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I'm no historian. I should probably do some more research on the mission era of California before I decide to write a blog about St. Junipero Serra, but here it goes.
There's been a lot of criticism over St. Junipero over the last month, even the last years. He is obviously tied to the memory of the 21 Catholic Missions that are often regarded as attempts at European colonization. I don't know enough about the reality of the missions before or after his death to speak on their treatment of the Native Americans of the time. He is regarded by the outspoken not as a saint but as a European colonizer with no respect for the native people that he subjugated. They're calling for the removal of his statues throughout the state of California. I don't know whether these claims are substantiated. What I know mostly comes from a letter to the faithful from Archbishop Gomez of LA. Either way, that's not what I want to talk about. What I mostly want to talk about is evangelization and relativism.
We live in a world where the highest good is whatever feels right. Our mantra is "you do you and let me do me." Except I often feel like I can't "do me," because it's countercultural to the rest of my country. I believe in absolute truth. I believe in absolute morality. Right and wrong exist. I believe that God is real, and if I believe that God is truly real then He is just as real for you as He is for me regardless of anyone's thoughts on the matter. That's what absolute truth means. The truth is not affected by our life experiences, choices, and opinions.
If Jesus Christ is real, then we have a responsibility to our neighbor, to every living person in this world, to proclaim His name and His story. If we truly believe that there is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ, then it is a disservice to our fellow man and woman to keep it to ourselves. Nay, it is not a disservice. It is an outright injustice. Sin is a disease and the Gospel is the cure. It is evil to keep the cure from a suffering people.
That being said, we must respect people's freedom as God respects ours. As such, the Gospel must never be imposed but rather proposed. I believe that's where the criticism of St. Junipero comes from. The fact is that Native Americans were horribly treated during the colonization, founding, and expansion of this country. There is no denying that. I know that forced conversions happened. To many, the Gospel was certainly imposed not proposed and people were stripped of their dignity, choice, and culture. But the question is, was St. Junipero among those abusers? Even deeper than that, is evangelization itself considered an abuse?
Quite honestly I think that most of the non-Christian world believes that it is. Evangelization is so often associated with harsh judgments, a "holier than thou" attitude, loss of freedom and individuality. This is so heartbreaking to me because I know it's the reality for so many. The mission era of California is closely tied to the destruction of a people and of a culture. I'm sure to some degree the missionaries participated in that destruction. I wish it weren't the case.
I want to make my feeble attempt at teasing out some key distinctions between evangelization and inculturation/subjugation.
God is not a Western God. God is not white. God is not bound by race or culture. God is. God is love. God is the creator of all and He longs for a relationship with every single one of His beloved sons and daughters.
Culture is a good a beautiful thing to be celebrated to the degree that it reveals the truth, beauty, and goodness of God. As God is infinite, there can be infinite cultural expressions of God's goodness. Catholicism in its authentic form transcends culture because Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We see white depictions of Jesus because white artists painted them at the sponsorship of rich, white people. I don't think "white Jesus" is a very strong criticism against Catholicism. Our Lady appeared in Mexico as an Aztec princess in Guadalupe. God is not bound by race.
I recognize that this post is long and that I'm probably not connecting my ideas well, but hey, it's a blog haha.
All this is simply to say that every person has a right to hear the Gospel. I believe the right to the Gospel is as true as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Because I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe that He came, suffered, and died to save me from my sins that were going to eternally separate me from Him and thus from my temporal and eternal happiness. I believe evangelization is a priority and a necessity because I believe this Truth is true for everyone. I believe Junipero Serra lived this out.
Evangelization will never be acceptable in a culture of relativism, but Jesus's words weren't acceptable to the Roman Empire. That doesn't make them less true. But don't confuse evangelization and its fruits to the mistreatment and destruction of a people. The both happened. Don't confuse the atrocities sometimes done in the name of God with God's Truth. They're not compatible.
-Amanda Benner, Director of Evangelization