Some celebrate the 300 anniversary
of Serra’s birth.
by George Monbiot
Nowhere is the Church’s denial
better exemplified than in its drive to canonise the Franciscan missionary
JunÃpero Serra, whose 300th anniversary falls on Sunday. Serra’s cult epitomises
the Catholic problem with history – as well as the lies that underpin the
founding myths of the United States.
You can find his statue on Capitol
Hill, his face on postage stamps, his name plastered across schools and streets
and trails all over California. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II, after a
nun was apparently cured of lupus, and now awaits a second miracle to become a
saint(9). So what’s the problem? Oh, just that he founded the system of labour
camps that expedited California’s cultural genocide.
