"Who Is St. Junipero Serra, Anyway?" Article on Saint whose statues are being attacked in the U.S

[mdgspencer]

Who is St. Junipero Serra, anyway? – Catholic World Report

Do people tearing down his statues actually know about his life?

 

[BornInMarch]

I think most of the people who attack Serra and vandalize his statues are really angry that he spread Christianity at all, and are under the assumption that nobody would ever willingly convert to that faith.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

If you were to try and present the article about St Junipero Serra to those who attack him, they’d rejected it because it’s from a Catholic source.

I’ve encountered such attitudes over the years about any article written in a Catholic publication.

The secular media will rarely if ever write anything good about the Church.

History must be looked at through the mindset of the people of that era, and not judge with a 21st century mindset.

 

[commenter]

If you were to try and present the article about St Junipero Serra to those who attack him, they’d rejected it because it’s from a Catholic source.

I’ve encountered such attitudes over the years about any article written in a Catholic publication.

The secular media will rarely if ever write anything good about the Church.

History must be looked at through the mindset of the people of that era, and not judge with a 21st century mindset.

I agree with your post, though I would be cautious about judging the “mindset of the people of that (or any) era.”

Not you, but others write about people of the past as “doing the best they could, with the lesser information and wisdom they had back then”.

People in various eras were far less conscientious about certain evils than we are. They were far more conscientious about confronting other evils than we are.

My grandparents generation was too tolerant about racism, but if abortion were legalized in 1950, there would have been thousands of Catholics, Protestants, others in the streets within 24 hours, and impeachments within a month.