Residents of San Diego County were split over Pope Francis’ decision to canonize the 18th century Spanish missionary Junípero Serra on Wednesday.
Serra founded nine missions in California, starting with Mission San Diego de Alcalá, and helped convert thousands of Native Americans to Catholicism.
Parishioner Tom Eberman, a 56-year-old resident of North County, was baptized and married at Mission San Diego. Praying with his rosary there this week, he said he thinks the canonization is good news for San Diego.
“I think it’s great because it will bring more people, more visitors to the missions, and help educate a lot of people,” he said.
Eberman said he thinks Serra has special significance to San Diego because it’s where he began establishing Catholicism in the Americas.
“Now he’s going to be a saint,” he said. “Isn’t that cool? I think that’s cool.”
This is the first-ever canonization on U.S. soil. Some said it ignores abuses against Native Americans at the missions, such as forced labor and beatings.
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Kumeyaay educator and cultural leader Stan Rodriguez said the number of deaths at the missions was comparable to genocide.
“The mission meant pain,” Rodriguez said. “The mission meant suffering. Father Serra was the architect of all this. For them to come and say this person is a saint, it’s more than just a slap in the face.”
Rodriguez organized a protest vigil at Mission San Diego at noon on the day of the canonization.
He said the missions were set up not only to convert Native Americans to Catholicism, but also to “create a servant class” in anticipation of Spanish colonialism.
Native Americans revolted at some missions, including Mission San Diego. It was burned down and a priest was killed in November 1775. Serra oversaw the rebuilding.
San Diego’s Catholic Bishop Robert McElroy said Serra's arrival “coincided with and intermingled with the decimation of Indian cultures and peoples." But the canonization, he said, is meant to highlight the role of Hispanic leaders in history.
“What this canonization represents, in a very real sense, is an affirmation of the presence of the Hispanic community in the life of the church, in American history and in the life of the West,” he said.
