The California Missions are a complicated part of our history. They're a thought provoking relic of the past that I've always had a soft spot for, even though my understanding of them has changed over the years.
California has 21 missions, built by the Spanish during colonialization.
We've been to several of them, and I would love to see them all someday.
The teaching when I was a school child was along the lines of, "The European settlers came in and civilized the heathen natives." (Or Indians, as they were called then.) But as Maya Angelo says, "When you know better, you do better.
I'm glad I had the opportunity to have open ended discussions with the girls about why these places were built and what went on here.
And there was another cat. 2 cats in 2 days seemed like a very auspicious beginning for our trip.
So... I bought a drone to take pictures on the trip.
Only, I'm not a good drone pilot, and they're banned in a lot of places, anyway. This was the only time I pulled it out, and I didn't manage to get a great picture. Behind the church (to the right) you can see part of the parochial school associated with the parish.
Some of the doorways were VERY short! I'm standing flat footed here.
One of the side effects of my Europe trip last year was an appreciation for cathedrals and ornate churches. Also, the more British history I devour, the more I realize that my ancestors had to have been Catholic at one point--everybody in England was. Some horrible things have been done in the name of religion. But I can still appreciate the beauty of a chapel, and the reverent feeling it inspires.
Yes! I'm forever explaining word choice in older books about the "civilization" of the native people in history. It's so hard to imagine that people thought they were doing good!
ReplyDeleteI can only repeat the very quote you used in this post.
Have you watched the docuseries about the Duggar family? I found myself wide eyed because so much of what they showed was similar to how I was raised. It wasn't until I was a mature adult that I started to better understand grace and personal accountability and question some of the "rules" I had always assumed were right. There's some brainwashing that goes on in faith cultures that makes things that are not okay seem perfectly reasonable in that alternate setting.
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