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Misleading claims about St. Junipero Serra have made their way into a bill sent to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, drawing concerns and objections from several Catholic leaders who say the errors shouldn’t stand amid debate about statues of the pioneering Spanish Franciscan missionary. After vandals knocked down a decades-old statue of Serra on the grounds of the California capitol last year, the Democratic-controlled state legislature passed a bill to remove a place for the Franciscan missionary saint and instead place a Native American statue on the grounds. “The California Catholic Conference supports the intention of A.B. 338 to create...

On Thursday, members of the Assembly gave a renewed push for the passage of a bill that would replace the toppled Junipero Serra statue outside the state capitol building in Sacramento with one honoring Native Americans in California.

Felony Vandalism charges have been filed against five people, in connection with last month’s destruction of a statue in San Rafael, California.SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Marin County prosecutors have filed felony vandalism charges against five people after a mob destroyed a statue of St. Junípero Serra at Mission San Rafael Arcángel last month. If convicted, the vandals could be sentenced to up to three years in prison and fined up to $50,000. Separately, the California Highway Patrol made an arrest in connection with the July 4 toppling of the Serra statue at Sacramento’s Capitol Park. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, whose archdiocese...

The Archbishop of San Francisco performed an exorcism Saturday at the site where rioters ripped down a statue of Father Junipero Serra last week. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone conducted the ceremony in front of approximately 150 people outside the St. Raphael Catholic Church in San Raphael, which is north of San Francisco. The ritual consisted of Latin prayers and the sprinkling of holy water on the site of the ruined statue, as well as on the surrounding bushes, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The group later conducted a scheduled march to a nearby Planned Parenthood clinic.

The Junipero Serra statue at the Serra Retreat Center in Malibu was discovered to be vandalized the night of Aug. 6. The statue was smashed and broken in half with the priest’s head laying at the base of the statue. Serra is an 18th century Franciscan Friar who led the development of the California mission system during the period of Spanish colonization. In 2015, the Friar was controversially canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. A Junipero Serra statue in downtown Los Angeles was similarly brought to the ground by activists on June 20, who reasoned that the statue represented social...

The city council of Ventura, California has voted to remove a statue of St. Junipero Serra from the grounds of city hall, amid riots and protests in other California cities that have resulted in the destruction of several statues of the saint in recent months. The Ventura City Council voted 6-0 Wednesday evening to remove a bronze statue from outside city hall and a wooden replica inside the building, the LA Times reported. The bronze statue of Serra is a 1989 replica of a 1936 concrete piece. Though the council’s resolution did not specify when the removal would take place,...

A raging fire tore through the church at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel early Saturday, July 11, destroying almost all of the 215-year-old building that is an icon in the small Los Angeles County town.

A fire broke out at the San Gabriel Mission early Saturday and burned the roof and much of the church’s interior, officials said. Authorities have not determined what caused the blaze at the 249-year-old church on 428 S. Mission Drive. The San Gabriel Fire Department received a call about the fire at around 4:30 a.m. and arrived at the scene to find flames through the roof, Capt. Antonio Negrete told KTLA. The crews called for additional units after about 5 minutes, Negrete said. Some 50 firefighters responded to the location, and they struggled as parts of the roof began to...

A fire broke out at the San Gabriel Mission and completely burned the church’s roof early Saturday, officials said. Authorities have not said what may have caused the blaze at the 249-year-old church on 428 S. Mission Drive. Video recorded before daylight shows dark smoke rising from the flames. Officials did no report any injuries. The church, founded in 1771, was the fourth of 21 missions established by the priest Junipero Serra, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A statue of Junipero Serra, the Franciscan priest who helped to establish the Spanish missions in California, was torn down by protesters in Sacramento’s Capitol Park on Saturday night after a day of marches throughout the city. Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article244012732.html#storylink=cpy

Protesters in Golden Gate Park toppled statues of Fr. Junipero Serra, Francis Scott Key and President Ulysses S. Grant on Friday night, spurring a national debate over the complex legacies of those historical figures amid a broader movement to remove what critics say are monuments to white supremacy. A group of roughly 100 people pulled down the monuments displayed in the park’s Music Concourse near the de Young Museum and California Academy of Sciences, an eyewitness said. Police were called to the area just after 8 p.m., and said people in the group threw objects at the officers. The crowd...

Junipero Serra statue toppled at Golden Gate Park Group also pulled down Francis Scott Key and Ulysses S. Grant monuments SAN FRANCISCO – Statues of Fr. Junipero Serra, Francis Scott Key and Ulysses S. Grant were toppled at Golden Gate Park on Friday. A group of roughly 100 people pulled down the statues about 8 or 9 p.m., an eyewitness said. One video posted to Twitter showed the group using a strap to topple the statue of Serra. The statue, according to the University of California, was first unveiled in 1907.

First, it was the defacing (or removing) of Confederate statues in the East and South. Now it’s the defacing and vandalism of St. Junipero Serra statues in the West. This is a comparatively new wrinkle in the news – this trend of destroying the symbols of history with which one doesn’t personally agree. I wonder if such vandalism is the new normal. This certainly raises reporting questions for journalists covering this kind of story. For the latest on what’s happening in California, we turn to various local media on how they’ve covered the latest incidents. First, from the San Francisco...

A bronze statue of the Roman Catholic priest Junipero Serra at the Old Santa Barbara Mission was decapitated and doused with red paint on Sunday night or early Monday morning. The statue, on the western side of the Central Coast property near the mission's office, has since been covered with a tarp. The Santa Barbara mission has been called the "Queen of the Missions." The statue was vandalized in a similar fashion as another Father Serra statue in Monterey last year. That figure, which was beheaded but not painted, has since been repaired. Another, in Santa Cruz, was vandalized with...

Students at Stanford University, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, are attempting to scrub names and symbols that honor people who are historically connected to slavery and colonialism from the college campus. The move echoes a series of colleges across the nation whose students have attempted to do the same. The latest target in this battle is Saint Junipero Serra, an 18th-century Spanish, Roman Catholic priest and missionary who was canonized last September. His name is on two dorms, an academic building a street and the mall that is the school's official address. It is "important for the university...

Statue of Newly Sainted Missionary Vandalized in Carmel By NBC Bay Area Staff A statue of Father Junipero Serra was vandalized at the church where he is buried overnight Saturday in Northern California, according to the church. Serra was canonized as a saint by Pope Francis this week in a controversial move – some Native Americans say the California's missions, which Serra helped found, cut their ancestors off from their traditional languages and cultures and enslaved those who converted to Christianity.

Carmel >> A special Mass celebrating the canonization of Saint Junipero Serra was marred on Sunday by vandalism at Carmel Mission Basilica. A 6-foot tall bronze statue of Serra in the mission courtyard was pushed over and the staff in the statue’s hand was broken. A fountain next to the statue was splattered with paint, as were the doors of the cathedral.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Canonizing the 18th-century Spanish missionary, Blessed Junipero Serra, Pope Francis insisted a person's faith is alive only when it is shared.

The Pope praised Serra’s treatment of Native Americans, saying that he “sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it.” “Mistreatment and wrongs which today still trouble us,” Francis continued, “especially because of the hurt which they cause in the lives of many people.” The Pope has planned to meet with Native Americans in Washington after the Mass, a Vatican official told CNN’s Delia Gallagher. But some Native Americans say Serra was no saint. “We’re stunned and we’re in disbelief,” said Valentin Lopez, 63, chairman of the Amah Mutsun...

When Pope Francis canonizes Father Junípero Serra on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Serra will be the first Hispanic American saint, and the first saint canonized on American soil. He also figures to be one of the most controversial saints in the long history of the Roman Catholic Church – a symbol that roils some hearts even as it lifts others. Serra, an 18th-century Spanish friar who founded nine of the 21 California missions, including Mission San Juan Capistrano, is gaining sainthood, in part, because he helped bring the church to the Americas. By one reckoning, Serra’s legacy is nothing less...