CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 The leader the Diocese of Fresno Bishop Joseph Brennan met with detainees at the Core Civic ICE detention facility in California City on Monday.<\/p>\n
Brennan\u2019s visit comes as national attention grows amid reports of poor conditions at the facility.<\/p>\n
The bishop, along with other Catholic leaders from Southern California held mass inside the facility and spoke with detainees about how they\u2019re feeling while being held at the detention facility.<\/p>\n
California Sens. Schiff, Padilla \u2018deeply concerned\u2019 over conditions at Cal City ICE detention facility <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think they need \u2026 we all need to have a sense that someone has our back or that someone even cares about us, that someone is thinking about us or that someone is there with us,\u201d Brennan said.<\/p>\n Joseph Brennan was named Bishop of the Fresno Archdiocese by Pope Francis in 2019, but has been an ordained priest in the church since 1980.<\/p>\n Brennan oversees 87 different parishes in the Central Valley including Bakersfield and Fresno. He led the small coalition of leaders into the facility including Deacon Joe Lubatti of Bakersfield, Archdiocese of Los Angeles Bishop Brian Nunes and California City Pastor Kris Sorensen.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all went there to just be there with some of the folks who are incarcerated there to listen to them, accompany them, pray with them, and assure them of our prayers for them,\u201d Brennan said.<\/p>\n While inside the group was given a small tour of the facility and held mass for the detainees. They also provided confession and heard from those inside. Brennan spoke about one man who was growing depressed over being separated from his daughters.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see the immense pain in his eyes,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cAnd you could almost feel the pain in his heart that at the separation. And that\u2019s part of the onerous heavy burden that that is going on there.\u201d<\/p>\n