Carmel: Vandals deface mission where Junipero Serra is buried
Four days after Pope Francis proclaimed Junipero Serra a saint, vandals defaced the grounds of Mission San Carlos in Carmel where the newly canonized Franciscan friar, and founding father of modern California, is buried.
At some point overnight Saturday, one or more vandals scaled the wall surrounding the cemetery next to the mission and defaced the headstones and statues of Serra and other European settlers buried on the grounds, said Sgt. Luke Powell with the Carmel-by-the-Sea Police Department. Vandals also sloshed paint on the church’s outside doors.
Officials with the mission posted eight photos of the vandalism on Facebook early Sunday, which show white, green and red paint splattered on the site’s memorials.
A statue of Serra was toppled over with green and white paint poured across the face and chest. A chunk of stone had the words “saint of genocide” scrawled on it.
“The Mission needs volunteers and skilled professionals to volunteer with the cleanup today,” officials wrote in the post. “If you can help please come down and offer your assistance. The way to healing is peace and service.”
Police were investigating the incident as a hate crime.
“There appears to be a correlation between the canonization and this criminal act,” Powell said. “Only the gravestones of European settlers were defaced versus the Native American ones.”
Investigators were reviewing security video captured by private cameras at the mission and were canvassing the neighborhood to see if anyone may have witnessed the crime. No suspects have been identified and no arrests were made.
Clergy and managers were not immediately available to answer phone calls Sunday.
On Wednesday, Pope Francis canonized Serra during a service at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., as part of his historic visit to the United States.
Hundreds gathered to watch a live stream of the event at the Carmel mission, which was played on a bigscreen television.
Several American Indian groups have opposed the canonization, and many gathered to express their frustration with the honor at the mission’s cemetery while the service was held.
During the middle part of the 18th century, Serra founded nine of California’s Catholic missions — including San Francisco’s Mission Dolores — cementing his stature among the fathers of modern California.
But Serra’s time in California was also marked by controversy. Rather than a founding father of California, many American Indians and other groups see Serra as a Western European imperialist who killed thousands of indigenous people.
With few immunities to European diseases, native people died by the thousands in California’s missions.
What’s more, Serra forced those American Indians who joined the mission to work in the fields, and if they disobeyed, they were oftentimes beaten. The “gentiles,” as he called the unbaptized people, could not leave the mission once they joined — something critics equate to slavery.
Serra died in 1784 at age 70 after 15 years’ work in California.