St. Junípero Serra has been a very controversial figure recently and I think the fact that I prefaced his name with “St.” would anger some people. I will not argue that he is not a controversial figure or express my admiration or hate for this historical figure. The fact is I’m quite ignorant about his life and accomplishments other than he founded the 21 California Missions. I refuse to make a judgment based on social media posts and protest slogans, so I decided to read a book about Father Serra. I am quite interested to see what I discover for myself and I’m not sure if I’ll ever share what ultimate opinion I form about this man.