A great bishop does a great thing, and even more than two hundred years later than the treatment being apologized for, it has an enormous impact, reminding us that it is never too late to do the right thing.
Retired bishop apologizes for mistreating the Miwoks
Beth Ashley
Article Launched: 12/26/2007 09:47:48 PM PST
You could have heard a pin drop when Bishop Francis A. Quinn, during a Mass at the Church of St. Raphael in San Rafael, apologized to the Miwok Indians for cruelties the church committed against them two centuries ago.
Indians who were present seemed stunned.
The retired bishop, in green brocade robes, lofty miter and carrying a shepherd's crook, lent heart and historical gravitas to the Mass, part of the 190th birthday celebration of Mission San Rafael Arcangel the other day.
Coast Miwok Indians once occupied the lands from the Golden Gate to north of Bodega Bay. When Spanish padres launched the San Rafael mission in 1817, the Indians built it, maintained it and helped it survive, according to anthropologist Betty Goerke, who has studied the Indians for 30 years.
But they paid dearly for their participation. Bishop Quinn conceded that the church authorities "took the Indian out of the Indian," destroying traditional spiritual practices and "imposing a European Catholicism upon the natives."
He conceded that mission soldiers and priests had sexual relations with Indian women and inflicted cruel punishments - caning, whipping, imprisonment - on those who disobeyed mission laws. He acknowledged that the Indians had a "civilization" of their own - one that valued all of nature - long before the Spanish imposed an alien, European-type life upon them.
"I was teary-eyed" at his words, Goerke said. "There have been other anniversary events at other missions, one where a priest hinted that they were sorry, but this surpassed them all."
Greg Sarris, who heads the Miwok tribal council, formally called the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, said the apology was historic. "I have not heard of this happening anywhere else in this country," he said.
He was not only astounded at the apology - "it was huge" - but also by the bishop's appreciation of the culture.
After the Mass, Sarris spoke at a gathering in the St. Raphael's school gym.
"With the permission of my people," he said, gazing at Bishop Quinn, "I accept your apology."
Lampstand Foundation website, http://www.lampstandfoundation.org/
"The sinner is at the very heart of Christianity. Nobody is so competent as the sinner in matters of Christianity. Nobody, except the saint." Charles Peguy (1873-1914)
About
- David H. Lukenbill
- I am a California native, married, we have one daughter and live close to the American River with two cats and all the wild critters we can feed. I am a management consultant to nonprofit organizations and have an Associates of Arts degree in Administration of Justice from Sacramento City College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Public Administration degree, also from the University of San Francisco.