SACRAMENTO, Calif. — By defacing and toppling a statue of St.
Junipero Serra in Sacramento, protesters may have meant "to draw attention
to the sorrowful, angry memories over California's past," but "this
act of vandalism does little to build the future," Bishop Jaime Soto said
July 5.
The bishop, who heads the Sacramento Diocese, made the comments
after the statue on the grounds of the California Capitol in Capitol Park was
torn down by a group of demonstrators late July 4.
"There is no question that California's indigenous people
endured great suffering during the colonial period and then later faced the
horror of government-sanctioned genocide under the nascent state of
California," Bishop Soto said. "This legacy is heartbreaking."
However, he continued, "it is also true that while Father
Serra worked under this colonial system, he denounced its evils and worked to
protect the dignity of native peoples."
"His holiness as a missionary should not be measured by his
own failures to stop the exploitation or even his own personal faults,"
the bishop added.
Bishop Soto's remarks echoed those of Los Angeles Archbishop Jose
H. Gomez in a column he wrote for the July 1 feast day of St. Junipero Serra.
The Sacramento bishop also referred to the column, published June 29 in
Angelus, the online news platform of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
"The exploitation of America's first peoples, the
destruction of their ancient civilizations, is a historic tragedy,"
Archbishop Gomez wrote. "Crimes committed against their ancestors continue
to shape the lives and futures of native peoples today. Generations have passed
and our country still has not done enough to make things right."
"I understand the deep pain being expressed by some native
peoples in California. But I also believe Fray Junipero is a saint for our
times, the spiritual founder of Los Angeles, a champion of human rights, and
this country's first Hispanic saint," the archbishop said, noting that he
was "privileged" to concelebrate the Spanish Franciscan's
canonization Mass with Pope Francis in 2015 during the pontiff's pastoral visit
to Washington.
Known for spreading the Gospel in the New World during the 18th
century, the Franciscan priest landed in Mexico, then made his way on foot up
the coast of Mexico and to California, where he established a chain of missions
that are now the names of well-known cities such as San Diego, San Francisco
and Santa Barbara.
He was the first president of the California mission system, and
personally founded nine of the state's 21 missions. It is estimated that during
his ministry, St. Junipero Serra baptized about 6,000 native people.
In 2015, some people objected to the canonization of the
Spaniard, like critics did of his beatification in 1988, because of questions
raised about how Father Serra allegedly treated the native peoples of
California and about the impact of Spanish colonization on native peoples
throughout the Americas.
"Understanding the efforts of Father Serra to bring light
into the bitter, bleak darkness of colonial ambition is the difficult task of
history," Bishop Soto said in his statement. "So is the present
arduous work to chart the future with hope.
"The strenuous labor of overcoming the plague of racism
should not be toppled by nocturnal looting," he continued. "Dialogue
should not abdicate to vandalism. Nor should these unnerving episodes distract
us from the duties of justice and charity upon which a better California can be
built."
The Fourth of July weekend, Bishop Soto said, was a reminder to
the nation "our common cause is to be a living monument to those words
carved into the American soul, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.'"
"All monuments are imperfect as are our efforts
to live up to America's founding ideals," he said. "The primary task
is to build up our community, not tear it down."