The following comes from an August 10 Catholic Voice article by Michele Jurich:
What began as a presentation on the canonization of Junipero Serra, founding father of the California mission system, was met by protesters who were invited to the table and ended leaving the leader of the religious community that sponsored it “profoundly grateful and profoundly challenged.”
The presentation — “Serra: Saint and Sinner” by Ohlone Chochenyo Indians Andrew Galvan and his cousin, Vincent Media Jr., who serve as curator and assistant curator, respectively, at Mission Dolores in San Francisco — grew into a wider-ranging discussion.
In addition to more than 100 registered participants for the July 25 event sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose’s’ Center for Education and Spirituality, about 10 protesters, many holding signs, joined the conversation.
Medina offered the “Our Father” in Chochenyo, the native language of the Ohlones who lived on the Mission San Jose land.
his cousin Galvan has been working on the cause for canonization for half his life. “It took me to the Vatican 16 times,” he said.
“I know him. I study him. I pray to him,” Galvan said of Serra. “He brought Christ into our world.”
But Serra’s legacy has a different meaning for his cousin and colleague, Medina.
Being a Chochenyo Ohlone and Catholic is, Medina said, “a confusing place to be.”
“We know they suffered,” he said of his ancestors who lived and worked at Mission San Jose, “but in that place my family also became Catholic. They adopted this Catholic religion, whether by choice or by force, and it stuck with my family. It shows we don’t have to be one or the other to be either Catholic. We can be something in this intersection, which shows an evolving and rich community.”
“My mother was a native,” said Ruth Orta, a Newark resident who attends Mass with the Dominican Sisters, who taught her mother. “I speak as an elder,” she said. “This person that they want to make a saint,” she said, “was cause for annihilation of a lot of people and most of our culture. Even if they make this man a saint, we don’t have to pray to him. I’m a Catholic. I am going to pray to those I feel the people I know who can save me, and help me, and guide me. Jesus Christ is the one I believe in.”
Kim DeOcampo, of the Tuolumne Band of Miwok, said the hurt goes deeper. “We can never heal and reconcile with the canonization of Serra,” she said.
She compared the effect of Serra’s canonization on native people to the Confederate flag on black people. “Black people don’t like to be reminded of kidnapping, slavery and torture,” she said. “Neither do we.”
DeOcampo said she was baptized a Catholic, but has turned her back on the Church. “I still believe in Jesus,” she said. She cited the Church’s “indifference toward two-spirit (LGBT) people” and its stand on women’s reproductive issues.
Steps toward reconciliation, Medina said, might include free admission to the missions their ancestors built, as well as opportunities for native cultural and ceremonial observances.
As the gathering came to a conclusion, Sister Reina Perea, OP, stepped up to the open microphone.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
Sister Gloria Marie Jones, OP, prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, echoed her words.
“Today I believe we have come to realize the sacredness of this space has been fed not only by the faith that was planted here but by the pain, the sorrow and the hurt that has watered this soil as well,” she said.
EVERY newcomer usually takes over, whether we’re talking about the Romans, the Visigoths, or the Puritans.
It’s the way the world works, and those who select “perpetual victomhood” are going to a gloomy Gus until the very end.
Do these people imagine that the Native Americans, their ancestors, were paragons of virtue when it came to warfare, treatment of others, etc.????
Show me the saint who was never the sinner, and I will show you Our Blessed Mother. Apart from that, every saint was also a sinner.
Whether or not the allegations are true that some Indians of the current generation have leveled is still a matter of debate, according to scholars, the last I have read. Tempers flare when these allegations are claimed, but history has not proven that Padre Serra did, as some Indians claims, things that would have been condemned by his peers in his time.
Even if he did, the incredible gift of Catholicism brought to the native peoples of the land we now call California and Mexico, spread well beyond those borders, has brought so much good to the world that even intentional sins, such as we all have…
It is interesting to me because when I was going through recovery from the damage of my childhood years,, I felt that the good done to me by my family in the act of having me baptized outweighed every negative that had been done.
These people need to get over it. My Irish ancestors who came to this country were treated worse than dogs at that time, yet, one does not read about their descendants whining about the past. The best revenge is the success of your descendants. I’ll pray to Fr. Serra.
The only ONE I HAVE to pray to is GOD. It is highly recommended that I also pray to Our Lady, and it is further advisable that I pray to my patron saints. If I choose not to pray to a certain saint it does not diminish that saint’s holiness. It would seem natural that the more saintly friends I have in Heaven, the more likely they will intercede for me to join them shortly after I die. But then, today, what is natural, logical and true seems to be unpopular.
Did readers pay attention that dialogue was not shut down at that presentation? Dialogue was NOT allowed at the global warming *indoctrination* that took place at Christ Cathedral. Differing scientific opinions were also NOT allowed at the Vatican. ONLY the opinions of those who support the evil that we have witnessed in the Planned Parenthood videos.
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, on October 11, 2013, during a speech given at Villanova University, in the United States, confessed that he was lobbied to support Cardinal Bergoglio. Start watching from 18:20 (5 year target to remake the Church)
https://fromrome.wordpress.com/2015/02/25/cardinal-mccarrick-confesses-that-he-was-lobbied-to-support-cardinal-bergoglio/
Thank you, Pilar, for your beautiful Catholic response!
I know this is a little off-topic, but I thought it was so interesting that I’m going to put it out there. I recently had a discussion with someone about the Catholic’s treatment of indigenous peoples at the early missions. Many Native Americans have been able to prove their tribal ancestry thanks to the wonderful record-keeping of the Catholic priests throughout time. This in turn has made many richer-than-rich by being on the rolls of tribes who run casinos today. The man I spoke to said his tribe owed the church a big debt of thanks – in this day and age…
“As the gathering came to a conclusion, Sister Reina Perea, OP, stepped up to the open microphone. ‘I’m so sorry,” she said.’
Why does the Church constantly have to apologize? Should pagans have been left in their fruitless rituals not knowing Christ? No wonder interreligious gatherings are so popular in the Vatican 2 Church, you don’t have to do the hard work of proselytizing as Father Serra did, as the Apostles did, as the saints of the Church did.
No apology should ever be made for converting heathens. As Christ commanded; Therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (MATT 28:19)
You are welcome, Catherine. May God love, bless and be with you.
Father Serra catechized and baptized the Chochenyo Ohlone Indians. They became part of Catholic Western Civilization. What a great gift St. Junipero Serra gave them. Instead of having a chip on their shoulder, they should say, like Fr. Serra, Siempre Adelante!
Saint Junipero Serra, pray for us.
http://www.SaintSerraBook.com