It Needed to Be Said

Salvatore J. Cordileone and José H. Gomez, the Roman Catholic archibishops of San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively, have an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, defending Junipero Serra against the slanders being levied against him by California’s legislature:

California lawmakers have passed legislation to replace a statue of St. Junípero Serra at the Capitol in Sacramento with a new monument honoring the state’s native peoples. The Serra statue has been in storage since it was torn down by protesters in July 2020. A humble 18th-century Franciscan priest, Serra would surely approve of a new monument honoring the indigenous Californians he spent his life serving. Unfortunately, the legislature has gone further, slandering his name and pushing a false narrative about the mission period in California.

Enslavement of both adults and children, mutilation, genocide, and assault on women were all part of the mission period initiated and overseen by Father Serra,” declares Assembly Bill 338, which passed both chambers by wide margins and now awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. None of that is true. While there is much to criticize from this period, no serious historian has ever made such outrageous claims about Serra or the mission system, the network of 21 communities that Franciscans established along the California coast to evangelize native people. The lawmakers behind the bill drew their ideas from a single tendentious book written by journalist Elias Castillo.

As leaders of the state’s two largest Catholic communities, we serve thousands of native Californians who trace their faith to ancestors who helped build the missions. We understand the bitter history of native exploitation. But history can be complicated and facts matter.

They go on to elucidate those facts. Junipero Serra didn’t abuse indigenous Californians—many of his actions were attempts to defend those people from the abuses of the Spanish and right the wrongs they had experienced. You should be able to read the entire op-ed from my link if you hurr—I believe these “free links” expire pretty quickly.

One more point. The champions of indigenous people including indigenous Californians should read some contemporaneous accounts of the lives of those people and stop romanticizing them.