The Cathedral of St. Paul, in St. Paul, reflected on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul in its June 28 church bulletin. 

The reflection was shared by Fr. John Ubel, who said that in many ways the modern world is seeing a repetition of history. 

“On June 10, while state patrol troopers stood back, a statue of Columbus was ripped from its granite pedestal (with a noose tied around its neck!) on our State Capitol grounds,” Ubel wrote. 

Fr. John Ubel | www.cathedralsaintpaul.org

The statue was a destroyed and it has recently become apparent that there will be no consequences for the actions that were carried out by the angry mob of protestors who did the damage. While those who participated in tearing down the statue claim that it is because Christopher Columbus was a violent and murderous explorer, history is more complex than that.  

“I am now reading Carol Delaney’s ‘Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem,’” Ubel wrote. “‘The dominant picture holds him responsible for everything that went wrong in the New World,’ [Delaney wrote]. But he gave strict orders to his men to treat the natives with respect, though tragically during his long absences between voyages, they did not always heed his commands.”

In fact, Ubel said that according to Delaney’s work, Columbus never owned slaves and was driven by a passion and desire to lead all men to a relationship with Christ. 

“Bingo!” he wrote. “That’s his mortal sin – in believing that he could bring Christ to those whom he encountered. Shhh, don’t tell the Minneapolis City Council members that the county in which they live is named after a priest.”

Ubel said that instead of tearing down statues and trying to rewrite history, it would perhaps be wiser and more fitting to institute some new holiday in which society could celebrate those who are struggling for full equality now.  

”We can neither change history nor erase it,” Ubel concluded.