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GeorgeSword
Guest
I’m a subscriber to a certain American history magazine I don’t care to name right now. A few months ago we had a very nice article about Junipero Serra and the Jesuits in early America. It was very pro-Catholic and pointed out many of the wonderful things that Christianity brought to the natives. However, I suppose I should have expected it, this month there is a letter in there. I’ve included the text below:
As a professional historian teaching in a public four-year institution, I must take issue with the story “A Mission from God’ by Peter Hiller in the March/April 2009 issue. We should be done with extolling the virtues of the Jesuit proselytizing when it ignores the downside of their conversion work: the virtual enslavement of thousands of Native Americans into crammed dormitories in the missions, the death of thousands due to diseases induced by these crammed conditions and brought by the very same Jesuits, and the raiding for additional souls the fathers set upon. And yes, they did this with the help of the military. Statements by Hiller, such as"possessing the sensitivity,” “reach their hearts and minds,” and above all, “the Indian converts were allowed to share in the bounty of the harvest, and their personal needs the way of life became more comfortable,” are ridiculous and frankly, historically innacurate. I think the Natives were doing much better without the fathers imposing their lifestyles on them as any scholarly source not put out by a Serra biographer or the Catholic Church would confrim.
I think the ________________ Magazine would do its readers a favor by providing some critical evaluation of sources. Usually your essays are accurate, but this one simply repeats the faulty bias of a Catholic creed that they somehow did Natives a favor. Obviously the author was biased, but most of your readers, no doubt, will buy into his propaganda that has been repeated for some 200-plus years now.
End of excerpt.
I intend to reply to this letter, as well as sending a personal letter to the person who wrote it, pointing out that he, too is quite clearly biased, and that readers will no doubt buy into his propaganda. Now, other than pointing out the numerous benefits the Church, and Europeans in general brought to the Americas (such as education, medicine, science etc.) does anyone have any other suggestions on how to reply?
As a professional historian teaching in a public four-year institution, I must take issue with the story “A Mission from God’ by Peter Hiller in the March/April 2009 issue. We should be done with extolling the virtues of the Jesuit proselytizing when it ignores the downside of their conversion work: the virtual enslavement of thousands of Native Americans into crammed dormitories in the missions, the death of thousands due to diseases induced by these crammed conditions and brought by the very same Jesuits, and the raiding for additional souls the fathers set upon. And yes, they did this with the help of the military. Statements by Hiller, such as"possessing the sensitivity,” “reach their hearts and minds,” and above all, “the Indian converts were allowed to share in the bounty of the harvest, and their personal needs the way of life became more comfortable,” are ridiculous and frankly, historically innacurate. I think the Natives were doing much better without the fathers imposing their lifestyles on them as any scholarly source not put out by a Serra biographer or the Catholic Church would confrim.
I think the ________________ Magazine would do its readers a favor by providing some critical evaluation of sources. Usually your essays are accurate, but this one simply repeats the faulty bias of a Catholic creed that they somehow did Natives a favor. Obviously the author was biased, but most of your readers, no doubt, will buy into his propaganda that has been repeated for some 200-plus years now.
End of excerpt.
I intend to reply to this letter, as well as sending a personal letter to the person who wrote it, pointing out that he, too is quite clearly biased, and that readers will no doubt buy into his propaganda. Now, other than pointing out the numerous benefits the Church, and Europeans in general brought to the Americas (such as education, medicine, science etc.) does anyone have any other suggestions on how to reply?