News

Local Catholic Church addresses abuse scandal

Published August 19, 2018 5:12 PM

Church-goers heard a different sermon Sunday morning at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Palm Desert.

Monsignor Howard Lincoln addressed the congregation about the reports of national misconduct by Catholic Church leaders.

The pastor firmly stated the church’s zero-tolerance stance on abuse and offered sympathy for the victims in the Pennsylvania abuse scandal.

“The resignation of one man is just the beginning,” Lincoln said to the crowd Sunday morning. “Sexual abuse…is unacceptable in every case,” in reference to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick stepping down.

The open dialogue comes after scathing grand jury report that identified 45 former priests as abusers from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg. The report noted 300 Catholic priests across Pennsylvania sexually abused children over the past seven decades.

The Diocese of San Bernardino issued a written statement, below, condemning the allegations.

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