A historic mission

AS THE CALIFORNIA MISSIONS SHOW, our nation’s history isn’t always pretty, and it isn’t always secular. So even though civil libertarians are understandably concerned about spending public money to renovate religious monuments, the missions should be among the handful of exceptions.

Federal legislation passed last year appropriates $10 million in matching funds over five years to help restore the missions. In order to qualify, a mission must be a national historic landmark (only seven of the 21 are designated as such). One that is in the process of applying for that status is the most in need of repair, Mission San Miguel Arcangel, north of San Luis Obispo. The mission, founded in 1797, was closed after its walls were cracked and pulled apart by the 2003 Paso Robles earthquake.

Funding has been held up by a federal lawsuit. Americans United for Separation of Church and State contends that funding the mission repair would be unconstitutional. The judge in the case is expected to rule in September.

Most of the missions still hold services and are owned by the Roman Catholic Church, which can afford to keep up its own properties. Steps taken to protect against federal promotion of religion -- such as funneling the money through the secular, nonprofit California Missions Foundation, and a ban on using the money for religious objects -- do not fully overcome the concerns of those who object to giving tax dollars to churches.

But California’s missions had, for better and worse, a powerful hand in shaping state history. The colonization of California by the Spanish is inextricably tied to the friars who founded the missions and converted Native Americans -- and, at times, mistreated them. Many missions today are visited more often as museums of California’s past than as churches.

There is precedent for using public resources to protect important religious historical sites. Federal money is repairing Boston’s Old North Church -- the one where the sexton hung two lanterns in the steeple in 1775 to warn that the British were coming by sea. The San Antonio missions in Texas have become part of a national historical park, even though they are still owned by the church. Federal funds also are renovating the nation’s oldest synagogue, built in 1763 in Newport, R.I. Native American sacred sites have also been preserved.

Some religious sites are of extraordinary historical value, worthy of public protection. The missions belong in that exceptional group.