Ventura discusses removal of St. Junipero Serra statue from front of City Hall

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Paul5

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Recently, in the City of Ventura, there has been a controversy about the removal of the Father Junipero Serra statue in front of City Hall. As is the case nationwide, a group of activists, in this case Chumash Indian descendants, have been making the case that Father Serra was involved in mistreatment and even genocide of their ancestors. So they want the statue removed. As he founded our Mission, there are many who disagree.

I’ve tried to defend the Faith by reminding people not to judge based on today’s standards. Anyone have any thoughts as us local Catholics deal with this issue? Thanks and God bless,

Paul
 
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Since you posted in Catholic News, can you please provide a news article from a reliable news source?
News threads are generally expected to include an article and have the title of the thread reflect the article.

You might also want to remove your real name and location from the post…
 
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Ah, Motley to the rescue.

If this statue is near City Hall that would seem to be just asking for trouble. If it’s not a case of wanting to remove it, then someone will want a statue of Baphomet getting equal time. Move the statue, put it on Church grounds or something. We shouldn’t want our saints embroiled with the state.
 
I would generally agree, however, Father Serra was also a founder of the Mission which became the City. Thus the intertwining of the two. Plus, I’m getting a little tired of the revisionist history going on by a small minority.
 
Fr. Serra also did a huge amount to preserve Native American culture and if not for him, things would likely have gone even worse for the indigenous peoples.
Scholars of history for the most part know this and accept it to some degree.
Most people who are driven by emotion don’t want to hear it though.

Anyway, Fr. Serra is a saint of the Catholic Church, not a saint of the City of Ventura. Secular governments are always revising things when it’s politically expedient. Our saints are above that and should not be made part of that.
 
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