An Overlooked Christian Controversy in CA

There has recently been a largely-overlooked religious controversy in California (CA) that is no laughing matter.

We have seen in recent decades the massive attempt to rewrite American history and to erase God from it.  Whole books have been written on this subject, like Dr. James S. Robbins’ Erasing America or Jarrett Stepman’s War on History.  We have seen how heroes in America’s past, like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and even Abraham Lincoln, have been turned into virtual villains by the forces of political correctness.  And now the anti-Christian elites in CA are engaging in a quiet war to dishonor the memory of a humble, Catholic priest who, for all practical purposes, founded CA.

Much of early CA was carved out in the second half of the 1700s by Father Junipero Serra (died 1784).  He has been dubbed the “Apostle of California.”  Father Junipero Serra created a series of 21 Catholic missions, each of which would be accessible to the next by a one-day horseback ride.  Beginning with San Diego, these missions stretch northward to Sonoma, the final mission in the series.  Sonoma was the mission just north of San Francisco, named after St. Francis of Assisi.  The best known of these missions is Los Angeles, i.e., “the angels” — technically its full name is “The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the River Porciúncula.”  It’s worth noting that America’s second largest city (Los Angeles) is named after the mother (“Our Lady”) of Jesus.  These missions include: San Juan Capistrano, San Jose (named after Mary’s husband, Joseph, the step-father of Jesus), San Gabriel, San Carlos, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, and Santa Barbara.

To this day, Father Serra’s missions are, in effect, the backbone of the state of CA.  They also include the Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo — best-known as Carmel-by-the-Sea.  It’s in that particular mission’s church where Father Serra is buried.  

It was in one of these missions that, for the first time ever, CA wine was produced.  The purpose of that was to celebrate Holy Communion.  Even CA’s state capital harkens back to the influence of Father Serra and company, Sacramento; as in the sacrament of Holy Communion.  

But today, the politically correct folks who are bent on stripping America of any of its godly heritage have aimed their sites against Father Junipero Serra, whose statue graces Statuary Hall in the U.S Capitol.  His is the only image of someone holding up a cross.  Now Junipero Serra High School in San Diego seems poised to disown its namesake, but critics charge that the decision to change the name was made surreptitiously.  In fact, the Thomas More Society (TMS) is suing over this name change because they maintain it was done illegally.  TMS, a legal group which fights for religious liberty, writes: “The principal of Junipero Serra High School and the San Diego Unified School District Board of Trustees violated citizens’ rights when they voted to rename the school without giving the public sufficient notice of their intent to do so.”

Why the potential change?  In effect, Father Serra is being blamed for abuses against the indigenous people that followed in the wake of his missionary work.  Not to different then blaming the Pilgrims who were peace-loving people who had a great relationship with the Indians, for abuses committed later by other European settlers.

Paul Jonna is a special counsel for TMS in this case.  He said: “It’s not up to debate what kind of man this was.  This man would wash the natives’ feet, yet he’s now been likened to conquistadors, who did bad things to the native population.”  Dr. William Donohue of the Catholic League, who calls Serra “the greatest missionary in U.S. history,” wants Gov. Newsom (CA-D) to veto a bill that would tear down a statue of Serra in Sacramento. Donohue writes: “The bill is not only based on bad history, it is a slanderous attack on the one man who actually did stand up for the rights of Indians at the time.”

It seems like the ongoing effort of historical revisionism — to tarnish American history and its heroes in service of political correctness — continues unabated.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel