7/1/2013 – Reflection on Blessed Junipero Serra –

   Today, we celebrate Blessed Junipero Serra, a Catholic priest and Franciscan missionary to the native people of Mexico and California in the mid-18th century.  At the age of 12, I moved to southern California with my family.  In learning about the history of California in school, the figure of Junipero Serra is very prominent.  He was born in a very humble family on the Spanish island of Mallorca.  He joined the Franciscan order and became a priest, excelling in theology and academics.  He yearned for more, and asked to go to the Franciscan missions in Mexico.  When the Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish empire in the mid-18 century, the Franciscans took over many of their duties.  Serra eventually became the head of the missions in Lower California and was later sent to establish mission in upper California, which is in the present-day state of California.  The missions he established help grow the Spanish influence in California and bring many of the native people there to the faith.  Today, not only does Serra’s statue stand in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, but it also represents the state of California in the US Capitol.  Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987, but this was met by great opposition from academics and native American activists, who point out that the conditions in the missions where the natives lived were close to slavery, and that brutal beatings there were the norm and were defended by Father Serra.  His supports point to his religious zeal and his personal sacrifices.  Indeed, the zeal and faith of Father Serra still speak to us today, and his legacy has had a great impact on California and in the development of Catholicism in the United States.