Saturday night, July 4, protesters in Sacramento’s Capitol Park tore down a longstanding statue of St. Junípero Serra, our nation’s first Hispanic saint, one of the founders of the modern state of California.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Catholic Church in California has supported and cooperated with public officials’ efforts to contain the spread of this deadly disease, including closing our schools and suspending public worship.

Bishops from throughout the state of California released a video today reenacting the Stations of the Cross to draw attention to the sin of racism and ask God’s help in eliminating it.

Recently, statues to the Apostle of California, St. Junípero Serra, were torn down in San Francisco and in the plaza outside our first church, Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles, in downtown Los Angeles.

The California Catholic Conference of Bishops has issued the following statement in response to the removal of St. Junipero Serra statues in the state.