Indians Who Oppose Serra Sainthood Visit Missions

A small group of California Indians and their supporters who oppose the beatification of Father Junipero Serra visited the San Fernando Mission in Mission Hills Saturday during a “spiritual pilgrimage” to trace the steps of the 18th-Century Franciscan.

Their journey, mounted just as the San Fernando Mission was preparing to receive Pope John Paul II on Wednesday, will take them on the trail of the historic structures from San Diego to the Monterey Peninsula, where the Pope is expected Thursday.

“We are here to pay our respect to all Indian people who have suffered so much in the building of the missions,” said Anthony Miranda, tribal chairman of the 150-member Costanoan Band of Carmel Mission Indians, at Mission San Juan Capistrano. Not far away, a weathered monument was inscribed: “In this holy place lie the bodies of those who built the mission. May their souls rest in peace.”

It was widely expected that while in Monterey visiting Mission Carmel the Pope would announce Serra’s beatification--the second of three steps to sainthood. Shortly before the Pope’s departure for the United States, however, the Vatican announced that there was not enough time to complete the complex procedure.

Serra’s critics charged that, under the California missions he founded, Indians were cruelly treated, used as forced labor and exposed to European diseases, all of which contributed to their near disappearance.

But Jerry Nieblas, a descendant of Juaneno Indians who is now on the staff of the Capistrano Mission, disagreed Saturday.

“I don’t believe they were treated that harshly,” Nieblas said. “Father Serra brought us to where we are today. I think he should be made a saint.”

The two-day car caravan started at dawn, when Father Nicholas Dempsey, associate pastor of Mission San Diego de Alcala, unlocked the gates of the courtyard for the Indians. Miranda lighted some sage and passed it over his three friends as the entered the area, shaking a gourd rattle.

They stood at the San Diego Mission before a mass grave of Indians with a plaque inscribed: “Memorial to Indians: California’s First Cemetery.” Then they prayed briefly.

The same ceremony was repeated at missions in Oceanside, San Juan Capistrano, San Gabriel and San Fernando, where the caravan was joined by a group of non-Indian supporters. “We are in solidarity with all Native Americans’ struggles,” said Deirdre Meehan, one of five members of the Los Angeles chapter of the Big Mountain Support Group who joined the caravan.