I am not sure why, but my memory was stirred today about a controversy back in 2004 in Los Angeles County, California. It involved The American Civil “liberties” Union. (Yes the same ACLU that this week sided against the First Amendment and against Religious Liberty by arguing that any business owner that opposes the HHS mandate is no different than a racist shop owner that refused to serve African Americans in the past).
In 2004 these ACLU radicals sued the County of Los Angeles arguing that the presence of a very tiny cross on the seal (see upper right) violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. Never mind that the cross was part of the history of that area, wherein Catholic Missionaries evangelized the area, established missions, and named most of the towns (including Los Angeles) for Catholic Saints. Never mind too, that the seal was dominated by a large image of Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit trees. Never mind all that, the cross had to go according to the radicals at the ACLU. Pomona could stay for all they cared.
Thus the County was forced to remove the Cross, choosing therefore to revamp the whole seal. To their credit they did put a mission Church on the new seal (see at lower right), though you’d sort of have to guess what it is, without a cross on top. Pomona was also on the outs and replaced by a very politically correct native woman.
Since that time many other battles to remove crosses (mostly won by us) have been undertaken. The latest battle is in Steubenville, OH where secularists have pressured the city to remove a cross from the City Logo. Never mind that the logo pictures the city skyline, and that the University of Steubenville is a dominant part of that skyline, and a major institution in that city. No, never mind, the cross has to go. The issue is headed to court. More HERE.
All this gets me thinking where the radical secularists and radical atheists/agnostics will turn next. Does it not make sense that they will turn to the very names of many American Cities, especially in places like California, Texas and Florida? Remember that “San” and “Santa” mean “Saint” in Spanish. “Cruz” means “Cross,” “Sacramento” means “Sacrament” and so on. How much longer will the radicals be able to “tolerate” such names that practically shout the Catholicism they hate most of all?
Consider the names of just a portion of the towns and places in question:
California: San Diego, San Miguel, San Francisco, San Bernadino, San Clemente, San Miguel, San Luis Obispo, San Jose, San Rafael, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles (aka, Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de la Porciuncula), Santa Cruz, Santa Clarita, Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley, San Gabriel Mountains…..
Texas: Corpus Christi, San Antonio.
Florida: St. Augustine, St. Petersburg, Port St. Lucie, Santa Rosa Island, St. George Island, Port St. Joe.
Will they seek to rename these?
Before you dismiss this as a wild notion, consider well that the atheistic Communists in Russia did just this, most significantly renaming the Russian city of St. Petersburg to “Leningrad.” Consider too the usurping of the word “marriage” by the radicals, and the word “gay” as well. (To younger readers, “gay” used to mean “happy.” It most certainly does not mean that today).
Language is important, and the radicals know this. City names that bespeak religion, and especially those that reference the Catholicism most hated by them, will surely be on the list of the things they want to scrub from their “brave” new world.
Just one more thing to be ready for, and another reason to pray for a miraculous conversion of large numbers in our culture. These beautiful city names bespeak a time when faith was an animating principle for many and illustrate that faith was very woven into the very cloth of our culture.
Oh, I suppose after a heavy post, it might be good for a little levity. Here’s a video I put together a few years back of the Pope’s travels with a Johnny Cash song in the background that mentions lots of city names.