California’s iconic missions have become flashpoints for debate

While California’s missions are still beloved by many people of faith, Saturday’s blaze at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel came as their legacy throughout California have been called into question.
The missions are one of the state’s most familiar icons. For many years, students in the state’s classrooms constructed miniature missions as part of history lessons.
The San Gabriel Mission, founded in 1771, was the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish missions in modern