Sainthood for Father Serra?
Mark I. Pinsky’s front-page article (March 28), “To Many Indians, Serra Was No Saint,” struck an open wound.
As one of 200,000-plus California Indians (14% of all U.S. Indians), and one of 80,000 in the Los Angeles area, and as an 18-year veteran of Catholic education, I believe that Father Junipero Serra was no saint.
Father Serra was a leader in enslaving and decimating California Indians in the name of Christ. Religious manipulation was the key ingredient of the Spanish conquest.
I believe that “sainthood” means that beyond a reasonable doubt, as evidenced by miracles or other signs, the Church goes on record that the “saint” is with God in Heaven. Many official saints fought the status quo of society as it existed in their lives, and often suffered, and sacrificed their lives for sundry just causes.
Father Serra’s primary achievement was to whip into shape the California Indians, to destroy their humanity, and to wreck a primitive society that was closer to the Christian ideal, than the one that replaced it.
Father Serra was a man of action. By his actions let him be judged.
JOSEPH R. WILSON
Pasadena
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