Marin Voice: San Rafael parishioner extolls restorative justice process

Marin County seemed riveted in October 2020, when a group of demonstrators toppled and damaged the Junipero Serra statue on the premises of Mission San Rafael.

Serra was a Spanish-born Franciscan friar who founded the California missions during the period of Spanish occupation in the late 1700s. He was canonized as a saint by Pope Francis in 2015.

The 2020 demonstration occurred on Indigenous Peoples Day, which is observed in California on the same day as Columbus Day. It was organized by activists who sought to draw attention to the sufferings of Indigenous peoples during the mission period.

The demonstration itself was lawful. It had been approved by city authorities. But the situation got out of hand. What began as a peaceful demonstration ended with the toppling of the statue.

Fortunately, there was no other property damage, nor any physical violence between people at the scene.

Five of the demonstrators were singled out and arrested. They were charged with the crime of “felony vandalism.”

On May 24, criminal charges were dismissed by Marin Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Howard on the recommendation of District Attorney Lori Frugoli.

Howard explained that the five defendants had participated in the monthslong “restorative justice” process in lieu of a trial. The defendants were required to pay restitution and perform community service.

Restorative justice is a type of diversion used in select criminal cases to avoid harsh criminal sanctions that may not be warranted. The defendants agree to participate in a facilitated dialogue with the victims of a crime they are accused of committing, and the two sides attempt to reconcile.

In this case, the process was led by the Transformative Justice Institute, a local nonprofit organization.

The judge commended the five defendants for engaging in the process, and for submitting letters of apology to the court. He said he “found the letters from the defendants heartfelt, sincere, thoughtful and eloquent.”

Howard also complimented the “courage” of a small, diverse group of parishioners from St. Raphael Catholic Church who participated in the process. He said the parishioners had “contributed to repairing the harm that had been caused to the community, both by gaining a better understanding of what motivated the defendants and what happened by also helping educate the defendants about the effects of their conduct.”

I was one of those parishioners.

We learned from the protestors that they were not motivated by any sort of animus against our parish church. In fact, three of the five were Catholics themselves. Their concern was about the injustices suffered by Indigenous peoples in the Spanish missions.

We learned from a historian that conditions in the missions were indeed deplorable. The native people were incarcerated there against their will.  Disease was rampant. Infant mortality was a horrific 80%.

On the other hand, the restorative-justice dialogue also gave us an opportunity to explain to the protestors how traumatic it was for parishioners to see our church property attacked and vandalized. This is something no place of worship should ever have to endure.

In the end, Howard said it was “clear” to him that the five defendants “have grown and matured as people through the process, in particular by demonstrating empathy.”  This, he concluded, “allowed them to learn, to accept and express remorse for how their actions affected others, and to take responsibility.”

The judge added that the defendants “did not have to compromise their own deeply held beliefs in order to do that.” He said he was convinced “that they will think differently in the future about how to express those beliefs.”

As parishioners, the main difficulty we faced, and the reason, I’m sure, why Howard saluted us, was that San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone did not want us to participate in this process.

However, despite this pushback, I think many parishioners at St. Raphael’s Parish, and probably most people in Marin, would agree with Howard that restorative justice was an appropriate way to resolve this case.

For those of us from the parish who participated, it was an opportunity to engage in the process of reconciliation, an important tenet of our Christian faith.

Frank Lindh, of San Rafael, is a parishioner at the St. Raphael Catholic Church.