Today's Canonization Of Junipero Serra: Pope Francis's Controversial Act

The Pope’s visit to the United States will include Wednesday’s plan to perform the first canonization on U.S. soil; the act will make controversial Spanish Franciscan priest Junipero Serra a saint. On June 25 the California Senate voted 22-10 to banish a statue of the Spanish Franciscan priest Serra that has stood in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall since 1931.

Why is he controversial? The California Indians were NOT living in an Edenic paradise before he arrived. They fought each other in tribal wars, they had high infant mortality (as did all hunter-gatherer groups); and their lives were much improved when they learned farming and were associated into non-warring communities by the Spanish.

Of course, they didn’t get a Jeffersonian republic; but some of their much-vaunted “customs” weren’t better than what the Spanish had, and weren’t worth preserving.

(the above represents a non_PC viewpoint, and also assumes that Christianity is better than animism and shamanism)

Agreed that Eden was not in California then or now. But, "some of their much-vaunted “customs” weren’t better than what the Spanish had, and weren’t worth preserving." literally reeks of the same cultural hubris that the Spanish displayed in their conquest.

California's missions were also military outposts, they were also industrial/agricultural centers in need of labor and designed to export the riches believed to be abundant in the new world.

"Weren't better than what the Spanish had" suggests that you know that infant mortality etc. were no better in Madrid or London than on the Monterrey Peninsula of today's California...and I sincerely doubt that tribal wars here were even a fraction as horrendous as contemporary national and religious wars of Europe.

I guess this is a good time to ask you about your opinion of Mexican illegal immigration into the USA and muslim infiltration into Christian Europe and America today; both organized assaults on the existing culture which some say is "no better than...".

My maternal grandmother was a California native American, Barona Band, San Diego area, so I (literally) have some skin in the game. I'm also a student of the history of the times, so I know something of the historical context as well.

The methods used by the Spanish missionaries were necessary in order for native population to survive the colonization of California. Keep in mind that at the time Spain was not England or France. Spaniards were not that far removed from their 600 year war with the Moslems to retake Spain, and the culture was still both feudal and martial. The social structure was VERY rigid with the poor and unlanded being basically serfs. Severe punishment (including flogging) was meted out to the lower classes that broke the law or disrespected their "betters". To be a Spaniard and not be a Catholic was tantamount to treason, and only savages could not speak Spanish.

This was the situation in Spain and the missionaries transfered it to the New World. The natives were treated no better or worse than those of an equivalent social status in Spain. The missionaries knew that if the native people were not fully assimilated into the culture they were considered "savages" by the government and soldiers alike and could be wiped out with impunity.

This was the reality of the situation at the time and it was what the missionaries had to work with. To judge people of another time from hindsight of 300 years and a very different culture is to be ignorant of history and unjust.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.