"He Cannot Be Easily Purged"

"Serra's nature is open to debate. Once revered in history books as a protector of California Indians against the brutalities of the invading Spanish military—and canonized as a saint by Pope Francis in 2015—Serra's reputation has been tarnished by leftist thinking that regards all things Spanish and Catholic in the New World as colonialist oppression.

"But that ought to be beside the point. Serra is inextricably intertwined with the history of Stanford University, and the history of California itself."

Charlotte Allen in the Los Angeles Times argues that Junipero Serra "could be said to have invented the Golden State."

"As Offensive as a Confederate Monument?"

"'The parallels are very obvious to us,' says Santa Monica activist Oscar de la Torre, a school board member, founder of the Pico Youth & Family Center and a prominent leader of the campaign to remove the mural. 'The European conquistadors, they practiced slavery. There was rape. There was murder. There was genocide.'"

Jason McGahan in the LA Weekly discusses the debate over the 1941 mural, History of Santa Monica and the Bay District, at Santa Monica City Hall.

"A Participant in European Colonialism—or Even Genocide—Against Indigenous People"

"Some have suggested Francis may feel a kinship with Serra, who left a cushy academic position in Spain for a remote and often grueling posting, but the canonization seems odd from a pope who has made a point of apologizing for the church's 'many grave sins' against indigenous peoples. He's widely expected to address this dark history during the canonization today, but for many descendants of those Serra was sent to convert it will ring pretty hollow."

Joshua Keating in Slate discusses the elevation of Junipero Serra to sainthood.

"A Founding Father of a Completely Different Sort"

"California's missions were not simply places where Franciscans acted out their ambitious dreams but sites where Indians, in the face of disease and overwhelming pressure to assimilate to European ways, persisted in their beliefs under the most difficult of circumstances. The missions are also a reminder of California's place in a world history shaped by conquest and underscored by tragedy. Serra helped lay a foundation for California, as flawed as that foundation may be, and his ever presence can remind us of the achievements and costs inherent in his doing so."

After curating a new exhibit, Steven W. Hackel in the Los Angeles Times considers the three-hundredth anniversary of Father Junípero Serra's birth.