In September, Pope Francis will visit the United States for the first time during his papacy. His four-day itinerary follows standard diplomatic protocol, a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House, an address before a joint session of Congress, and an appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Also planned is a Sept. 23 celebratory mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in the nation’s capitol, in which the pontiff will bestow the title of saint to the founder of California’s mission system, Father Junipero Serra.
For members of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band—an indigenous tribe descending from the mission Indians of Missions San Juan Bautista and Santa Cruz—they’re hoping that their own invocations reach the pope in time to thwart Serra’s canonization.
On Saturday,July 11, the Amah Mutsun will hold a prayer ceremony in San Juan Bautista opposing Serra’s sainthood. The event, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. will take place on the large lawn area situated between buildings belonging to the San Juan Bautista California State Historic Park and the mission. The site of Saturday’s ceremony is property of the historic park, and permits for its use must be obtained from and submitted to the state park’s Monterey District-Gavilan Sector office in San Juan.
Val (Valentin) Lopez, the tribe’s chairperson, explained in a recent email that the reason the tribe chose the site in San Juan was because of its close proximity to the mission’s cemetery, where thousands of his tribal ancestors are buried. In addition, he wrote, “we [the Amah Mutsun] have good relations with the state park, and they worked with us in a very good way.”
Since the pope made Serra’s canonization official last January, the Amah Mutsun and its allies have ramped up their opposition, arguing that such reverence for the late Franciscan friar is undeserved and sacrilegious. Serra’s critics contend that rather than building an institution that fortified the bodies, minds, and spirits of its indigenous converts it destroyed tens of thousands through Hispanization (the cultural and religious policy of assimilation promulgated by the Spanish Empire), slave labor, and disease.
In February the tribe wrote an open letter to Francis expressing their “disbelief and objection” to his decision.
A March visit by Lopez to the renowned Commonwealth Club in San Francisco followed, where Lopez joined author Elias Castillo in presenting Castillo’s book, Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of California’s Indians by the Spanish Missions.
In late April, Lopez decried Serra’s path to sainthood at the United Nations, first in meeting with a Vatican representative from the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See, and then before UN advisory body where he called upon the international community to join his tribe “in opposing the canonization of Junipero Serra, on Sept. 23, when the pope arrives in the United States.”
And when tribal member, Julisa Lopez, travels to Washington, D.C. this week to participate in the first-ever White House Tribal Youth Gathering, she will take with her a letter from the tribe that’s addressed to the president. Among the bulleted “items of interest and importance” listed in the letter is Francis’ decision to canonize Serra, Val Lopez said by telephone recently.
A flier announcing Saturday’s prayer ceremony states the event “will feature speakers who TELL THE TRUTH regarding Junipero Serra, the brutality of the mission system and the mission’s legacy of historic trauma that continues today.”
Lopez stated by email that several individuals are scheduled to speak on Saturday, including Castillo and two former, Catholic priests. Open to the public, the alcohol- and drug-free event will also feature traditional dances performed by Amah Mutsun and Miwok tribal members.