Posted on 07/30/2020 5:30:04 PM PDT by marshmallow
Denver Newsroom, Jul 21, 2020 / 05:40 pm MT (CNA).- A proposal to remove St. Junipero Serra from Ventura County’s official seal is unwarranted, and elected officials need to know Serra’s true story, according to the priest who heads the final mission the sainted Spanish missionary founded in California.
“Should the County of Ventura redesign its emblem, some representation of Junipero Serra is critical to the history of the county and its economic prosperity that we all enjoy today,” Fr. Tom Elewaut, pastor of the Old Mission Basilica of San Buenaventura, told CNA July 21.
“Historic fact supports the good Serra brought to the indigenous people of Alta California, his spiritual children,” he said, stating that indigenous Californians suffered the most after the mission period had ended. “Do your homework, read the historical facts, and learn who really abused the indigenous peoples. Not Serra himself and not the intent of the Mission Era.”
Elewaut is the 30th successor of St. Junipero Serra at the San Buenaventura mission. When Pope Francis canonized Serra during his 2015 U.S. visit, making Serra the first Hispanic saint to minister in the continental U.S., the mission held a major celebration.
“The letters and actions of Serra evidence his love and care of the indigenous persons. Academics of indigenous descent uphold this,” said Elewaut, who referred to the work of Dr. Ruben Mendoza, an archaeologist and professor at California State University Monterrey Bay.
Serra was often at odds with Spanish colonial authorities over their mistreatment of native Californians, and these indigenous people showed an outpouring of grief at his death in 1784.
Despite Serra’s record of defending the rights of indigenous peoples, statues of the 18th century Spanish-born saint have become focal points for protests and demonstrations across California in recent weeks, with images of the.......
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnewsagency.com ...
Just like communism let’s destroy all our heritage to satisfy the liberals.
As the de facto founder of most of the major cities in California (and plenty of the minor ones too), Junipero Serra is easily the most significant person in the history of the state. But “racism”... so cancel. What a freakin’ joke.
Every time some deranged lunatic makes a proposal like this they should suffer Extraordinary Rendition and be relocated to Afghanistan
Facts mean nothing to these Marxists. They intend to destroy all existing traditions and history and start everything over with lies and misconceptions of their own making.
Reasoning with them is pointless. They will have none of it.
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