With
our current society being in a mode of wanting to turn every possible issue
into a politically partisan brawl, how long will it be until our choice of saints becomes an issue to pick a fight over?
WHAT
MOTIVATED ME to think about this was a pair of stories I stumbled across last
week – one about the fact that Father Junipero Serra will be canonized as a
saint. The other about the fact that certain people want to make a saint of
one-time Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente.
For
those who are scratching their heads at the mention of Serra, he’s a character
most of us encountered briefly in elementary school history classes. He was a
Catholic friar who helped create the settlements that have evolved into
California’s major cities.
Which
means he helped create the first European settlements in what is now the United
States. Although my own memories recall being in a fifth grade class in which
none of my classmates could even fathom how to pronounce Serra’s name.
Serra
helped to bring the Catholic church and European ways to the indigenous peoples
who previously had called the west coast their home. We certainly wouldn’t have
our modern-day society if not for his efforts.
OF
COURSE, THE Los Angeles Times reported that is what ticks some people off to
the point where they’re going to resent the fact that Pope Francis has given
the 18th century friar the highest recognition the church can bestow
upon his memory.
Because
the Catholic church, in its desire to spread its influence and “save the
savages” from eternal damnation, imposed such pressure to assimilate that the
tribal influences were devastated – along with many of the individuals to whom
foreign diseases brought by the church’s individuals wound up being deadly.
Serra
– the saint who created our society, or some sort of Catholic killer?!? I’m
sure there are those who can come up with even more over-the-top rhetoric when
expressing their contempt for the lack of a native presence in California.
Then
again, there are those who are all too eager to believe that California – and just
about everything west of St. Louis – was a vast land of emptiness until the
white settlers came along in the 19th century.
I’M
SURE THEY’LL be the ones who will aggressively push Serra’s sainthood because
it fits their notion of what the world ought to be.
Although
I wonder what they’ll think of the notion of slugger Sammy Sosa’s idol also
being recognized as a Catholic saint? It hasn’t happened yet – and may never
happen. These kinds of things take time.
But
the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported how the producer of a documentary film
about Clemente’s life now wants to document the “miracles” he performed so that
he can get official Catholic recognition.
Clemente
was a ball player from 1955 until 1972 and is likely the best ball player the
Pittsburgh Pirates ever had – whose career, and life, came to a sudden end when
the airplane he was riding while filled with goods for victims of a Nicaragua
earthquake crashed into the ocean near San Juan.
CLEMENTE’S
BODY WAS never recovered. Although his memory became all-the-more elevated.
Baseball gave Roberto its highest honor when it eliminated the five-year
waiting period and immediately inducted him into the Baseball Hall of Fame in
Cooperstown, N.Y.
Apparently,
that isn’t good enough for some.
Richard
Rossi, who made the documentary and is trying to build actual support for
sainthood, cites evidence of Clemente’s knowledge of pressure points and how
they could be used to help ease pain. Does that amount to the ability to heal the
sick? By that definition, just about every chiropractor qualifies for
sainthood!
But
how many chiropractors could win the World Series MVP (in 1971, against the
Baltimore Orioles) while also inspiring the Latin American community? Or create
a culture along the West Coast?
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment