Junipero Serra: The Man Behind the Canonization Controversy

Watch this video of a presentation made by Professor Rose Marie Beebe and Professor Robert Senkewicz speak about their just-completed book, “Junipero Serra: California, Indians, and the Transformation of a Missionary” (U of Oklahoma Press, 2015). Their work is an attempt to get behind the controversy over the canonization of Serra and to illuminate the man himself. While the work of Beebe and Senkewicz is historical and does not take a position on the canonization, what they have to say is sure to assist both those who believe Serra should be canonized as an intrepid evangelizer of the New World and those who believe that Serra was a central figure in the destruction of the Native American way of life and thus is unworthy of the honor of sainthood. Ethics Center Visiting Scholar Thomas Reese, S.J., moderates this session.

 

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