michael the Archangel, pray for us. These “protesters” are just being used as agents of Satan.
Evil is unmasking itself. Jesus, mercy.
Great job defenders! They have more cajones than the bishops of California.
God bless and protect all of you. Thank you for your bravery. Our Lady is the New Ark of the Covenant (Apocalyse — Revelation 11-12), whatever the color she chooses to present herself. Red and yellow, black and white they are precious in His site. Jesus loves the children of the world — from the womb to the tomb.
Thank you Father Elewaut. God Bless you for your courage and calmness.
Good job, Fr. Elewaut,
Thanks for defending the statue. Prayer is very powerful.
We should not allow ourselves to be bullied by a handful group who are closed minded. The act of tearing down of statue is a criminal offense. They can be arrested via citizens’ arrest!
ON THE FR SERRA STATUE IN VENTURA…
the Masonic Ventura city council has already desecrated 7,000 Christian graves in town.
This is old news.
They took control of the Catholic Mission and cemetery back in 1922, with building a school on top of 3,850 consecrated graves, with 80% of those graves being Chumash.
The city and council person Christie Weir, just went back to these Chumash graves, AGAIN, at the Mission San Buenaventura Cemetery, with a small bull dozer, and dug up Chumash graves, for her “Hamburger Wall,” ( a mosaic tiled wall directly in front of the desecrated 3,850 grave Mission Cemetery, built to bring the naive tourist to downtown restaurants).
The County Coroner’s Office legally shut the bulldozer down, stopping the second mass grave desecration.
It is ironic, that the wild mobs go after the Fr. Serra statue, when he gave them all decent Christian burials, when the Masonic City Council, has desecrated ALL of the Chumash graves in town.
Everyone should be going after the Masonic City and County governments.
There is not one single Chumash grave inside the City of Ventura, that has not been desecrated by the Masonic City Council.
What they have done to the thousands of local Chumash remains, makes Serra look like a Saint.
Chumash Monitor standing inside desecrated Chumash graves at the Mission Cemetery, desecrated by city council person Christie Weir, DVP ex. dir. Kevin Clerici, so-called “historian” Cynthia Thompson.
This same Chumash moniter slept in these desecrated graves for a week, until the excavated soil was returned to the graves, fearing grave robbing during the night.
PLEASE SHARE THIS SECRET!
Now let me make a wild guess here, LaVere is probably a Democrat.
I’ll be there to defend the statue I don’t live far. How do I get on a list?
I want to be there to fight for our history where do I sign up?
Isn’t it amazing how successful it is to resist evil?! Not really, since the Lord tells us that He is with us, especially when we come together as two or more. This is why stand-down orders and allowing protestors to break the law is ridiculous. Stand against evil and it will flee, and when it doesn’t then drive it out of the area like Jesus drove the evil out of His Father’s house. Not complicated but takes motivation, confidence, and conviction. Thank you for doing this brothers and sisters, may more of us follow your living witness as needed and necessary. In Christ, Andrew
“Father Elewaut acknowledged the pain of the Chumash people but said the history of Junipero Serra is not as black and white as it was being painted. Participants heckled and booed him.”
Neither is the history of our Founding Fathers, or dare I say Southerners.
Too bad nobody in the Church wants to stand up for justice in those cases.
Sorry to say I’m nor surprised.
The police were called but never showed up? That’s it folks we are on our own. The bishops and the civil authorities have abandoned us and are fully on board with BLM, Antifa, and the Death to America crowd. Start getting organized and building networks because the collapse will be a harsh winter.
OoooRaaaah! Well Done. Need a show of force to take the wind out of their “Red” Sails….Any Legal/Concealed weapon carriers in the group? God bless. Stay Strong.
My husband, descended from Aztecs and other Mezoamericans on one side, and we took pictures of ourselves in front of a statue of Juniper Serra at the Carmel Mission several years ago before Fr. Serra was canonized. We are NOT going to throw paint on his statue for any reason.
We know that all of our ancestors did both good and bad things, and some saintly things. If one does not like what is taught at a church, synagogue or other place of worship, it is quite simple — STAY AWAY.
When I said “STAY AWAY’, I meant do not go to their buildings and vandalize them but just stay away from them.
Correction to first line: “My husband, ……. ,and I took pictures.”
The iconoclasm is the work of the devil. He is a liar, a deceiver, and divider. Evil is running amok in our country. How is what they are doing different than what militants did overseas in destroying cultural works and terrorizing communities? I am disappointed because I thought these woke folks cared enough about the environment not to trash our streets and pollute our rivers.
I would not trust the word of anyone in a mob who is hell bent on vandalizing or tearing down a statue If she was directed to destroy files documenting abuse of Natives, where is the proof? If she was so horrified by the purging act that it caused her to leave the Church, why say nothing about it until now. Did she take pictures or make copies to back up her claim?
I fully agree with you and further more, this whole protest of those anarchists is SATANIC
I am very loath to bring the devil into any conversation, but really, witnessing this and all the other mob violence I am beginning to suspect diabolical activity. Perhaps it is because I cannot bear seeing my fellow humans acting like this of their own volition.
Looks like people are standing up for their rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution, such as Freedom of Speech and Freedom of religion. Thanks to the people who stood up to protect the statue and our rights.
God help us-all if us.
My Out Lady and Grace and St. Gabriel statues were stolen from their quiet little spot in my garden, having been there for 6 years undisturbed. I pray they were not desecrated. And I pray for those who took them. But I don’t feel safe in my own home now
Ventura and city counsel. What are you thinking. There should be no doubt in our community to make a decision to tear down our history! This is Ventura’s roots. This is our history. Nothing will change that. We need to protect our city! This is what happened and this is what molded us today. To let these people who bring hate and destruction needs to be shown out of Ventura. We need to protect our community. That is why you have you position in city council. Let us not forget this. No room for hate groups for removal of destruction. Or you are clearly not doin you job and we will remember this come electins!
Ventura and city counsel. What are you thinking. There should be no doubt in our community to make a decision to tear down our history! This is Ventura’s roots. This is our history. Nothing will change that. We need to protect our city! This is what happened and this is what molded us today. To let these people who bring hate and destruction needs to be shown out of Ventura. We need to protect our community. That is why you have your position in city council. Let us not forget this. No room for hate groups for removal of destruction. Or you are clearly not doing your job and we will remember this come elections!