Posted on 05/02/2015 10:13:46 AM PDT by marshmallow
Today Pope Francis celebrated a mass at the North American College on the Janiculum, as part of a special day dedicated to Junípero Serra, "one of the founding fathers of the United States". “Sometimes we stop and thoughtfully examine their weaknesses and their shortcomings. But I wonder if today we are able to respond with the same generosity and courage to the call of God”
Although he will be canonizing Friar Junípero Serra himself on 23 September, in preparation for this ceremony, Pope Francis wished to pay tribute to the “Apostole of California” and “one of the founding fathers of the United States”, by celebrating a mass at the North American College at the end of a special day dedicated to the Spanish evangelizer. In his homily, Francis urged people to contemplate Friar Junípero’s saintly example, indirectly hinting at the recent controversy in the US over the saint-to-be.
“Sometimes,” Francis said referring to the evangelisers, “we stop and thoughtfully examine their strengths and, above all, their weaknesses and their shortcomings. But I wonder if today we are able to respond with the same generosity and courage to the call of God, who invites us to leave everything in order to worship him, to follow him, to rediscover him in the face of the poor, to proclaim him to those who have not known Christ and, therefore, have not experienced the embrace of his mercy. Friar Junípero’s witness calls upon us to get involved, personally, in the mission to the whole continent, which finds its roots in Evangelii Gaudium.”
The Pope recalled “the missionary nature of the Church, sent by Jesus to go out and proclaim the Gospel” and “the many missionaries who brought the Gospel to the New World and, at the same time, defended the indigenous peoples against abuses by.....
(Excerpt) Read more at vaticaninsider.lastampa.it ...
Very un-PC of him, but I’m glad to see Serra get the recognition which imho he deserves.
Almost every mission he founded became a major city;
and those cities have affected Christendom ever since.
The PC’ers are currently in a rage about this saintly man in the days leading up to his September canonization by the Pope. They’re trying to get his statue removed from the Capitol Building, and smearing his name by associating him with the abuse Native American Californians suffered at the hands of colonizers and soldiers, when in fact the historical record shows he was a their tireless defender. He even had to relocate a couple of the missions because of the bad influence of colonial settlements and army garrisons.
I have always admired Father Serra but calling him one of the founding fathers of the United States seems to be a bit of a stretch. Was he even aware of the American Revolution? He died in 1784. Since Spain was drawn into the war against Great Britain, he may have been aware of the war but maybe not of how it ended.
Not one of the founding fathers, however.
“Not one of the founding fathers, however.”
As a native SoCal citizen myself, I have no problem with this writer’s figure of speech reference to the importance of people like Serra.
I grew up in the West, and my parents reminded me that the descriptions and history I was being taught, left out the importance of the West.
One example my Mom gave, was a US map, and reference to Ohio as being “mid-west.” The implication was to realize there was more to the country, than what was taught in school and what was emphasized on the nightly news.
Since those formative days for me in the 50s, the population has grown, and shifted West and South in the country. The two biggest population states are now out here.
So to the extent J. Serra can be a means of informing people of our history, I support it. There is far more to our history than the New England settlers, Pilgrims, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War, all taking place east of the Mississippi for the most part.
I am talking just history, not politics or religion. I know he was not a founder in the normal sense. But the history of all areas now comprising the states is important.
I’m also a native and understand his importance. I also know that Serra founded Mission San Juan Capistrano the same year the Declaration of Independence was written. Still, not only was Serra not a Founding Father, he has nothing to do with the United States in any way.
“I’m also a native and understand his importance. I also know that Serra founded Mission San Juan Capistrano the same year the Declaration of Independence was written. Still, not only was Serra not a Founding Father, he has nothing to do with the United States in any way.”
No point wasting more time arguing with you. I know he is not an official FOUNDER, anymore than Columbus, Erickson, early Spanish, Portuguese and English explorers, etc.
I wasn’t arguing. Just expressing my view on the topic, which I thought was the point of posting here.
The dates prove him to be a founding father, however.
I have no reason to doubt that he was a good man -- but there were plenty of good men who had nothing to do with the founding of the United States. Fr. Serra never set foot in US territory as far as I know.
Not only does the southwest have a strong Spanish influence, but Spain settled on the east coast before the Pilgrims (the oldest settlement is St. Augustine, Florida - not in Massachusetts). Both Florida and Alabama have Spain’s flag from the time in their state flags.
While the Spanish missionaries worked wonders, the French missionaries were more like the Apostles - they often went without protection, and several were martyred in the same manner as most of the original Apostles. While Americans are familiar with New England, many don’t know that New France extended deep down into New York State. St. Isaac Jogues was martyred west of Albany.
The dominant history of the US has been from an “Anglo” perspective.
Immigrants from outside the Anglo places, often “Anglicized” their names.
There was quite simply the best documented history for the Eastern seaboard, it was already in English, the Anglos ran things, so leaving other aspects of history to lesser importance got little argument.
Spain/Mexico’s holdings reached all the way north into what became Wyoming state.
The all American western cowboy, came from he Spanish vaqueros, for herding cattle. Most of the gear, the food on the trail, etc. was mainly Spanish/Mexican origin.
So I take no offense with the Pope’s words at all, even though I can trace my ancestry own to about 1630 in New England.
They teach the history of California in California, but perhaps not so much elsewhere.
Spanish Missionaries and Mexican vaqueros had nothing to do with the founding culture and government of the United States, which is rooted in the Anglo-Scottish Enlightenment. Sorry, but the Argie dunce who sits in a Roman palace is wrong,
No he was not. The United States was founded by English-speaking devotees of the Enlightenment, not Spanish clerics.
Spain reached the Canadian border (hence the name “Montana”); when Lewis & Clark went to explore the Louisiana Purchase, Spain sent an expidition to stop them (because it had conflicting claims with France far north).
My father’s family arrived shortly after 1830, in Quebec.
“Spain reached the Canadian border (hence the name “Montana”); when Lewis & Clark went to explore the Louisiana Purchase, Spain sent an expidition to stop them (because it had conflicting claims with France far north).
My father’s family arrived shortly after 1830, in Quebec.”
My mother’s maiden name is from the American branch of a Canadian “Ulter Scot” clan. They had been onboard one of the five ships that arrived in 1718 from Londonderry.
Many of these people left Boston for Londonderry N.H., Casco Bay Maine etc. My ancestor went to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick. In 1856 two brothers and one wife traveled from New Brunswick to Minnesota.
Back in Ireland, in 1798 the Protestants and Catholics united in revolt against their English overlords.
In American history, I somewhere recall the colonists rebelled to break away from the English.
The foundational “Age of Enlightenment” was NOT strictly English. It included French, Dutch, German, Italian, and other thinkers as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment
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