To Pope Francis: Please Don't Make Junipero Serra a Saint

By Phill Laursen
Gilroy Dispatch
March 31, 2015

http://www.gilroydispatch.com/opinion/columnists/guest_columns/to-pope-francis-please-don-t-make-junipero-serra-a/article_f400984c-d70e-11e4-bef3-3f8df32fc724.html

Californians grow up in an atmosphere of reverence for Father Junipero Serra—there is, however, a different perspective among the descendants of the land’s original people. Their viewpoint will be difficult for many to accept, but open your heart and mind as you read excerpts from an open letter the leader of our area’s tribal band recently sent to Pope Francis. I met the author when he spoke to the Gilroy Historical Society, and I am tremendously impressed by his intellect, his sincerity and his wisdom. The letter begins:

His Holiness Pope Francis,

My name is Valentin Lopez and I am the Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band [descendants of local native peoples taken to Missions San Juan Bautista and Santa Cruz].… We are writing…to voice our disbelief and objection to your intent to canonize Franciscan Friar Junipero Serra.

Lopez describes the Amah Mutsun’s optimism when Francis was selected as Pope, and details letters they wrote to the Roman Catholic pontiff about their ancestors’ experiences and the aftermath, such as “….life expectancy was less than two years at some missions….Tribal members continue to suffer from the impact of cumulative emotional and psychological wounding”, how psychiatrist Dr. Donna Schindler explained “historic trauma”, and Bishop Emeritus of Sacramento Quinn said, ‘…although the language of these letters is sometimes very intense, he supports the basic message’.

The Amah Mutsun find, in Fr. Serra’s own writings, how “….the violence, intimidation and terror which was sponsored and ordered by Fr. Serra clearly set the policy and foundation for all future brutal acts at the missions.” They strongly believe Serra has a large degree of responsibility, “…for the death of approximately 100,000 California Indians and the complete extermination of many Native tribes, cultures and languages.”

Lopez cites contemporaries of Fr. Serra such as, “Father Boscana, who wrote…’the Indians of California may be compared to a species of monkeys’”; Father Mariano Payeras, who wrote the Church, “…had to come up with an alibi when people started asking where all the Indians had gone.” because ‘All we have done to the Indians is consecrate them, baptize them and bury them’; and how in 1809 a commander ordered soldiers to massacre 200 women and children who wouldn't march to Mission San Juan Bautista. “These women and children were cut into pieces with sabers.” And “Fr. Antonio de la Conception Herra wrote in 1799 that ‘The treatment of the Indians is the most cruel I have ever read in history. For the slightest things they receive heavy floggings, are shackled, and put in the stocks, and treated with so much cruelty that they are kept whole days without a drink of water’.”

Lopez, in answer to whether Serra should be judged by the standards of today, replies judgment should be based on the principles Christ laid down almost 2,000 years ago: “[Jesus] never used military enforcers or corporal punishment…considered people to be property or turn them into slaves….considered anyone to be a heathen, a pagan, or a savage…. say that a man had no soul…teach that the end results justified the means.”

Because we hear daily of acts by ISIS and other terrorists committing atrocities in the name of religion, these words from the letter to Pope Francis hit me hard:

“While some will argue that Junipero Serra himself was not directly responsible for this massacre, there is no dispute that he is responsible for creating the system that allowed these types of inhumane and depraved events to occur. Furthermore, to remove him from the consequences of the missions would be the same as removing the leaders of terrorist groups, or military aggressors who acted in the name of religion of any era…from the actions of their followers.”

While terrorists and brutal conquerors who act in the name of religion probably believe they are being faithful followers of their religion, they distorted it and inspire others to do unspeakable things. It causes me to wonder if, after the passing of two centuries, near extermination of a people and the fading of memories, we would consider it reasonable to declare saintly one of those leaders.

[For the full text of the letter go to]