Again Junipero Serra: “What not to do”

Edd Doerr of  Silver Spring, MD had this letter (“What not to do”) published in the Nov 6/19, 2015, issue of the rather liberal National Catholic Reporter (NCR) newespaper.    

Loring Abeyta’s excellent critical review of Gregory Orfalea’s book about Junipero Serra, Journey to the Sun (NCR, Sept 24/Oct8),(she called it "

Cloying book skirts damage Serra wrought") is backed up and reinforced by California Latino author Elias Castillo’s well-researched and documented 2015 book, A Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of California’s Indians by the Spanish Missions. Serra’s mistreatment of the Indians was so bad that the Spanish civil governor of California, Felipe de Neve (1775-82), criticized him.

From a review of A Cross of Thorns:

The myth of California’s missions as a nurturing environment for Indians is stripped away by Elias Castillo. Instead, he reveals the Indians’ enslavement by friars who used whips, chains, and shackles to restrain the unwilling prisoners who provided the labor force for the missions.

Through study of historical reports and letters, Castillo describes the efforts of Father Junipero Serra, father of the state’s mission system, to gain more souls in heaven. But it came at the expense of Indians wrenched from their lives close to nature into a worse one. Serra may be canonized by Pope Francis, but his legacy is stained.

The book is thoroughly researched and well written. It depicts a sad period in California history.

Did Junipero Serra embody the church’s direction?

Edd Doerr (arlinc.org) posted online in the Washington Post on 9/24/2/2015  -in response to the story “Serra embodied church’s direction, pope says”  -------

The canonization of Junipero Serra, a process begun before Francis became pope, should be a source of great embarrassment to the Catholic Church. It is certainly a slap in the face to the Native Americans who suffered horribly at the hands of the Spanish missionaries. The abuse of the Indians in California was so bad that the Spanish civil governor of California (1775-1782), Felipe de Neve, severely criticized Serra and the missionaries. The missions' mistreatment of the Indians is detailed and documented in California Latino author Elias Castillo's important 2015 book, A Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of California's Indians by the Spanish Missions. After Mexico won independence from Spain its government expelled the Spanish missionaries and closed the missions. And all this was before California became part of the US.

Curiously, the Vatican never canonized Bartolome de las Casas, the earlier missionary who exposed and criticized the mistreatment of Native Americans.

It is embarrassing that Serra's statue stands in the US Capitol. It should be removed and replaced by the statue of Thomas Starr King, the real American that Lincoln credited with keeping California in the Union during the Civil War. Starr King's and Serra's statues stood in the Capitol since 1931 until Starr King's was replaced by that of Ronald Reagan. Serra's should now be replaced by that of Starr King. Jerry Brown should start the process.