Slandering a saint

RICHARD A. SOKERKA

The California legislature has overwhelmingly passed a bill that slanders the life and works of St. Junípero Serra. In part, the legislation falsely points to “the enslavement of both adults and children, mutilation, genocide, and assault on women as part of the mission period initiated and overseen by Father Serra.” In an essay published on the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal last week, Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, called the legislation’s claims a “slander” against the saint, pushing a “false narrative” about the missions the saint founded. “None of that is true,” they write. “While there is much to criticize from this period, no serious historian has ever made such outrageous claims about St. Junípero Serra or the mission system.” As a matter of fact, Professor Gregory Orfalea, author of Journey to the Sun: Junípero Serra’s Dream and the Founding of California, published in 2014, writes, “To the Indian, he [Serra] was loving, enthusiastic, and spiritually and physically devoted.” Pope Francis canonized St. Junípero Serra in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 23, 2015, the first-ever canonization on American soil.

It is rare for popes to celebrate canonizations outside of Rome. But Pope Francis, the first pontiff from the New World, emphasized St. Junípero Serra’s holiness and his historic significance as America’s first Hispanic saint, and called him “one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.” St. Pope John Paul II, who beatified Serra in 1988, praised his “heroic spirit and heroic deeds,” and called him a “defender and champion” of the indigenous Californians. “Very often at crucial moments in human affairs,” the Pope said, “God raises up men and women whom he thrusts into roles of decisive importance for the future development of both society and the Church. So it is with Junípero Serra, who in the providence of God was destined to be the Apostle of California, and to have a permanent influence over the spiritual patrimony of this land and its people, whatever their religion might be.” Known as the greatest missionary in U.S. history, St. Junípero Serra traveled some 25,000 miles, baptizing and confirming thousands of persons, mostly Native Americans. St. Junípero Serra did not initiate nor did he approve the inhumane treatment of Native Americans, but led the protests against it. Ultimately, the Spanish Crown agreed with him.

Bill 338, which passed 66–2 in the Assembly and 28–2 in the Senate, is now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk ready to be signed into law. However, the language in the legislation repeats the unsubstantiated allegations found in online petitions and other misinformation spread last summer by Black Lives Matter and other activist groups to “justify” vandalizing statues of the saint in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and at the Capitol in Sacramento.

Certainly, California’s legislature has more pressing issues on its plate, many of which came to the forefront nationally in the campaign to recall Gov. Newsom, that need to be addressed.

Gov. Newsom should forthrightly veto this legislation, sending a message to legislators that sullying the life of a saint is insulting not only to Californians but also to Catholics who revere St. Junípero Serra’s important role in California’s history.