WASHINGTON — California's Stanford University will strip the name
of 18th-century Franciscan friar, St. Junipero Serra, from some of its
properties but keep a street named after him.
Stanford University announced the changes Sept. 13, saying in a
statement that the saint, canonized in the U.S. during Pope Francis' apostolic
visit in 2015, established a mission system that, while part of California
history, it also was one that "inflicted great harm and violence on Native
Americans."
Stanford said it has several "features named for Serra even
though he played no direct role in the university's history."
Serra Mall, a main avenue on the university's Palo Alto campus,
Serra dormitory and Serra House will be renamed, the university said, but Serra
Street, will keep its name.
"Revisiting how we think about historical figures is a challenging
undertaking that requires care and humility," said Jeff Raikes, chair of
the university's board of trustees in the statement released by Stanford.
"With the passage of time, we gain new understanding of historical events,
the people who shaped them and the effects of those events on others. At the
same time, we know that all individuals' lives are imperfect and that any
exercise to evaluate a historical figure by present-day standards has
limitations."
Discussion over removing St. Junipero Serra's name on the campus
began in 2016 and various groups, including Catholics as well as American
Indian groups, provided input. Some argued that it was hard to judge the past
by modern standards.
The committee tasked with
looking at the issue in the end concluded that "whatever the underlying
motivations," the mission system the friar established "subjected
Native Americans to great violence and, together with other colonial
activities, had devastating effects on California's Native American tribes and
communities. It contributed to the destruction of the cultural, economic and
religious practices of indigenous communities and left many tribal communities
decimated, scattered, landless and vulnerable to subsequent colonization."
The recommendation to remove the saint's name from some features
and not from others "reflected the complex nature of Serra's legacy and
his lack of a direct role in the university's own history" said Raikes,
the board of trustee's chair.
During his canonization Mass at Washington's National Shrine of
the Immaculate Conception Sept. 23, 2015, the pope praised St. Junipero Serra
as a witness "who testified to the joy of the Gospel in these lands,"
one who left his native Spain to blaze trails to export the Gospel to other
parts of the world.
The pope, however, months before the canonization, said that
"grave sins were committed against the native peoples of America in the
name of God," during a visit to Latin America.