Question

Who was Father Junipero Serra, and why are his ideals controversial to this day (especially with people wanting to make him a saint)?

@swilson90

Answer 1

In short: (or long...)

Father Junipero Serra was a Spanish missionary who lived during the 18th century; the same time period as the Spanish Inquisition.

Like many fathers and missionaries before him, he went to the Americas in the hopes of converting the indigenous peoples and spreading the word of god. He eventually founded multiple missions, including the California Mission, which earned him the title of California's founding father.

All of those expeditions were intended to:

a) Bolster and further Spain's growth and wealth.

b) Convert the Native Americans to Catholicism.

These two objectives were the classical cornerstones of colonialist culture that reduced the indigenous population to nothing but a resource to be gathered and cultivated for wealth and labor.

With the above viewpoints in mind, Junipero Serra ignored, and perhaps even commanded, the brutal dehumanization of the Native Americans; Converts were forced into hard labor, and attempts to escape were met with obscene punishment. All in the name of his missions.

Junipero Serra became an accomplice to brutality of religious conversion. Today, some people still peg him as "The Saint of Genocide." His ideals were one that placed the Catholic church and the Spanish empire above all else, including human life and dignity.

To canonize him is to accept his ideals and his actions, claiming that the loss of life and the genocide of multiple cultures was insignificant in the scope of history.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun%C3%ADpero_Serra
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/23/pope-francis-junipero-serra-sainthood-washington-california
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/us/attack-on-statue-of-new-saint-junipero-serra-digs-up-old-conflicts.html

Answer 2

Dang... that's a lot of information... thanks I guess

Answer 3

can I have a medal for asking? lol