Decision to canonize Father Junipero Serra draws divided reaction

*This story has caused a flood of opinion, as well it should. Serra’s place in U.S. history is not debated, he left a deep mark. What’s debaed, I think, is Father Jinpero’s place as a saint of the Catholic church. This is an interesting piece to start a conversation. VL

By Joe Mozingo, Matt Hamilton and Jeff Gotlieb, Los Angeles Times

He wandered beyond the edge of Christendom into a rugged land of “infidels” he sought to convert.

When Father Junipero Serra and his cavalcade arrived at la bahia de San Diego in 1769, between 225,000 and 310,000 natives inhabited the territory that would become the state of California. The string of missions he and his Franciscan order established would become an origin story for the state, a folkloric tale of vineyards and benevolent friars, taught to students from Modoc to San Ysidro.

Reality was much harsher. The Spanish flogged natives who disobeyed, banned their beliefs and customs, captured those who tried to escape. In the end, they converted less than a quarter of the population, while their livestock and disease destroyed native food supplies and decimated villages.

Serra has been hailed and pilloried as the Columbus of California, an intrepid explorer who opened a bountiful new land to Europeans at the expense of the people already there.

Thus it was inevitable that people would be sharply divided over Pope Francis’ announcement this week to canonize Serra.

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