Father Serra

Near the mission of San Buenaventura, where I begin my journey along the Camino Real, an immense statue of Father Junipero Serra recalls the influence he had on church and state history in California. Actually, the statue is situated between the mission and the city hall of Ventura. This seems fitting, given the powerful alliance of church and state that paved the way for the establishment of twenty one missions along the California coast around the same time that Americans in the east were fighting for their independence from a king who lived in a tiny country across the sea. In a letter that Father Serra wrote from Monterey in 1770, he described how things typically began: “After the service has been concluded with the Te Deum the officers performed the formal ceremony of taking possession of the land in the name of the King, our lord, whom may God keep.” It’s no surprise, then, that the road which eventually linked all of these mission outposts became known as the Camino Real, or the “King’s Road.” Historians say that this rush to establish a Spanish presence in California near the end of the eighteenth century was inspired, to a large degree, by the fact that Russians were hastily claiming land on the west coast of North America for the Tzar, with their latest fortress located just north of San Francisco Bay. We look back at all of that today and see it for what it was: a race between arrogant, powerful people to lay claim to something that didn’t belong to them, or to anyone! But how did followers of St. Francis of Assisi, like Junipero Serra, get caught up in all of this? Some say that the Spanish royalty saw the Franciscans, with their zeal and compassion, as the ones who would be most likely to endear themselves to the native people of California. This was important, because Spain wasn’t able populate a new colony such as this with her own people. I am offended by all of this! I denounce it as arrogant and unjust! The question is, do I dare to consider my own story in the light of this one ? Can I take the risk of being honest and objective when it comes to my own habits of laying claim to things that don’t belong to me, or to anyone? Am I even able to peel back the layers and see the unholy alliances that still characterize our engagement as people of faith in the affairs of this world? My aim is not to compare my life with Father Serra’s or anyone else’s. I just want some clarity, and to be open to where that leads.