The Truth about Junípero Serra

hello everybody this is bishop barron i'm speaking to you first of all to draw attention to a wonderful article that appeared in the wall street journal written by archbishop cordeliani of san francisco and my own archbishop jose gomez of los angeles it's in reaction to this really ridiculous uh terrible piece of legislation that to my mind incredibly has made it through both houses of the california legislature is now on the on the desk of the governor to be signed read the article by these two archbishops but i want to add my own perspective here just to give you a little background go back last summer the summer of 2020 when the whole culture was being convulsed and there was a group that went to the capitol grounds in sacramento they defaced a statue of juniperocera they burned it they knocked it down they stomped on it so it was this you know great reaction against junipero sarah so this piece of legislation is now calling for the erection of a statue that honors the native people and of course nothing in the world wrong with that but as part of it and i'm going to read this to you part of it is a absolute calumny against juniperocera mind you this is our state legislature in california let me read you the relevant section enslavement of both adults and children mutilation genocide and assault on women were all part of the mission period initiated and overseen by father sarah everybody this is breathtaking calumny against a man who not 500 years ago five years ago was canonized a saint by pope francis a saint of the catholic church being accused of the most outrageous possible crime genocide now consult the historians i mean junipero sarah was someone who was reverenced by the native people deeply mourned upon his death someone who defended the rights the native peoples as the archbishops point out who made a journey on foot all the way to mexico city to encourage the writing of a bill of rights to support the native peoples so i mean the calumny here against sarah personally is obvious and outrageous but here's the thing everybody that particularly concerns and bothers me i don't know how you construe this other than a deep form of anti-catholicism there's one of the missions of the great mission in santa barbara it's about five minutes from where i'm standing i think of the last mission that sarah founded in my pastoral region down in ventura the mission of santa ina is just over the mountains up here about 45 minutes that these missions are being construed now as like antebellum homes in in in pre-civil war south where slavery was carried on and even worse may i just say it because the language is here they're being construed as the moral equivalent of dachau and auschwitz i mean this is beyond outrageous as calmly but here's my point anti-catholicism is a deep strain within our american culture go right back to the colonial period look at catholics fighting for their their right and their voice in those days it reached a kind of terrible climax in the 19th century when convents and catholic schools and parishes and so on were burned to the ground when political parties were organized precisely as anti-catholic read speeches by ulysses grant at the end of the 19th century fiercely anti-catholic read speeches by woodrow wilson the great progressive leader in the early 20th century fiercely anti-catholic so this strain mind you too the ku klux klan everyone knows organized against black people but also against jews and and against catholics this strain like a lot of bad things tends not to disappear but to go underground and then to resurface i don't know how you read this any other way but is a very deep and dangerous form of anti-catholicism so listen to me especially those hearing me in california make your voices heard don't let this kind of language come to the desk of the governor to be signed into law that someone weak canonized pope francis canonized five years ago is now being characterized as the moral equivalent of stalin and hitler we got to raise our voices everybody against this and i would say finally anybody anybody in our country concerned about religious liberty should be concerned about this kind of language they're coming for us now who knows when they'll come for you and so i say this not just as a catholic i say it as an american concerned about religious liberty so read the article by the two archbishops and raise your voice against this

Channel: Bishop Robert Barron

Views: 42,684

Rating: 4.963779 out of 5

Keywords: California, AB338, Assembly Bill, 338, Calumny, Saint, Junípero Serra, Saint Juníperro Serra, Catholic, Indigenous, History, Anti-Catholicism, serra, california state legislature, governor newsom serra, fr junipero serra, st junipero serra, junipero serra cancelled, cancel culture catholic, catholic statues, junipero serra statue, religious liberty, religious liberty in america, catholic native americans, archbishop jose gomez, archbishop cordileone

Id: U04CkBtTNKM

Length: 4min 44sec (284 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021