Siempre Adelante! - Serra International

Transcription

Serran
Vol. 62 No. 3 | Summer 2015
the
Siempre Adelante!
SAINTHOOD FOR BLESSED JUNÍPERO SERRA
“
(Friar Serra) was one of the founding fathers of the United States, a saintly example of the
Church’s universality and special patron of the Hispanic people of the country. In this way may
all Americans rediscover their own dignity, and unite themselves ever more closely to Christ and
his Church.
—Pope Francis in a homily at the Pontifical North American College, May 2, 2015
The Serran Calendar
Sept. 23, 2015
Canonization of our patron,
Blessed Junípero Serra
Washington, D.C.
Oct. 25, 2015
Priesthood Sunday
Nov. 1-7, 2015
National Vocations Awareness Week
Feb. 7, 2016
World Day for Consecrated Life
April 17, 2016
World Day of Prayer for Vocations
In This Issue:
3
5
7
9
12
19
22
24
26
27
28
ON OUR COVER:
Mosaic of Blessed Junípero Serra at the
east portico of the Basilica of the National
Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in
Washington, D.C., where Serra will be canonized on Sept. 23, 2015. Created by artist
John de Rosen, the mosaic was installed in
1959, the year of the Basilica’s dedication.
Image courtesy of the Basilica of the National
the Immaculate
2 Shrine ofthe
Serran | Conception.
Vol. 62 No. 1
30
Going Forward, Anew
by Fr. Ken Laverone, OFM, Vice Postulator of the Serra Cause
“A Heartful Impulse to Share the Gift of Encountering Christ”
by His Holiness Pope Francis
I Dreamed I Went to a Canonization and Now It’s Coming True
by Audry Lynch
Celebrating Serra: An Interview with Fr. Melvin Jurisich, OFM,
Vice Postulator for the Serra Cause
by Anne McCormack
Junípero Serra: Saint or Not?
by Fr. Thomas Reese
Often Criticized, Serra Gets a Reappraisal from Historians
by Louis Sahagun
Featured Club Program: Rediscovering Blessed Junípero Serra
The Artist Behind the Serra Club Charter
Our Best Days Are Still Ahead!
by Serra International President Daniel Grady
An Opportunity to Rediscover Our Patron
by Serra’s National Council for the United States
President John Osterhart
The Serran Time Capsule: The Arduous Trail to Canonization
by Nancy Cashman
Why Are We Serrans?
by Serra International Executive Director John Liston
The Serran magazine is the official publication of Serra International. It is published electronically three
times a year and printed once annually. Views expressed in this publication may not reflect the views of
the Board. Send letters or manuscripts to amccormack@serrainternational.org. The Serran does not accept advertising.
The Serran editor: Anne McCormack
Serra International Executive Director: John Liston
333 W Wacker Drive, Suite 500 Chicago, IL 60606
www.serrainternational.org
Going Forward, Anew
A Special Message for Serrans
from a Vice Postulator of the Serra Cause
Dear Serrans,
As a sixth-generation native Californian growing up in
the shadow of Mission San Juan Bautista, which was
founded by the successor to Blessed Junípero Serra, Fray
Fermin Lasuen, OFM, and now a priest of the Order of
Friars Minor, I am very excited about the official recognition by our Church of the holiness and evangelical
zeal of this once academic professor turned missionary
who proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ to the
frontier lands of California.
Blessed Junípero was an extraordinary man of holiness, dedication, integrity and stamina. His motto,
“Siempre Adelante,” exemplifies his desire never to be satisfied with the current moment or to live in the past, but
always to go forward proclaiming the presence of the
Risen Lord where this presence was unknown. Despite
many setbacks—political, physical, and even spiritual—
he moved forward with remarkable energy, inspired by
God’s love, mercy, and compassion for all of God’s creation.
The Serra Club takes its name from Junípero Serra,
as a sign of the desire of its members to deepen their
awareness of who Serra himself was and, like Serra, to
bring the Word of God and the presence of the Resurrected Lord to all people.
Who was Junípero Serra? He was open to the call
of God from the earliest times of his life. As a child he
was impressed by and followed in the footsteps of his
mentors, the Franciscan friars in his home village of
Petra, Majorca. As a Franciscan friar and scholar of
Franciscan theology and philosophy, he followed in the
footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bonaventure, and
Blessed John Duns Scotus. He followed in the footsteps
of his missionary heroes to the New World, St. Francis
Solano, Fray Antonio Llinas, and Padre Antonio Margil
Fr. Ken Laverone, OFM
de Jesús, and then forged the way into new territories,
journeying in hardship to Alta California, where no one
had ever proclaimed the gospel. In turn, others followed
in his footsteps.
Blessed Junípero, as a prophet of his time, and a pioneer of the Faith, offers us a challenge to become
prophets of the Good News for our times and pioneers
in the Church today—not only to inspire priests and religious to proclaim the gospel, but also to inspire all the
baptized to radically develop a relationship with Jesus
Christ, and to preach the gospel wherever we find ourselves. To remember the words attributed to St. Francis
of Assisi, “Preach always and use words when you must.”
Pope Francis challenges us today to be aware of
God’s presence in all of creation, as Blessed Junípero
Serra, in his first encounters with the Native Americans,
stated, “I experience the Garden of Eden.” He saw
God’s good and holy creative hand in these people and
in the place where they had lived for thousands of years.
Blessed Junípero challenges Serrans to look forward, to move beyond our comfort zones, to re-imagine
the role of Serrans in the world and Church today. What
frontiers are present today? Where does the compassion
and mercy of God need to be proclaimed? How do Serrans today, who admire and follow in the footsteps of
Jesus Christ, Francis of Assisi and St. Junípero Serra,
proclaim this Good News?
To honor a great figure, a holy man such as Serra,
is to take his example and move forward in places and
ways that are new, life-giving, and salvific as we bring
the Good News to All Creation!
Fr. Ken Laverone, OFM
Vice Postulator, Cause of Blessed Junípero Serra
July 8, 2015
the Serran | Vol. 62 No. 3
3
"COPY OF THE PORTRAIT OF FATHER JUNÍPERO SERRA
FROM SANTA CRUZ CONVENT, QUERÉTARO,
BY FATHER JOSE MOSQUEDA"
Official Canonization Image
4
“A heartfelt impulse to share
the gift of encountering Christ”
Pope Francis reflects on Serra’s exciting and challenging zeal
heartfelt impulse which seeks to share with those farthest away the gift of encountering Christ: a gift that
he had first received and experienced in all its truth
and beauty. Like Paul and Barnabas, like the disciples
in Antioch and in all of Judea, he was filled with joy
have set you to be a light for the Gentiles,
and the Holy Spirit in spreading the word of the Lord.
that you may bring salvation to the ends of
Such zeal excites us, it challenges us! These missionthe earth” (Acts 13:47; cf. Is 49:6). These
ary disciples who have encountered Jesus, the Son of
words of the Lord, in the passage from the Acts of
God, who have come to know him through his merthe Apostles which we have just heard, show us the
ciful Father, moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit,
missionary nature of the Church, sent by Jesus to go
went out to all the geographical, social and existential
out and proclaim the Gospel. The disciples experiperipheries, to bear witness to charity. They challenge
enced this from the first moment when, after the perus! Sometimes we stop and thoughtfully examine
secution broke out, they left Jerusalem (cf. Acts 8:
their strengths and, above all, their weaknesses and
1-3). This was true also for the many missionaries
their shortcomings.
who brought the Gospel to the New World and, at
But I wonder if today we are able to respond with
the same time, defended the indigenous peoples
the same generosity and courage to the call of God,
against abuses by the colonizers. Among these miswho invites us to leave everything in order to worship
sionaries
was
Friar
him, to follow him, to reJunípero; his work of
discover him in the face
Friar Junípero’s witness
evangelization reminds us
of the poor, to proclaim
calls upon us to get involved,
of the first “12 Franciscan
him to those who have
apostles" who were pionot known Christ and,
personally, in the mission
neers of the Christian
therefore, have not experito the whole continent.
faith in Mexico. He ushenced the embrace of his
ered in a new springtime
mercy. Friar Junípero’s
of evangelization in those immense territories, exwitness calls upon us to get involved, personally, in
tending from Florida to California, which, in the prethe mission to the whole continent, which finds its
vious 200 years, had been reached by missionaries
roots in Evangelii Gaudium.
from Spain. This was long before the pilgrims of the
Secondly, Friar Junípero entrusted his missionary
Mayflower reached the North Atlantic coast.
activity to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We know that beThere are three key aspects to the life and examfore leaving for California, he wanted to consecrate
ple of Friar Junípero: his missionary zeal, his Marian
his life to Our Lady of Guadalupe and to ask her for
devotion and his witness of holiness.
the grace to open the hearts of the colonizers and inFirst of all, he was a tireless missionary. What
digenous peoples, for the mission he was about to
made Friar Junípero leave his home and country, his
begin. In this prayer we can still see this humble
family, university chair and Franciscan community in
brother kneeling in front of the "Mother of the true
Mallorca to go to the ends of the earth? Certainly, it
God," the Morenita, who brought her Son to the New
was the desire to proclaim the Gospel ad gentes, that
World. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was
On May 2, 2015, His Holiness Pope Francis celebrated Mass
at the Pontifical North American College in Rome on a day
of reflection for Blessed Junípero Serra. Here is the full text
of Pope Francis’ homily:
“I
5
Pope Francis celebrates
the Eucharist at a Mass
at the Pontifical North
American College in Rome,
on a day of reflection marked for
soon-to-be Saint Junípero Serra.
Photo by Viviana Normando.
and has been present in the 21 missions that Friar
Junípero founded along the coast of California. Since
then, Our Lady of Guadalupe has become, in fact,
the Patroness of the whole American continent. You
cannot separate her from the hearts of the American
people. She represents our shared roots in this land.
Indeed, today's mission to the continent is entrusted
to her, the first, holy missionary disciple, a constant
presence and companion, our source of comfort and
hope. For she always hears and protects her American
children.
Thirdly, brothers and sisters, let us contemplate
the witness of holiness given by Friar Junípero. He
was one of the founding fathers of the United States,
a saintly example of the Church’s universality and
special patron of the Hispanic people of the country.
In this way may all Americans rediscover their own
dignity, and unite themselves ever more closely to
Christ and his Church.
With the universal communion of saints and, in
particular, with the assembly of American saints, may
Friar Junípero Serra accompany us and intercede for
us, along with the many other holy men and women
who have distinguished themselves through their various charisms:
• contemplatives like Rose of Lima, Mariana of
Quito and Teresita de los Andes;
• pastors who bear the scent of Christ and of his
sheep, such as Toribio de Mogrovejo, Francois de
Laval, and Rafael Guizar Valencia;
• humble workers in the vineyard of the Lord, like
Juan Diego and Kateri Tekakwitha;
• servants of the suffering and the marginalized, like
Peter Claver, Martín de Porres, Damian of Molokai,
Alberto Hurtado and Rose Philippine Duchesne;
• founders of communities consecrated to the service
of God and of the poorest, like Frances Cabrini, Elizabeth Ann Seton and Katharine Drexel;
• tireless missionaries, such as Friar Francisco Solano,
José de Anchieta, Alonso de Barzana, Maria Antonia
de Paz y Figueroa and Jose Gabriel del Rosario
Brochero;
• martyrs like Roque Gonzalez, Miguel Pro and
Oscar Arnulfo Romero;
and so many other saints and martyrs, whom I do not
mention here, but who pray before the Lord for their
Continued on page 8
6
I Dreamed I Went to a Canonization
and Now It’s Coming True
by Audry Lynch, Serra Club of Santa Clara, Calif.
I
've never been to a canonization; Blessed Junípero Serra’s canonization
on September 23 in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
in Washington, D.C. will be my first, only, and last.
For 20 years, I’ve prayed and hoped for this moment. But in all honesty,
I never expected to see it happen in my lifetime. The surprising and exciting
announcement about Serra’s canonization by Pope Francis made me reminisce about the long personal quest which brought me to this moment.
It all started in 1970 when my husband, Greg, received a job offer in
California. At the time we were living in Massachusetts, our home state.
As newcomers to California, we were intrigued by the history behind
the missions. One of my first neighbors bragged to me that she had visited
all the California missions and found them fascinating. I immediately put
it on the family “to do” list.
We explored the missions one by one on side trips to other places. The
Carmel Mission dazzled us with its history, restoration, and the fact that
it’s the final resting place of its founder, Blessed Junípero Serra. Each mission had its own special appeal—even the neglected, run-down ones still
carried an air of authenticity. Gradually, we understood the enormous contribution of Blessed Serra. He was important not only to us as Catholics
but to the whole state as its founding father. A statue of him resides in the
Statuary Hall of the nation’s capital—a lasting tribute to his contribution.
His importance came home to us when one of our three children had
to do a mission project in fourth grade. To our surprise, we learned that this
was a state-wide project for every California school child which persists to
this day. We’ll never forget the amazing numbers of “missions” created by
the children out of popsicle sticks, toothpicks, and other materials.
One day, an usher at our church invited Greg out for breakfast. He described the local Serra club and invited him to join, which he did. I joined,
too, and that started a 20-year involvement with Serra locally, nationally,
and worldwide. Greg became President of the Santa Clara Club twice and
became President of the USA Council of Serra International in 2012. I held
minor offices.
We went to regional conferences in San Diego, San Jose, Ventura,
Palm Springs, and Riverside to name a few, and international ones in Anchorage, Ottawa, Bangkok, Brazil, Spokane, Mallorca, and Sacramento.
Our favorite was the one in Mallorca, the birthplace of Serra, where our
whole family toured his home, his schools, and the churches he attended.
Everywhere we went, we prayed for more vocations to the priesthood and
consecrated life and for the canonization of Blessed Serra.
Father Junípero Serra (1713-1784), California
Bronze by Ettore Cadorin Given in 1931 to the National Statuary Hall, U.S. Capitol. Architect of the
Capitol.
7
When we received the word that the canonization was “on,” the real excitement began. First was
the speculation about “Who will get the tickets?”
Then there was some jockeying for them—“If you
don’t use yours, can I have them?”
Next came the strategic questions. Will the Serrans from California go as a group or will we do it individually? Where will we stay? That question was
settled when we learned that Serra International had
blocked out rooms at a centrally located hotel, the
Hyatt Regency.
For the ladies, the critical question was, “What
shall I wear?” That question was addressed by our
only member who had attended a canonization in her
youth: “Dress nicely, but comfortably,” she advised,
“because it will be crowded and hot. Wear flat shoes
and read the weather reports before you go. You have
to get there very early so get plenty of sleep.”
For the more advanced in age (that’s most of us),
there were other concerns. “How hot will it be? Will
we have to stand much?” The best answer was, “Take
one of those canes which open up into a folding
chair.”
So—the reservations have been made and the
bags are packed. The weather forecasts are good and
the traveling Serrans are jubilant. The canonization
plans sound well-organized. After 20 years of prayers,
we’re ready to enjoy your day, Blessed Serra. It’s a
welcome day for your long overdue honor and we’re
ready to pray and celebrate! As you said: “Always forward, never back.” %
Francis
Continued from page 6
brothers and sisters who are still pilgrims in those lands.
May a powerful gust of holiness sweep through all the
Americas during the coming Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy!
Confident in Jesus’ promise, which we heard today in the
Gospel, we ask God for this special outpouring of the Holy
Spirit.
We ask the Risen Jesus, Lord of all ages, that the life of our
American continent may be rooted ever more deeply in the
Gospel it has received; that Christ may be ever more present in
the lives of individuals, families, peoples and nations, for the
greater glory of God. We pray too that this glory may be manifested in the culture of life, brotherhood, solidarity, peace and
justice, with a preferential and concrete love for the poor,
through the witness of Christians of various confessions and
communities, together with believers of other religious traditions, and people of upright conscience and good will. Lord
Jesus, we are merely your missionary disciples, your humble coworkers so that your Kingdom may come!
With this heartfelt prayer, I ask Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Friar Junípero and all the American saints to lead me and guide
me during my approaching apostolic journeys to South America and North America. I ask all of you to keep this intention
in your prayers, and to continue to pray for me. Amen. %
8
Prayer for Our Holy Father
God, Our Father, we ask You to
look with mercy and love on
the Supreme Shepherd You
have chosen for us.
Give him health and strength to
guide and govern Your holy
people.
May he, through word and example, direct, sustain and encourage the people in his care,
so that with them he may share
everlasting life.
Lord Jesus, hear our prayer
through the intercession of
Blessed Junípero Serra. Amen.
From the Handbook for Serrans
Called to Holiness
Celebrating Serra:
An Interview with Fr. Melvin Jurisich,
Vice Postulator for the Serra Cause
W
by Anne McCormack
hat, exactly, does it take to put on a canonization?
Father Melvin Jurisich, OFM, knows. Working
with Father Kenneth Laverone, OFM, as vice postulators for the Cause of Blessed Junípero Serra, the two
men are at the center of a maelstrom of activity coordinating and curating the details of an event so historic
and so momentous that 23,000 people are expected to
attend.
On Sept. 23, 2015, Pope Francis will appear at the
east portico of the Basilica of the National Shrine of
the Immaculate Conception to officially bestow sainthood upon our patron, Blessed Junípero Serra. In fact,
the Basilica’s east portico, overlooking a lawn where
15,000 are expected to be seated with room left for
8,000 standing, holds special significance for the day.
“It was interesting when we looked at the site,” Jurisich says. “The priest in charge of the liturgy took us
there to see where the Pope would be sitting during the
canonization. Then we were told, ‘Look to your left;
now, look up.’ And there above us is a mosaic of
Junípero Serra holding up a model of Old Mission
Carmel. Think it’s a coincidence?” (The Basilica mosaic graces this issue’s cover).
Jurisich, Director of Serra Retreat Center in Malibu, Calif., and Laverone, a canon lawyer and pastor
at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Sacramento, succeeded Father John Vaughn, OFM, as co-vice postulators for the Serra Cause in April. Vaughn, like many
Franciscans working for the Cause, devoted a number
of years of his life to advancing Serra toward sainthood.
“In November, the Cause started getting phone
calls from the postulator general of the Order of Friars
Minor saying, ‘We need everything on Serra post-beatification in 1988,’” recalls Jurisich. Needless to say,
this raised a few eyebrows.
Then things really
started to heat up. On a
plane ride through Asia
in January, Pope Francis
announced that he intended to canonize Serra
Fr. Melvin Jurisich, OFM
on a planned visit to the
United States in September.
That Pope Francis’ announcement indicated that Serra
would be granted an “express” canonization – that is,
waiving the requirement for two proven miracles, of
which Serra has only one currently attributed to him –
was not the only cause for surprise.
“Normally, the Pope makes an announcement to
canonize someone after a positio – that is, a document
that makes the case for canonization written by a professional historian and the postulator general – has
been reviewed and approved by the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints,” explains Jurisich.
Behind the scenes, beginning in November 2014,
Father Gianni Califano, OFM, postulator general for
the Franciscan order, was creating that all-important
document. The 1,000-page volume on Father Serra
was completed in March 2015, three months after Pope
Francis let the cat out of the bag. Forty copies were
sent to the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of
Saints to review. The positio was approved.
That Easter, Laverone and Jurisich traveled to
Rome to see Califano; the Prefect of the Congregation
of Saints Cardinal Angelo Amato, SDB; and American ambassador to the Vatican Ken Hackett about how
to proceed. After that five-hour meeting, the planning
began. First on the list: hiring an artist to design a reliquary for the canonization altar.
“The reliquary that will be presented to the Holy
Father will be made of wood and silver, about two feet
high,” Jurisich says. “And inside there will be first-class
relics.”
Also, a 5’x8’ tapestry by California artist John
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Nava depicting the oldest known portrait of Blessed
Junípero Serra was commissioned. The original
painting, by Fr. Jose Mosqueda, OFM, hangs at the
Franciscan monastery in Mexico, and is the official
canonization image (see page 4). After Pope Francis
blesses the tapestry, it will go along with the reliquary
to Old Mission Carmel to become part of the shrine.
“Of course, no one in the crowd would really be
able to see a tapestry that size,” Jurisich points out.
“So I’ve learned about giant vinyl banners, the kind
carried by planes. An 11’x16’ vinyl reproduction of
the tapestry will hang above the altar at the Basilica.
They’ve hung it up already to see how it will work…
It’ll look good when the creases come out of it,” he
adds with a chuckle.
The date was set for Serra’s elevation to sainthood: Sept. 23, 2015, over 200 years after his death,
over 80 years after the commencement of his Cause,
and two days before the 27th anniversary of his beatification. But after all those years of waiting and
praying, Serra was suddenly on the fast track: his canonization comes only eight months after it was announced by Pope Francis. (“That’s not a lot of time,”
Jurisich remarks.) Blessed Junípero Serra will be the
first saint to be canonized in North America, and he
will be North America’s first saint of Spanish origin,
making the day truly a landmark event.
With the reliquary and tapestry under way, Jurisich, whose talents lie in logistics, dove head first
into event planning particulars: invitations, lodging,
transportation, reception, and more. Meanwhile,
news of the canonization burned up the phone lines
at the Franciscan Province of Saint Barbara, and
Catholics all over the world rejoiced. But not everyone was happy. Native American Indian groups organized protests and news outlets focused on this
aspect of the historical implications of Serra’s rise to
sainthood. The friars and the bishops of California
formed a compassionate response.
“We knew this could happen and wanted to make
this more than just ‘enjoy the canonization and everyStained glass image of Junípero Serra at the Basilica of the
National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., where Serra will be canonized this September.
10
one goes home,’” Jurisich said. “We formed a commission with California bishops to reach out to the Native
American community to bring forward their plight and
create an opportunity for reconciliation.”
Well in advance of Pope Francis’ recent and unprecedented request for forgiveness for sins committed
against the native peoples of America in the name of
the Catholic Church, California Franciscans and local
California dioceses organized “Welcome Home”
events for the descendants of the mission Indians
where they knew protests were organized. Santa Barbara friars met with Chumash leaders to open the way
to forgiveness. This approach has been well received
by the native peoples but underreported in the media.
In addition, the commission is working on logistics, reviewing museums at the old missions for authenticity and to see that they are respectful to Native
Americans, reviewing the California state-wide fourthgrade curriculum on the missions, and engaging bona
fide historians and professional public relations people
to convey the information in the most responsible way.
On the minds of many Catholics, and especially
Serrans, is, “How do we attend the canonization?” The
short answer is, “Tickets,” but getting those requires
the patience of the saint we are celebrating.
“I don’t even have a ticket yet!” Jurisich laughs.
“There are so many people involved with this event:
The Vatican, the State Department, the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Archdiocese of
Washington, the California bishops, and of course the
Serra Cause. But it all comes down to security and the
Secret Service who will ultimately decide how many
people are allowed on the east lawn of the Basilica.”
This September, whether you are lucky enough to
be seated on that east lawn or enjoying the view on a
big-screen TV, you can thank Frs. Jurisich and Laverone
and all those involved for organizing the grand affair on
behalf of Junípero Serra, the Franciscan order, and all
Catholics – not that it will be easy to find any of them
in the sea of elated faces, of course. %
Join us for a celebratory dinner immediately after the
canonization Mass at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, D.C.!
Purchase your dinner ticket at http://www.serrainternational.org/canonization-dinner,
or call Serra International at 800.488.4008.
If you require overnight accommodations in Washington, D.C., you can book a room at the
Hyatt Regency at Serra's discounted room rate when you call the hotel directly at 202.737.1234.
$50 of every ticket purchased goes toward our Spread the Word Fundraiser. More information
on this fundraiser can be found here: http://www.serrainternational.org/spread-the-word.
11
Junípero Serra: Saint or Not?
by Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J.
Reprinted by permission of National Catholic Reporter,
115 E Armour Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64111
www.ncronline.org.
T
he upcoming canonization of Junípero
Serra is causing controversy as his supporters view him as the Franciscan who brought
Christianity to California Indians, while his opponents see him as a co-conspirator with the oppression of the Indians by the Spanish empire. Pope
Francis will canonize him at a Sept. 23 Mass in
Washington, D.C.
Who was Serra? What should we think of him?
For answers, I went to Robert Senkewicz, professor of history at Santa Clara University and an expert on early California history. He is the author of a
number of books on early California, including the
just-published Junípero Serra: California, Indians, and
the Transformation of a Missionary, which he wrote
with his wife Rose Marie Beebe.
Who was Junípero Serra?
Robert Senkewicz: Junípero Serra was an 18th-century Franciscan who was a very successful philosophy teacher on the island of Mallorca. In the middle
of his life, he volunteered to go to the missions of
the New World, where Franciscans had been working since the early 1500s. Serra arrived in Mexico
City on Jan. 1, 1750.
He spent eight years working in an area of
Mexico about 100 miles north of Mexico City
called the Sierra Gorda among the Pame Indians
who had been evangelized a little bit earlier.
Then he spent another eight years working in
various administrative positions at the missionary
headquarters in Mexico City. During this time, he
was also a member of the mission band that would
12
A undated brief sketch of Serra’s life by author
Carla J. Hendershot, published by Angel Press in Monterey, Calif.
go around and try to increase religious fervor in various
Catholic parishes where they were invited by the local
bishop.
When the Jesuits were expelled from New Spain
in 1767, he was sent to be the head missionary taking
over the former Jesuit missions in Baja California.
The very next year, the Spanish government decided
to move the frontier northward from Baja California
to Upper California, or Alta California.
Serra enthusiastically volunteered for that and
he accompanied the expedition that went from Baja
California to Alta California. He spent the remaining
15 years of his life as the president of the Alta California Missions. Under his presidency, nine missions
were founded.
What was the purpose of the missions?
They inevitably had a double purpose. Under the
Spanish system, the missionaries were paid by the
government, so missionaries were both church and
state functionaries.
From the point of view of the church, the purpose of the missions was to spread the Gospel to
those who had not been baptized.
From the point of view of the state, the missions
were institutions aimed at assimilating the native peoples, making them citizens of the empire. That meant,
among other things, learning European-style agriculture, becoming a Catholic, and living in a congregated
pueblo-type arrangement, just like people in Spain.
A great deal of the tension in the mission system
stemmed from this double purpose, for these two
aims did not always coexist easily with each other.
What about the religious aim? How did he try to
convert the Indians?
Serra’s preferred missionary strategy was to try to create a community in which native peoples would gradually come to understand the truth of the Gospel.
In our book, Rose Marie and I argue that some
Lenten sermons Serra gave to a group of Poor Clares
in 1744 in Majorca outlined that strategy. In those sermons, he used as his refrain a line from Psalm 33,
"Taste and see that the Lord is good."
He says that God is like a culinary sweet, a piece
13
of candy. If you've never tasted it, you don't know
what you're missing. But once you taste it, you acquire an increasing desire for it.
That's how he thought the conversion process
was going to work. The native peoples would gradually be exposed to a Christian community and they
would gradually come to see that their deepest desires
were being fulfilled as members of this community.
Why did the Indians actually go to the missions?
Native people entered the missions in California for
a variety of reasons. No doubt some were genuinely
interested in Catholicism. Others presented their sick
children for baptism in hopes that the priest might be
able to cure them.
Some came because there was food at the missions. That was important because what was going
on in California was that the Spanish military and
missionaries brought large numbers of horses, mules,
burros, sheep and goats with them. These animals inevitably and quickly destroyed the plants, acorns and
berries that had sustained a traditional way of life for
centuries. They also drove away the game the native
peoples had traditionally hunted.
The presence of the Spanish colonial enterprise
very quickly rendered it almost impossible for the traditional native ways of life to be maintained. So, some
people came into the mission system because their
traditional ways of life and sustenance was being destroyed by the colonial invaders.
Did Serra realize this?
Probably not.
How did this religious aim of the missions square
with the other aim, the imperial aim?
Serra knew he was part of the Spanish empire, and
he believed in the empire. But he and other missionaries thought that an important part of their role was
to protect native peoples from the worst tendencies of
the empire.
In a manner of evaluating colonialism that goes
all the way back to 16th-century Dominicans Antonio
de Montesinos and Bartóleme de las Casas, missionaries generally thought that they were protecting na-
13
A little-seen painting
of Blessed Junípero
Serra housed at St.
Lambert Parish in
Skokie, Ill.
tive peoples from potential exploitation by soldiers,
ranchers, miners and settlers.
So, they generally tried to keep the native people
separated from these other groups. In doing so they
cut some corners. Generally speaking, they did not
do a thorough job of explaining to the native peoples
that baptism was, from their point of view, a lifetime
commitment and that entering the mission system
was a one-way street -- you were able to go in, but you
would not be permitted to leave.
Would you say then that the Indians were enslaved
by the missionaries?
Coercion and force were part of the mission system,
but I wouldn't say that they were enslaved. Slavery is
a specific legal system. To use it in an American context equates with the way Africans were treated in the
American South, and it was a very different kind of
situation. Indians were definitely regarded as inferior.
But they were regarded not as property, but as people.
What was Serra’s attitude and behavior toward the
Indians?
His attitude and behavior were frankly and explicitly
paternalistic. Along with probably 99 percent of the
people in Europe at the time, he thought that non-Europeans were inferior to Europeans. There was a big
debate in the early Spanish empire about whether or
not the native peoples were fully rational beings.
By the time Serra got to the New World, many
Spanish thinkers believed that the native peoples of
the Americas were in a state of "natural infancy," that
they were children. Serra shared that view and he basically had a paternalistic attitude towards them.
14
That paternalistic attitude could, at times, result
in a behavior which anybody today would find very
hard to justify. If people left the mission without permission, they were pursued and hunted by soldiers
and other Indians. If they were brought back, the normal punishment was flogging. What the Spanish military and missionaries thought they were doing was
punishing children to make them understand how
they should behave.
Were Indians converted at the missions?
It's pretty clear that at the beginning the native peoples did what Europeans, the so-called "barbarians,"
had done a millennium earlier. They interpreted
Christianity through their own traditional ways,
through their own traditional deities and spirituality.
So, what resulted in the missions was a mix, a syncretism, a new melding of traditional indigenous California spirituality and imported Spanish and
Mexican Catholic spirituality.
Over time, some missionaries understood this
and accepted it. Others were very impatient with it.
Serra was most likely somewhere in the middle.
Did Serra like the Indians?
As we were researching the book, we came to the conclusion that Serra himself was personally a much more
complex individual than either his proponents or his
detractors acknowledged. He could be very conflicted.
On the one hand, he really enjoyed being with
native peoples who were not baptized because that
was the reason he had come to the New World.
For instance, he kept a diary of his journey from
Loreto in Baja California up to San Diego in 1769.
For him, one of the most emotional days of his life
was in a place in Baja California where a group of native unbaptized people came out of the woods and
presented themselves to the priest. This was the first
time in his life that he had personally encountered a
large group of unbaptized Indians. He was overwhelmed.
In his diary he said, "I kissed the ground and
thanked God for giving me what I have longed for so
many years." It was really a tremendously emotional
experience for him. After 19 years in America, he was
finally going to get to do what he came to do: preach
to the unbaptized.
with native peoples. When he described that human
I think that some native peoples that he met
interaction, he tended not to acknowledge the fact that
could pick up that he really wanted to be there. He rehe was part of a larger colonial system that could be,
ally enjoyed being with native peoples because he felt
at times, very brutal and very bloody.
that his identity as a missionary was the most important thing for him.
Did the Indians like him?
After all, he had been an extremely popular
Some of them certainly did. The California native
teacher and preacher. He probably could have become
culture was not a written culture. It was an oral culFranciscan provincial of Mallorca. He gave it all up
ture. So scholars try to infer how the native peoples
because he found that the academic life wasn't giving
are reacting through obviously biased reports of
him satisfaction. He wanted to do direct pastoral
Spanish writers. Even with that, I think that some of
work. He was excited and happiest when he was
them really did like him, and they were fond of him.
doing that.
They kept calling him Padre Viejo, the “old priest.”
It is always extremely difficult to intuit the
He kind of liked that. He was considerably older
thoughts, motives and genuine behavior of native peothan most of the other Spaniards or Mexicans the naples through the writings of colonial officials, but I
tives were encountering. He was also shorter and
think it is reasonable to surmise that some native peomore frail than most of them. I think some of them
ple, especially in the area around which he spent most
sort of adopted him almost as a mascot.
of his time, Carmel, understood and appreciated him.
In DecemHe was a man who
ber 1776, for inwas happiest when he
What made Serra happiest was being
stance, he was
was out there directly
a missionary among unbaptized people. traveling through
engaged in pastoral
the Santa Barbara
work.
What made him especially happy was
area, and there
He was most unwhen he could do that directly one-on-one was a huge rainhappy when he had to
storm. So the
deal with soldiers and
with native peoples.
small party that
governors. Serra never
he was with had to leave the beach where they were
met a military governor that he liked. He dealt with
traveling and go up to the foothills because the waves
three of them and disliked each one more than the
were coming in. They got bogged down in the mud.
previous one.
Suddenly, and out of nowhere, a group of ChuHe also tended to be unhappy when he had to
mash Indians appeared. They picked Serra up and
deal with his religious superiors back in Mexico City.
carried him through the mud so that he could conHe would sometimes think that they didn't undertinue his journey. They stayed with him for a couple
stand what he was trying to do. His superiors often
of days, and he tried to teach them to sing some
thought he was too impatient and too reckless in essongs. That was the kind of thing that he just loved.
tablishing so many missions so quickly. Maybe that
Other native peoples, for instance the Kumeyaay
criticism came with the territory. Indeed, the Jesuit
who in 1775 led a rebellion in San Diego that demissionary in Arizona, Eusebio Kino, experienced
stroyed the mission and killed one of the priests,
similar strictures from his own superiors.
clearly didn't like the mission system at all. In fact,
At one point, Serra complained about all this:
after that episode, Serra wrote to the viceroy and
"I'm spending half of my life at a desk writing reasked that, if he were to be killed by an Indian, that
ports." He was clearly upset at all of the effort he had
Indian ought not be executed but forgiven.
to put into such activity.
So, some did like him, and some thought that he
What made him happiest was being a missionary
was somebody who was destroying their way of life.
among unbaptized people. What made him especially
The native response to the Spanish occupation of Calhappy was when he could do that directly one-on-one
15
ifornia was similar to the native response to many
other incursions of European colonialism in the
Americas. Definitely more negative than accepting,
and complex and mixed.
Were Indians exploited to support the mission system?
Yes. As the mission system developed over time it became a different kind of place after Serra's death in
1784 as a result of a couple of circumstances.
In 1810, the independence insurgency in Mexico
under Miguel Hidalgo and Juan María Morelos broke
out. If you were the viceroy at the time, you were
going to do everything that you could to defeat this
insurgency. So the supply ship, which every year had
come up from Mexico to California, stopped coming
because all resources were being diverted to fighting
Hidalgo and Morelos.
All of a sudden, California was not getting its
regular replenishment of supplies. The institutions in
California that were best equipped to deal with this
situation were the missions because by that time, they
were pretty skilled at growing food.
They also had blacksmiths, carpenters and other
skilled personnel. Some of these skilled laborers were
Indians, who had learned from Mexican craftsmen at
the missions, and who would pass on those skills to
their own children. So the missions became the economic engines of California from about 1810 increasingly onward.
The result was the missions began to reach farther and farther away from the coast to get more native people to keep up production levels. By the early
1820s, the missionaries were almost ranchers as much
as they were missionaries. They were selling their
hides and tallow to American and British merchants
who were trading up and down the coast.
The missionaries would have definitely not described themselves as ranchers, but I think that’s what
happened. And ranching concerns and missionary activity did not always coexist well together.
For instance, peoples' freedom of movement
within the mission compound became more restricted. An example was that young girls and women
were locked up at night because the missionaries
thought, not without reason, that some soldiers
would rape them if they were unprotected.
But putting so many individuals together in an
enclosed and often cramped space created a very unhealthy environment. Young girls and women were
especially vulnerable to imported diseases to which
Entrance of the San Carlos
Borromeo de Carmelo
Mission in Carmel, Calif.,
Blessed Junípero Serra’s
resting place and shrine.
By Didier B (GFDL, CC-BYSA-3.0/CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons).
they had not developed any immunities. For this and
other reasons, such as heavy workload, the death rate
in the missions was very high and it increased over time.
Obviously, the missionaries didn't know about
germ theory, or anything like that. But, they knew
people were dying in great numbers because they
were doing the funerals, and they kept very full
records of all sacramental matters. Some were extremely upset, while others appear to have contented
themselves with the assurance that this simply meant
that more souls were going to heaven. It is very jarring
and infuriating to read those words today.
However, their lives were sometimes quite similar to
what they had known at the missions. The major difference was that they could leave if they wanted to.
Given all of this, what about the issue of Serra’s
canonization?
I’m an historian, not a theologian. But I have tried to
follow the debate and I do know a number of native
Californians who are very opposed to the canonization of Fr. Serra. Many of their arguments are deeply
reasoned, well articulated, passionate and personal.
I think that many of the arguments rest upon
two concerns. First, the concern that canonizing
Serra is by implication approving the entire mission
Did the Franciscans or the Church get rich through
system, including all of the punishments, diseases and
the missions? Did any of the profits from the misdeaths that were a part of that system. The second
sions go back to Mexico or Spain?
concern is that to canonize Serra is to justify and
In the quarter century after 1810, the missions generwhitewash the Church's role in colonial expansion -ated considerable income. But close study of the fias it were, to bless the European expansion into the
nancial system and of the mission account books
Americas and the horrible loss of native lives and
indicates pretty clearly that the overwhelming amount
land that was part
of this income,
more than 90
I personally don't think it is legitimate to and parcel of that
process.
percent, went dimake
Serra
a
stand-in
for
the
entire
65
On the first point,
rectly back into
years of mission experience in California. we have a section in
mission enterour book about how,
prises, especially
under the influence
clothing for the
of the Spanish revival movement in southern Californative peoples and liturgical, catechetical and sacrania in the late 19th century, Serra became a virtual
mental supplies. Very little was retained in Mexico
symbol for everything that happened in pre-U.S. CalCity or went back to Spain.
ifornia. Serra was made into such a symbol by a
The accusation, made by some opponents of the
group of Anglo boosters to further their own aims.
missions at the time and occasionally repeated since,
I personally don't think it is legitimate to make
that the church in general or the missionaries in parSerra a stand-in for the entire 65 years of mission exticular enriched themselves, appears to be unfounded.
perience in California. The system developed after his
death in ways he did not plot or intend. So I do not
What happened to the Indians and the mission land
personally believe that in canonizing him the Church
when the Mexican government ended the mission
intends to say that it is blessing everything that hapsystem in the 1830s?
pened in the missions from the time they were started
The padres always said, "The land belongs to the Inuntil the time they ended. I don't think that canonizadians, and we hold it in trust for the Indians." Accordtion means that the person is perfect or that everying to various laws, that was the technical reality. But
thing that happened after his death, even some
the land was actually divided among the leading Calperhaps unforeseen or unintended consequences,
ifornia families by the Mexican government.
were necessarily good and beneficial. If those were
So, Indians became ranch hands on the ranchos.
the criteria, probably no one would ever be canonized!
On the ranchos, many Indians became valued laborers,
On the second issue, the notion that the Church
because of the skills they had learned at the missions.
17
A first-class relic of Blessed Junípero Serra
passed down from Serra International president to president.
should not have been involved in colonial expansion,
I think that veers too easily into a simplistic way of
looking at history. The study of the past is always a
dialogue between past and present, and I fear that this
notion is too exclusively focused on the present to the
neglect of the past.
As I said before, the missionaries generally
thought that they were representing the "softer" side
of colonialism, that they were protecting the native
18
peoples from the more oppressive parts of the system.
The Catholic Church and Serra were definitely part
of the colonial process. While I can understand 21stcentury people saying that religion should stay out of
colonial land grabs and refuse to justify them, we
can’t simply export that view back to the 18th century.
The cold hard fact was that some European power
was going to come into California, and the only question for the church was whether it wanted to try to influence that process from the inside or whether it
wanted to remain outside that process and give up
any influence at all.
Indeed, we do know what did happen when religious groups were not present to try to protect native
peoples and were not involved in colonial expansion
into native territories. The example of Indian removal
from many regions in the 19th-century U.S. is a grim
instance. In fact, if there was genocide against native
peoples in California, it happened during the gold
rush, in the 1850s, when Americans offered bounties
for Indian scalps and the native peoples of Northern
California were brutally decimated and oppressed.
Whatever their faults, no Spanish or Mexican
missionary in California ever came close to uttering
the refrain that was heard among 19th-century North
Americans, that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian." And nothing on the scale of Sand Creek or
Wounded Knee ever occurred in connection with the
California missions.
I don’t know what Pope Francis intended by announcing the canonization of Serra. But I can understand that, in Junípero Serra’s willingness to sacrifice
the comforts of a very successful career, to forego
climbing the academic and ecclesiastical ladders, to
travel halfway around the world in order to live the
rest of his life among people he had never seen but
whom he deeply and genuinely loved, and to go without many advantages he could easily have gained, one
sees qualities that are very consistent with what the
Church has long held up as indications of sanctity. %
Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese is a senior analyst for NCR and
author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church.
Ruben Mendoza looks over original manuscripts by Father Junípero Serra as mission archivist the Rev. Carl
Faria, right, and museum docent Dotty Weisheit watch.
Photo by Robert Gauthier
Often Criticized, Serra Gets
a Reappraisal from Historians
by Louis Sahagun
W
Copyright © 2015. Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with Permission.
hen archaeologist Ruben Mendoza was a
boy, his father was prone to fiery outbursts in the family's mobile home on the
tough west side of Fresno. One of the biggest targets
of his anger, Mendoza remembers, was the Catholic
Church and its California missions.
"Over and over, he claimed Catholic missions
were cancers that Spain brought to the New World,"
Mendoza said.
Mendoza, who is of Yaqui Indian and Mexican
American heritage, was shaped by his father's hatred.
"I became obsessed with 'pure' ancient Indian cultures," he recalled.
When his fourth-grade class built models of the
historic missions, he asked his teacher if he could do
something else -- and got special permission to build
a dinosaur instead.
Mendoza, one of the founding faculty members
at Cal State Monterey Bay, grew up believing that the
controversial founder of the missions, Franciscan friar
Junípero Serra, now on a track for sainthood, was an
imperious theologian who imposed a slave system
that destroyed the Indians' way of life.
19
God's name, they have ruined the Indian peoples of
Later, his archaeological research revealed that
California."
the real story is more complicated than the caricature.
In their new biography, Junípero Serra: California,
"Dig a little deeper," the 58-year-old likes to say,
Indians, and the Transformation of a Missionary, histori"and you'll find evidence of a new diverse society
ans Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz porflourishing, one that makes California and its Latino
tray Serra as a man whose commitment embroiled
culture unique."
him in frequent conflicts with California's early govBut not until he uncovered the chapel where
ernors, soldiers, settlers and other missionaries.
Serra celebrated the first high Masses in Monterey did
"Serra was not a monster," said Senkewicz, a proMendoza have an awakening that finally changed
fessor of history at Santa Clara University.
how he felt about the priest.
Mendoza, a practicing Roman Catholic, says that
Mendoza is among a growing number of historicritics of Serra and other missionaries overlook what
ans who have spurred a reappraisal of Serra, whom
he achieved.
Pope Francis is expected to elevate to sainthood in
"Serra endured great hardships to evangelize NaSeptember.
tive Californians," he said. "In the process, he orchesThe Spaniard was 56 and asthmatic when he artrated the development of a chain of missions that
rived in California, then hobbled thousands of miles
helped give birth to modern California."
on an ulcerated leg to launch a mission-building camFlogging and shackling were common punishpaign that stretched from San Diego to San Francisco.
ments for IndiAdvocates
ans in Serra's
say that he deThe missions were not slave plantations. . .
missions, Menfended native
people against They were communes in which friars and Indians doza said. But
documentation
soldiers and
worked side by side and consumed
also shows that
settlers, and
the products of their labor.
Serra felt Indilaid the founans stood a betdations of Calter chance of surviving depredation by Spanish
ifornia's vibrant agricultural and commercial
soldiers and colonists if they were brought into the
economy. But critics point to the friars' often brutal
fold of the missions.
treatment of Native Californians.
"The missions were not slave plantations like
In February, a dozen people led by Olin Tezthose of George Washington or Thomas Jefferson,"
catlipoca, director of the Mexica Movement, an inMendoza said. "They were communes in which friars
digenous-rights group, gathered outside a Sunday
and Indians worked side by side and consumed the
Mass at the downtown Cathedral of Our Lady of the
products of their labor."
Angels to protest the proposed canonization of the
That kind of talk would have infuriated Mendoza's
friar whom they say was responsible for "genocide"
father. "My father was raised Catholic but he rejected
of native peoples.
the Church when I was a boy," Mendoza recalled.
"Serra set up forced labor camps, death camps,"
"He instilled a zealous appreciation for only one
Tezcatlipoca said in an interview at the time.
part of my ethnic identity," Mendoza said. "It stayed
Like many Mexican Americans, Douglas Monwith me through graduate school."
roy, a professor of history at Colorado College in ColEven after he earned a doctorate in anthropology
orado Springs and an associate of Mendoza, has
at the University of Arizona in 1992, his attitude perconflicted emotions of sadness, anger and reverence
sisted. "If there was an old mission located next door
for Serra and the missions.
to an ancient archaeological site I was excavating, I
"When I think of all the death and dying," he
just ignored it as inconsequential."
said, "I, like so many of the Indians who lived in [the
A new perception began to take hold a year later,
missions], must flee because I become so angry. In
20
when he was invited by the Mexican government to
excavate a 16th-century convent in Puebla.
"It was a transformative experience," he recalled.
"We uncovered evidence of an incredibly diverse mass
of humanity" — Spanish colonial foundations, preColumbian floors and figurines, and Aztec ceramics.
"I realized that I would never fully understand the
arc of history in such places if I exclude their Spanish
cultural dynamics," he said.
Since then, "archaeology has been a high-wire act
for me," he said. "Skeptics believe I've been compromised by some personal desire to honor my ancestors
— all of them. When I don't go along with the idea
that the missions were concentration camps and that
the Spanish brutalized every Indian they encountered, I'm seen as an adversary."
In 2006, Mendoza was recruited by the Diocese
of Monterey to assess the structural integrity of San
Carlos Cathedral, one of the nine missions Serra
founded before his death in 1784. The next year, Mendoza noticed an unnaturally straight row of stones in
a trench where new utility lines were being laid near
the cathedral.
Mendoza's observation led to further exploration
and to discovery of buried chapels used by Serra in
the early 1770s, a find that is shedding new light on
Spanish explorers in the New World and some of the
Serra is often depicted
with his arm protectively placed
around a young Indian boy, as
shown here in this statue on
plaza de San Francisco de Asis in
Havana, Cuba. Photo by Anatoly
Terentiev, CC-SA-BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
momentous "firsts" in California history.
Within those chapels about 245 years ago, friars
administered the first sacrament of "exploration" to
Capt. San Juan Bautista de Anza, who went on to
chart San Francisco Bay. There, they conducted the
first Christian baptism of a Native Californian and
blessed the first cemetery in Alta California.
There too, Mendoza came to terms with his conflicted ethnic identity.
Mendoza felt a surprising kinship with Serra as
he and a team of archaeology students uncovered the
charred postholes and decomposed granite foundations of the chapels where, according to historical accounts, Serra had celebrated the first high Masses in
Monterey.
As the excavated site was being reburied in 2008
during a ceremony, Mendoza was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of admiration of Serra's frontier
evangelism, a view at odds with what he had been
taught by historians, teachers and his father: Indians
were brutally coerced into acculturation by overzealous Franciscans.
Mendoza discreetly positioned himself over what
would have been the altar of one of the chapels, then
dropped to his knees and made the sign of the cross.
"After years of rejecting the California mission
era, I felt a powerful personal connection with it,"
Mendoza said. "I'm Iberian, indigenous and Mexican. It took years to reconcile those differences. But I
was born here."
On a recent day, inside a temperature-controlled
cathedral vault, Mendoza held up one of Serra's tattered leather-bound marriage and baptism ledgers.
On the first page, Serra recorded the first Christian baptism of a Native Californian, 5-year-old
Bernardino de Jesús, on Dec. 26, 1770. In florid handwriting, he said he reminded Royal Presidio of Monterey Commander Don Pedro Fages of his obligation
as baptismal godfather to ensure that the boy would
be raised in the Christian tradition.
"Serra was far from perfect," said Mendoza,
whose pickup truck bears the bumper sticker "I Dig
Missions." "Yet we are beneficiaries of this man who
believed that poverty, chastity and obedience would
open the gates of the kingdom of heaven to Native
Californians." %
21
Rediscovering Blessed Junípero Serra
A
s Pope Francis prepares to
celebrate the Canonization of Blessed Junípero
Serra, we as Serrans are called to
prepare ourselves for this joyous
occasion. Whether we attend daily
Mass, recite morning and evening
prayer or spend an hour with Jesus
in Adoration, all are excellent practices for our spiritual preparation.
Our Programs Manual – Part II provides Rediscovering Blessed
Junípero Serra (right), a reflection
that can be conducted as a formation meeting or facilitated in a retreat setting.
Another self-preparation or
group practice is to pray the
Blessed Junípero Serra Novena.
Found in the Handbook for Serrans
Called to Holiness, the nine-day
novena takes us through Serra’s
courageous and sometimes perilous journey. Packed with many
of his personal quotes, significant
accomplishments and moments of
divine providence, meditation and
prayer follow each day’s story.
As we move forward together
in our Serra journey, let us pray for
the safety of our Holy Father’s arrival to the United States. Let us
pray for an increase in vocations to
the priesthood, diaconate and religious life. And let us pray that we
be made ready to receive the special grace that will be bestowed on
us from our Patron Blessed
Junípero Serra’s canonization.%
--Aileen Fields,
USA Council Program Chair
22
(Read the Opening Prayer and Scripture out loud.)
Opening Prayer
Almighty God, in every age you have chosen servants to proclaim your
word to the ends of the earth. Hear our prayer for Blessed Junípero Serra,
who responded to your call to serve in the missions and who made a
tremendous difference in the lives of so many people through his tireless
preaching of the gospel. May his work and legacy inspire us. Grant this
through Christ our Lord. Amen
Scripture
“The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had
ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them, ‘All power in heaven and on earth
has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.’" (Matthew 28:16-20)
(Take time for silent reflection, then read the Introduction out loud.)
Introduction
The Serra organization is based on the accomplishments of Blessed
Junípero Serra, who tirelessly preached the Gospel and served the people
with zeal and love, relying on God’s mercy. This program explores those
characteristics that make Blessed Serra so unique and provides us with the
opportunity to see how they can be part of our lives.
(Introduce a speaker or the facilitator can read the following paragraphs with pauses
in between.)
Historical Tradition
Miquel Serra was born into a humble family in a farming village on the
Mediterranean Island of Majorca. His parents sent him to a nearby Franciscan school where his teachers quickly recognized his intellectual abilities.
Within a year he became a novice in the Franciscan order, taking the name
of Junípero after the beloved friend of Saint Francis. Shortly thereafter he
was ordained a priest.
Years of formation in the Franciscan way of life and academic
studies in philosophy and theology followed with Serra being named professor of philosophy. He was well known as a bright and articulate scholar,
a moving preacher and a clear, precise writer. Dedicated to the Gospel and
a tireless worker, Father Serra responded to the call of the Franciscan missionaries to preach the Gospel to the New World.
In 1749, Father Serra was sent to the missionary territories in the American West Coast where he is
credited with being responsible for the foundation and
spread of the Catholic Church, and establishing a system of nine missions in what is now the state of California. Blessed Junípero Serra was a zealous missionary
devoted to spreading the Gospel message. He not only
brought the Gospel message to the Native Americans,
but as one who lived the Gospel, he also became their
defender.
As a missionary in the Franciscan order of the
Catholic Church and a political entity advocating for the
rights of others, Father Junípero Serra was a driving
force in the colonization of the state of California.
Through his missionary activity, he and the other friars
converted thousands of Native Americans and trained
many in the European methods of agriculture, animal
husbandry, and crafts.
Since 1934, Junípero Serra has been a candidate for canonization as a saint by the Roman Catholic
Church. Pope John Paul II remarked that Serra is an
exemplary model of a selfless evangelizer, a shining example of Christian virtue and the missionary spirit.
(The facilitator can read the Discussion Questions out loud for
general or small group discussion.)
Discussion Questions
Blessed Junípero Serra was a man of faith.
At life’s crossroads Junípero Serra traded in a professorial lifestyle that promised him a beloved homeland, associations of his youth, a cloister and community, books
and university, honor and a secure future. He chose instead a missionary lifestyle that required him to say
farewell to his home and life and embrace uncertainty
and instability. He moved forward and did not dwell on
his losses. Which paths have I chosen at the many crossroads
that have been part of my life?
Blessed Junípero Serra was a preacher.
If history were something static, the world would hardly
be in need of missionary activity. However, the Gospel
needs to be preached and interpreted in every age. As
history unfolds, every generation is called to embrace
the same challenge as Blessed Junípero Serra, and define
for themselves how they will proclaim God’s message
to the word. How are we as a church responding to the idea
of conversion in our hearts and our world?
Blessed Junípero was a missionary at heart.
The missionary is one who responds to the privilege of
participating in the Mission of God by offering himself
to work for, and give witness to the salvation of the
world. Fidelity is the quality of response that is necessary for a missionary to be daily converted to his personal calling. How necessary do you think missionaries are
today?
Blessed Junípero Serra is just like us.
He was a visionary man who persevered in his mission
despite adversity, controversy, and hardships. How do we
as Serrans persevere in our vision to foster vocations to the priesthood and religious life? How do we further Catholicism by encouraging one another to fulfill our Christian vocation to service
through education about our faith?
Closing Reflection
The missionary vocation has been the motivating force
behind the Franciscan life. Blessed Junípero Serra embraced this spirit and led a missionary’s life. As Serrans
who follow Serra we to are called to lead a life open to
wherever God may call us.
Bibliography
DeNevi, Don and Moholy, Noel Francis. Junípero Serra:
The Illustrated Story of the Founder of California’s Missions.
Harper and Row, 1985.
Sullivan, Marion. Westward the Bells: A Biography of
Junípero Serra. Saint Paul Books and Media, 1988.
Serra International Videos
• Father Serra and the American West
• The Founding Father of the West
23
The Artist Behind the Serra Club Charter
T
he official Serra club charter is a treasured
and beautiful document marking the culmination of months or even years of efforts behind the formation of a new group of
people committed to supporting vocations in their
local community.
Have you ever wondered where and how
such works of art are created, especially in this
day and age of quick printing and cold digital images?
The same Chicago-based studio has been
producing Serra club charters for nearly 60 years.
The Serran sat down with Jerry Hanratty, Serra International’s official charter artist, to find out a
little more about the process that produces these
fine documents.
24
TS: Jerry, tell us about the history of your studio.
JH: Beaux Arts Studios, Inc., was founded in
Chicago in 1951 by my father, Edward J. Hanratty,
and John E. Katich. We produce and design quality
custom illuminated testimonials, engrossed resolutions, awards, charters and certificates that are colorful, treasured and the ultimate of prestige
recognition. We have worked with hundreds of individuals and corporations both nationally and internationally since the inception of the business.
My entrance into Beaux Arts Studios, Inc.
was in 1966 after serving in the United States Army.
I did everything from sweeping the floor, making
deliveries, secretarial work to learning the art of engrossing. The work has been fulfilling, and I have
met some very interesting people over the years.
When my father passed away
in 1998, I took over as President of
Beaux Arts Studios, Inc. We moved
our office to Aurora, Ill., in 2013
where we are still providing our customers with quality custom designed
work at affordable prices.
Jerry Hanratty of Beaux
Arts Studios creates the
charter for the Serra
Club of Nongseng,
Thailand (detail at left).
TS: How did you come to work
with Serra International?
JH: We have been creating various
awards and charters for Serra International since the late 1950s. We
have worked with various Serra individuals starting with Mr. Harry
O’Haire through to Mr. John Liston,
the current executive director. Beaux
Arts has done approximately 200
Serra charters over the years. I have
probably done about 50 of them personally.
TS: How long does it take to complete one Serra
charter?
JH: It takes approximately two and one-half hours
to complete a Serra charter.
TS: Do you ever make a mistake? If so, is there a
way to correct it or do you have to start over?
JH: Mistakes do happen. They can be corrected
with an electric eraser if the mistake is not too complex. If it is, then the entire charter must be redone.
TS: What is the name of the process you use?
JH: Engrossing, the fine art of free hand lettering
in a beautiful form, is accomplished as it was centuries ago without mechanical aid. The artist uses
only pens, brushes and the highest quality inks. Illuminating is the art of designing and decorating
with color and 23-karat gold and is also executed by
the artist without mechanical means. It took me at
least five years to become proficient in the art of engrossing.
TS: What materials are used to create a charter?
JH: The paper used for these charters is either a 2ply or 3-ply Strathmore. The inks used are a Japanese stick ink or Lamy ink made in Germany.
TS: Have technological advances in high quality
printers ever threatened your business?
JH: Yes, of course, but if a client wants to have a
quality document, they rely on someone such as
myself. There is nothing that compares to a handengrossed and hand-illuminated award, certificate
or charter in quality and satisfaction with the finished product.
TS: What do you enjoy most about this work?
JH: Knowing that I am creating something that will
last forever, an award or certificate that actually
means something to the person or organization that
is receiving it. This document will be cherished and
not thrown away. %
To see a sampling of Beaux Arts Studios’ work, visit
www.beauxartsstudiosinc.com.
25
Our Best Days Are Still Ahead!
I
and sadly it is not quite ready. However, I am pleased
prepare for the Melbourne convention
to say that the delay was not due to glitches or lack
with mixed emotions. It has been a
of effort. Rather, God has asked us to be patient and
great privilege to represent Serrans this
to take a break from that project to celebrate the canpast year. I have enjoyed the pleasure of
onization of our patron, Junípero Serra, on Sept. 23,
visiting countless Serrans around the
2015 in Washington, D.C. Both staff and board memworld, and everywhere I went I experienced generous
bers have worked diligently to offer Serra’s participahospitality and enthusiasm for our mission – wondertion in whatever way the organizers of the event deem
ful conversation, great food, prayerful liturgies. Your
appropriate. Information about the canonization
enthusiasm helped make “my yoke easy and my burevent is tightly held and many decisions have not been
den light.”
finalized. We are doing our best to inform you about
My deepest regret is that I could not fit more visthe canonization and appreciate your patience.
its into my schedule. One of Serra’s most underappreSince many Serrans will not be able to attend in
ciated blessings is the blessing of the global Catholic
person, we have prepared canonization “kits” for
fellowship we experience and share. I look forward to
clubs that proseeing many of
you again and One of Serra’s most underappreciated blessings vide some remeeting more
is the blessing of the global Catholic fellowship sources and
suggestions for
of you at future
we
experience
and
share.
promoting and
Serra convencelebrating the
tions (St. Louis
canonization in our local communities. We can use
in 2016, Rome in 2017, Nashville in 2018 and wherthe excitement about Junípero Serra’s canonization
ever we meet in the future!).
to promote Serra among our Catholic brothers and
I have missed too many of my own club’s events
sisters. This is a great opportunity to expand our aposthis past year, and I look forward to returning to more
tolate!
active work for vocations in my own diocese. And, I
I am foolish enough to believe that our best days
hope to have more time to visit my daughter and first
are still ahead. The publicity surrounding the canongrandchild who is expected in July!
ization, the hard work of our board and staff, and
I am pleased with the progress we have made this
most importantly the enthusiasm of the Serrans I met
past year. The Serra International/USA Council task
this past year give me great hope.
force and staff have made tremendous progress in reFinally, thanks to John Liston and the CAO staff
ducing our operating costs and yet laying the foundafor their efforts, my fellow Board members for their
tion for more effective service going forward. The
sacrifices for Serra and their patience with me, to Bob
recently completed audit through Dec. 31, 2014, will
Labat and the USA Council Board for their work to
document the strengthening of our financial position.
develop the CAO, and most importantly to all my felOur use of technology and social media is improving.
low Serrans for your prayers, work, and enthusiasm
Serrans in leadership positions around the world are
in promoting vocations through our Serra apostolate!
forthrightly addressing the questions we need to anMary, Mother of Vocations, pray for us! Blessed
swer to remain a vibrant apostolate in the 21st century.
(soon to be Saint) Junípero Serra, pray for us! %
I had hoped that our new website would be ready
to roll out before (or immediately after) Melbourne,
Daniel S. Grady
President,
Serra International
26
An Opportunity to Rediscover Our Patron
John Osterhart
President,
Serra’s Council for
the United States
I
nititally, my goal for this column was
to write an article related to the canonization of Blessed Junípero Serra.
I soon came to wonder what I could say
that isn’t already contained in volumes of
periodicals, books, and myriad online
sources.
The excellent April 2015 issue of the Knights of
Columbus magazine Columbia came to mind. If you
do not receive the magazine, access it on the Internet
at www.kofc.org, especially: 1) “An Exceptional Missionary,” a prologue to the other articles, by Supreme
Knight Carl A. Anderson; 2) “Junípero Serra: Hero
of Evangelization” by Msgr. Francis J. Weber; 3)
”Bringing Christ to the People,” an interview with
Archbishop José Gomez about the life and legacy of
Blessed Junípero Serra. You can choose the “printfriendly version” option to read or share at your convenience.
My previously stated conundrum of needing to
come up with anything approaching the quality of so
much superb existing content seemed aligned with a
problem Serrans face in coming up with meaningful
ideas for programs, vocations, membership and communications in their local clubs.
For this, we have outstanding downloadable resources available on www.serraus.org. All of these are
underutilized and even unknown to a large portion of
our Serra members and club leadership. Many of these
are internal programs directed at enhancing our members’ own spiritual lives and knowledge of their faith.
Such material related specifically to our patron
Blessed Junípero Serra includes the following:
• “In His Steps: A Program for Renewal and Recommitment” found in the Programs Manual – Part II
• “Junípero Serra, A Study Guide – Rediscovering
Blessed Junípero Serra” is another program downloadable from our website and found in the Programs
Manual – Part II (appearing on pp. 22-23 of this issue)
• A prayer for the canonization of Blessed Serra
Club meeting resource programs offered by the
Programs Manual – Part II, like the two mentioned
above, follow a standard format: Opening Prayer;
Scripture; Introduction; Historical Tradition; Discussion Questions; Reflection; Closing Reflection; and a
Bibliography. These programs provide opportunities
for Serrans to:
• Turn our attention to God in our lives
• Examine the topic in a scriptural context
• Consider how the topic fits into our organizational
context
• Increase our knowledge of the topic
• Look for lessons which we can put into action
Please spend some time exploring the www.serraus.org website starting with the Programs Manual –
Part II. The materials on the website were developed
specifically to aid Serrans in achieving their programming goals.
The point of this is two-fold. One, we have a great
chance to learn more about and reflect upon the life
of our soon-to-be canonized patron and take to heart
and put into action lessons from his example. At the
same time, we can explore the treasure trove of programs and resources that make available to us depth
of content designed to provide spiritual reflections to
nurture and support our own call to sanctity.
Similarly helpful resources can be found for our
other major club functions of vocations, membership,
and communications.
To better assist Serrans, we will be working to establish a new “Information Technology (IT) and Resource Awareness/Utilization Leader” position in
each of our clubs and in other levels of Serra.
God bless you and thank you for all you do for
the cause of vocations and for Serra. %
27
The Serran Time Capsule 1988:
The Arduous Trail to Canonization
By Nancy E. Cashman
I
This article first appeared in The Serran, August 1988.
t was Nov. 14, 1987, and the sign on the locked
doors of Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Carmel,
California, read: “Closed for Construction.” Yet inside, an eerie ritual was taking place. The body of Fray
Junípero Serra, dead more than 200 years, was being
exhumed in a process laced with prayers that lasted half
the day. The purpose: to verify that the body indeed was
that of the candidate for canonization, and to remove
several bone fragments that could be encased in glass
and used as objects of veneration.
This exhumation was just one of the tiny and
sometimes odd steps in a process we call “the cause for
canonization.” It is a process that amuses cynics and
inspires believers. A process that is at once mystical and
scientific, pure and bureaucratic, magical and sublime.
Defending His Virtues
Interest in the canonization of Fr. Junípero Serra
began in 1934, which was, not coincidentally, the year
of the Serra club’s birth. As public support and interest
in Fr. Serra’s heroic life grew, the Franciscan order officially began the process that would span decades: the
cause of Fr. Serra.
First historians began to gather biographical material to defend Serra’s case. Then, in 1948-49, a closedto-the-public hearing (sometimes called a “diocesan
tribunal”) was held in Fresno, California. Here Serra’s
supporters were required to override objections of the
Vatican-appointed “Devil’s Advocate.” This official
must assume that a candidate is not saintly until proven
otherwise. The defenders, then, must prove that the candidate lived a life of heroic virtue. Serra “passed.”
Serra’s body was also exhumed at this time and his
identity verified by comparing his bones with the information on his Spanish passport and anecdotal information available on his physical stature.
In the early 1950s, Fr. Noel Moholy, a young Franciscan seminary professor, took over the task of pro-
28
moting
Serra’s
cause, a cause that
would become the
passion of a lifetime.
An important task following the diocesan
tribunal was the compilation of a
“summarium,” a legal brief containing all
of the candidate’s written words plus the depositions
taken in the diocesan tribunal. The summarium took
Fr. Jacinto Fernandez, OFM, of Spain six years to compile, totaled 700 pages and cost approximately $25,000.
(By way of comparison, the summarium of Elizabeth
Seton cost approximately $10,000.)
Serra International played an important part in this
early process by presenting a resolution and petition of
18,000 signatures in Fr. Serra’s behalf to Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Serra’s 2½-inch thick summarium was then sent
to 11 historians, members of different faculties of
Church history in various pontifical universities in
Rome. These historians met in February 1982 to deliberate over the documents and found that they indeed
supported the sanctity of Serra.
The documents were in turn passed on to eight theologians for each to study independently. On Feb. 12,
1985, these consultors agreed that Serra practiced
Christian virtue to a heroic degree. They passed this information on to the Cardinal members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, who ratified the findings
on April 2, 1985. Finally, after many years of investigation, Serra was declared Venerable on May 9, 1985 by
Pope John Paul II.
What, theologically, does the title Venerable mean?
First, the individual has been determined to have lived
a life of heroic virtue. Second, parishioners may pray
for intercession to the candidate. But most importantly,
it is an essential step on the road to canonization.
Moving toward Beatification
The second major goal is beatification. This re-
to? Parishioners can pray for intercession to the candiquires that at least one miracle be approved and that the
date. Also, local Masses can be offered in the candidate’s
candidate has gained a reputation of “granting signs,
name and days of observance in the candidate’s name
wonders and miracles” However, if the candidate was
can be set locally. And when Fr. Serra is beatified on
a martyr for the Catholic faith, the miracle is not reSept. 25, he will be known as Blessed Junípero Serra.
quired. For example, Native American Kateri TekakThe third and final step in this process is canonizawitha was beatified without a miracle because of her
tion itself, the Church’s official verification that the inmartyrdom.
dividual is in heaven and a worthy universal role model.
Thus, once Serra was declared Venerable, propoCanonization requires that an additional miracle be
nents of his cause set about “gathering” miracles attribproved to have occurred since the beatification. Matters
uted to his intercession. The miracle finally approved
of canonization are generally regarded as infallible,
for Serra’s beatification was that of Sr. Boniface Dyrda,
with the Pope always making the final decision, followwho 25 years earlier was diagnosed as having incurable
ing the guidance of the Congregation. (He can, for exlupus. The chaplain of her convent suggested that she
ample, waive requirements for any miracle at all,
pray to Fr. Serra, and after seeming to have no hope,
though this is rare.) The Church sets a day in the saint’s
she began to recover. She eventually regained full health.
honor on the universal liturgical calendar.
The process to establish approval of a miracle is
quite complicated. First, a “position” is developed, a
book containing documentation of the miracle (in this
Other Important Factors
case, 425 pages). The material is sent to two Italian docNo matter how virtuous or obviously saintly the
tors, one of whom must certify that the cure is inexplicandidate is, several factors can influence the speed with
cable according to medical science.
which the canonization process can be navigated.
Next the position is forwarded to a panel of six docFirst, sainthood is expensive. Costs range from
tors. Specifically, they exam$200,000 to $1,000,000. Fr.
ine the evidence to
Moholy estimates he has aldetermine that the original
ready spent $1,000,000 on
medical diagnosis was corSerra’s cause. Because of these
rect, that the cure was comcosts, some critics charge that
plete, and that the cure did
it is impossible to become a
not occur as a result of medsaint without institutional
ical intervention or natural
backing. The fact that the Vatphenomena.
ican recently established a
Many Catholics are un“Fund for Poor Causes,”
aware that this process is so
specifically for sainthood canextensive and that it is meddidates from Third World
The United States Postal Service issued a stamp
ically oriented. In fact, doccountries,
admits to that reality.
bearing Serra’s likeness on August 22, 1985.
tors involved agree that
The Pope’s travel schedule
standards have tightened as medical advances have been
also plays an important role in the canonization
made. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dr.
process, especially beatifications. When Jaime Cardinal
Marcello Meschini, a legal medicine specialist who was
Sin of Manila suggested that Pope John Paul II beatify
permanent secretary of the Congregation for the
16 Filipino martyrs during his 1981 visit to that country,
Causes of Saints medical board for more than 30 years,
the gesture was so popular that the pontiff has tried to
explained, “The new technology narrows the area of
do one beatification on each trip. This fueled speculathe unexplained.”
tion in 1987 when John Paul II was scheduled to visit
A favorable finding by the panel goes back to the
Carmel, California, that he would beatify Fr. Serra.
Cardinals of the Congregation for final approval.
What exactly does beatification entitle the candidate
Continued on page 31
29
Why Are We Serrans?
T
trusts us with its Fruits. As members of Christ’s
here are two bodies of water in the
Church on Earth, we must allow the Holy Spirit to
Holy Land that offer an amazing
flow through us and properly use the talents we recontrast and from which we can
John Liston
ceive through our baptism. Membership in Serra prolearn many lessons: the Dead Sea and the
Executive Director,
vides an ideal vehicle for us, as Catholics, to allow the
Sea of Galilee. While these two seas are
Serra International
Holy Spirit to work through us to strengthen the
both fed by the River Jordan and are situChurch by growing in our own holiness and increasated less than 70 miles (113 kilometers) apart, they
ing, supporting, and affirming vocations to the minare radically different. The Dead Sea lies dozens of
isterial priesthood and consecrated religious life. The
yards (meters) below sea level and has the highest
overwhelming majority of this work is done at the
salinity of any naturally occurring body of water. The
local (parish and diocesan) level by Serrans. Daniel
Dead Sea has no outlets and loses millions of gallons
Grady, President of Serra International, and John Oswater each day due to evaporation. As the water evapterhart, President of Serra’s
orates from the Dead Sea,
National Council for the
it leaves mineral deposits
Membership in Serra provides
behind making the sea
an ideal vehicle for us, as Catholics, United States, said this at
the Charter Night Celebrasaltier with each passing
to allow the Holy Spirit to work
tion for the Serra Club of
day. No fish, animals, or
through us to strengthen the Church. Grand Rapids in June of
plants live in the Dead Sea
2015.
due to its high salt content.
The area around the Dead Sea is barren. In contrast
to the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee is picturesque,
Why Are We International?
teeming with life, home to over 20 varieties of fish,
If the work of Serra is performed locally, often
including St. Peter’s Fish, and a host other flora and
by individual Serrans, why do we need to meet and
fauna. Fresh water from the River Jordan flows
why should we belong to a global apostolate? This
through the Sea of Galilee on its way to the Dead
question is often asked and has many answers. The
Sea. The Sea of Galilee receives water from the Jorsimplest answer is that we are strongest when we
dan and then gives back, while the Dead Sea simply
work together and can accomplish more as one cohereceives water and does nothing with it.
sive unit than several parish-based vocations groups.
Jesus ministered and preached near both of these
Several other answers can be found in the March,
bodies of water and surely knew the differences be1976 Harvard Business Review article “How to Run a
tween them. Perhaps these differences were the basis
Meeting.” The article details several reasons why
for the parable of servants and their master talents
groups meet: e.g., to form a sense of identity and
(Mt 25:14-30). In that parable the servants who crecommunity; to review and revise the working plans
ated outlets for that which they received from their
of the group; to share and increase the collective
master were handsomely rewarded and the servant
knowledge of the group and its individual members;
who did nothing was chastised and expelled.
to create a sense of commitment for members of the
Some of you might be thinking: “That’s a nice
group; to hold members of the group accountable;
story, but what do bodies of water and a parable
etc. Our collective action as a force for vocations was,
about the investment habits of servants have to do
and continues to be, recognized by the Holy See.
with Serra and its work for vocations?”
Serra International is the only lay apostolate aggreJust as the River Jordan flows through both seas
gated to the Pontifical Work for Priestly Vocations,
and the master entrusted all of his servants with talwhich is a subdivision of the Congregation for the
ents, the Holy Spirit flows through all of us and enClergy. At Serra’s 73rd international convention, to
30
be held in Melbourne, Australia, from July 30 to August 2, 2015, Serra International will release an upgraded version of its website and new set of online
tools that will help Serrans from all around the world
meet, collaborate, and share ideas in new and easyto-use ways. Information regarding these tools, including user-friendly instructions, will be distributed
via e-mail shortly after the convention.
As Serrans and Serra clubs, we must strive to
learn the lessons of the Sea of Galilee and the Dead
Sea, and remain open to the Holy Spirit, allowing it
to flow through our lives. We must continue to draw
in fresh ideas and new members while providing them
an outlet so our work may flow into the world.
Why Was Fr. Serra Chosen as Our Patron?
Our patron, Blessed Junípero Serra, will be canonized on Sept. 23, 2015, in Washington, D.C., during the Holy Father’s apostolic visit to the United
States. During a day of reflection on the life of Fr.
Serra, Pope Francis said that our patron was “one of
the founding fathers of the United States, a saintly example of the Church’s universality and special patron
of the Hispanic people of the country.” José Gomez,
Archbishop of Los Angeles, described Fr. Serra as “a
working class missionary,” meaning that Fr. Serra
was not a revolutionary theologian or prophet, but
rather a humble priest who labored to take the Gospel
to all nations.
Fr. Serra was a remarkable missionary and problem solver. However, he is not closely associated with
Cashman
Continued from page 29
That never came about, perhaps because of the highly
publicized controversy surrounding Serra’s treatment
of Native Americans. Now Serra will be on the safer
“home turf ” of the Vatican.
Finally, “the patience of a saint” is essential. To be
considered for canonization a candidate must be deceased for five years. The subsequent steps may take
years, decades or centuries. It took the Venerable Bede
800 years to be canonized, but just five years for St.
Francis. Much paperwork and approximately 30 new
candidates submitted each year keeps the Congregation
calling men and women to discern vocations to the
priesthood or religious life. Additionally, he was not
beatified until 1988. Why, then, was he chosen the patron of an apostolate that promotes and affirms vocations? Saint John Vianney is the patron saint of all
priests and St. Alphonsus Liguori is the patron of vocations. Either of these saints would have been logical
choices for vocations apostolates.
In the United States in the 1930s, when Serra International was founded, there was still a strong antiCatholic sentiment throughout the nation. When
Governor of New York Al Smith became the first
Catholic major party candidate to run for President
of the United States in 1928, he was defeated largely
due to fears that a Catholic would be ill-suited for the
presidency.
Even so, this was also a time of social change
throughout the U.S.A. Just three years later, the State
of California selected Fr. Serra as one of two people
to represent California in Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. At the time of Serra International’s founding, Fr. Serra became well-known throughout the
nation as an extraordinary missionary and a figure respected by secular authorities for his work in establishing a mission system which created the economic
backbone for the state of California. Fr. Serra’s saintly
life of heroic, “working class” virtues provides a
prime example of how one priest can make such a
profound impact on the course of human history and
contributed to him being selected as our patron. %
very busy. In fact, currently more than 1,200 saintly
hopefuls dating back to 1260 are “in process.” Approximately 300 saints have been named since 1645, of
which only three are American (as Serra would be considered, though he was a native Spaniard): St. Elizabeth
Ann Seton, St. John Neumann, and St. Francis Xavier
Cabrini.
The road to canonization is arduous, twisting, and
sometimes dusty. It is perhaps fortuitous, then, that Fr.
Serra, whose personal motto was “Always to go forward, never to turn back,” possessed unusual perseverance, for inspired perseverance on the part of his
supporters will be essential to reach the final destination: canonization. %
31
Serra International
333 W. Wacker Drive Suite 500 | Chicago IL 60606
888.777.6681 | www.serrainternational.org
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
Non-profit org.
US Postage
PAID
St. Meinrad IN
Permit No. 16
On Sept. 23, 2015,
His Holiness Pope
Francis will elevate
our patron, Junípero
Serra, to sainthood.
Never before have
we had such an
incredible opportunity
to share our Serran
mission for vocations
with the world.
Please help support
the canonization
celebration and raise
awareness about our
work when you donate
to the Serra Spread the
Word Fund.
32
Make your donation online at
http://www.serrainternational.org/spread-the-word

Siempre Adelante! - Serra International

Transcription

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