Defend our faith

On July 1, the Church celebrates the feast day of SAINT JUNIPERO SERRA, a beloved saint for the Church in the United States and for Catholics worldwide. Junipero Serra was a gifted scholar in philosophy and theology, he desired to serve as a missionary. He was sent to Mexico City and governed five missions to the Pame Indians in Mexico and lower California. He believed that to bring the natives to Christ demanded that he “become one with them.” He mastered their language, treated them as equals, worked with them in the fields daily and slowly taught about Jesus Christ. In 1769 Junipero Serra established the first mission in San Diego, travelling as part of the Spanish expedition throughout upper California. During the next 12 years, he established eight more missions. The spiritual wellbeing of the Indians was always his greatest concern, baptizing nearly 6,000. But he also worked daily under severe and difficult conditions to improve the material welfare of the natives, teaching them new agricultural methods, and bringing new tools that made for them a better quality of life. Junipero Serra died in 1784 in the mission at Carmel (his base) and was beatified in 1988. He inspires us in the work of the new evangelization to befriend those we hope to lead to Jesus Christ and the Gospel, opening their hearts to the Gospel message by our true love for them and our concern for their welfare. He was canonized by Pope Francis on September 23, 2015 at the National Shrine as he began his visit to the United States. Much to the chagrin of his detractors, his memory is kept alive by the names he gave to so many communities named after saints, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Carmel, Capistrano and others.  History cannot be rewritten and we cannot evaluate the past on present standards.  History is a subject to be studied and treasured so that we can learn its lessons.

Sadly, this week in California radical protestors pulled down and defaced the statue of Saint Junipero Serra. It is reminiscent of the Taliban destroying the revered statues of Buddha in Afghanistan. This is not the American way.  Indeed for Catholics this is not only a senseless act of violence and destruction but a desecration of a holy and revered object of our faith. These are senseless, evil acts.  We live in a country that should tolerate and respect the sacred objects of every faith.  This is what religious freedom means. That some people decide to destroy the object of another’s faith can never be tolerated or accepted for any reason.  To claim this statue is racist and oppressive to one group denies the right of others to recognize the goodness and holiness of a life spent in service to God and others. It is outrageous that some government and law enforcement officials would allow objects precious to Catholics to be so demonstrably destroyed.   We now hear calls to destroy even images of Jesus Christ because they are racist and offensive to some.  We have calls by some to destroy Catholic statues and stained glass windows.  When do we say enough is enough? People of good faith everywhere must push back on what is nothing other than evil and destructive behavior, unacceptable for a society that seeks to celebrate its diversity and respect one's neighbor.  The greatness of our nation lies in our ability to respect and value what is important to those who are different from us.  We have a constitutional right to protect our religious practices and to receive the protection of the law for what is precious and dear to us when it is under attack.  Catholics better start defending what we value and treasure as people of faith or will find out soon enough that it is just too late.