Tag: mission-period
California Indians Demand Cruelty to Ancestors Be Disclosed as California Mission Foundation Tries to Declare El Camino Real a UNESCO World Heritage Site
A proposal by the California Mission Foundation to have the state’s famed El Camino Real route declared a UNESCO Heritage Site is being bitterly opposed by state Indians who said it would only “honor and glorify the brutal conquest” of Indian lands. “Our tribe and many other California Tribes impacted by the California Mission system Read more…
AlJazeera Television Report on the Canonization of Junipero Serra
Some argue that California’s native peoples voluntarily joined the Spanish Missions founded by Junipero Serra in the 18th Century. “Not true,” Valentin Lopez of the Amah Mutsun told AlJazeera Television. “That’s why they had soldiers with them, to capture the Indians.” https://vimeo.com/140805432
“We are Stunned” Lopez Tells CNN
“We are stunned and we are in disbelief,” Valentin Lopez told CNN after the canonization of Junipero Serra in Sept. 23, 2015 in Washington, DC.
Native Americans Make Last Ditch Plea to Stop Serra Canonization
Native American activists and advocates met Tuesday, Sept. 22, in Washington, D.C., for one last-ditch effort to draw attention to their objection over the canonization of 18th-century Franciscan friar Junípero Serra. Read details in the National Catholic Reporter
How Tarnished is Serra’s Halo?
A report written by Vinnie Rotondaro in the National Catholic Reporter explores the controversy surrounding Junipero Serra
Tribal Chairmen’s Assn. Letter Opposing Serra Canonization
The Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association, in an August 2015 letter to Pope Francis, opposes the canonization of the Franciscan Friar Junipero Serra. Fr. Serra was responsible for founding and building, by means of the forced labor of our Native ancestors, nine of the twenty-one Spanish Catholic missions that were eventually built on the traditional Read more…
Tribal Psychiatrist Says Serra Canonization Will Deepen ‘Soul Wound’
“For the most part, California Indians have never healed from the treatment their ancestors endured in the missions, and making Junipero Serra a saint is going to make it even harder for healing to occur,” psychologist Donna Schindler told former Franciscan friar Mark Day. In an article published in La Prensa San Diego Day explores Read more…
Far from Human and Scarcely Civilized
Letters written by California Mission founder Junipero Serra and one of his successors, Fermín Francisco de Lasuén, help create context for the attitude of leaders of the missions toward Indians. Told by church officials to allow Indians to “change their location” and “journey from place to place,” Lasuén protests that this would never work for Read more…
The Impact of Colonization on Native California Societies
By 1769 the Spanish had had nearly two and a half centuries of experience in dealing with American Indians, and were therefore prepared for managing the California Indians who had nothing worth taking, and who fell in that class of people called “Barbarians.” Spanish Indian policy was at heart that of the obligation to civilize Read more…
Native American Holocaust Exterminate Them! The California Story
This powerful video, written and edited by Floyd Red Crow Westerman, documents the forces that destroyed Indian cultures in California: The Mission Period, the California Gold Rush, and the following flood of settlers determined that manifest destinty gave them to right to lands that had been tended by native peoples for clenturies. (video)
Author Shatters the Image of California’s Missions
In a presentation to the San Francisco Commonwealth Club, Author Elias Castillo refutes the myth that the 21 Franciscan missions in California were idyllic sites where Franciscan padres and Native Americans lovingly commingled. In reality, the missions were death camps in which the Catholic missionaries, guided by mission founder Junípero Serra’s direction that the “savage” Read more…
Respuesta de Amah Mutsun a la Encíclica de la Iglesia Católica con relación al Medio Ambiente
1ero. de Julio del 2015 Su Santidad Papa Francis Casa de Marta Ciudad del Vaticano, Roma 00120 Italia Re: Respuesta de Amah Mutsun a la Encíclica de la Iglesia Católica con relación al Medio Ambiente. Su Santidad, Papa Francis, Mi nombre es Valentin Lopez y soy el presidente de la Banda Tribal Amah Mutsun. Read more…
Letter to Pope Francis regarding the Encyclical July 1, 2015
Letter-to-Pope-Francis-re-Encyclical-1 July 2015 The Amah Mutsun’s Response supporting the Catholic Church Encyclical on the Environment and reiterating the request that the Pope reverse his decision to canonize Junipero Serra. Respuesta de Amah Mutsun a la Encíclica de la Iglesia Católica con relación al Medio Ambiente (en Español)
Mass Reconciliation Video
A Mass of Reconciliation for the Historic Amah Mutsun Tribal Band was held Dec. 22, 2012 by Bishop Richard Garcia of the Monterey Diocese to apologize for the tragic events which occurred during Mission times. A video and news story are available:
Historic Mass of Reconciliation: Mission San Juan Bautista
For Immediate Release: December 11, 2012 Historic Mass of Reconciliation Mission San Juan Bautista December 22, 2012 On December 22, 2012, Bishop Richard Garcia of the Monterey Diocese will offer a Mass of Reconciliation for the Historic Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. This mass is an important event in the history of the Amah Mutsun Read more…