Here is the crucial point.

In reading criticisms upon the Mission system of dealing with the Indians, one constantly meets with such passages as the following: "The fatal defect of this whole Spanish system was that no effort was made to educate the Indians, or teach them to read, and think, and act for themselves." To me this kind of criticism is both unjust and puerile.

What is education?
What is civilization?
Expert opinions as to these matters vary considerably, and it is in the very nature of men that they should vary.

The Catholics had their ideas and they sought to carry them out with care and fidelity.

How far they succeeded it is for the unprejudiced historians and philosophers of the future to determine.