{"id":181808,"date":"2026-02-17T19:24:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/181808\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T19:24:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:24:28","slug":"fresno-bishop-leads-mass-prays-with-detainees-at-california-city-detention-center-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/181808\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno bishop leads Mass, prays with detainees at California City detention center"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Under heavy scrutiny for alleged unsafe conditions, the immigration detention center in California City was the focus of prayer and pastoral outreach as local Catholic leaders visited to hold Mass for detainees.<\/p>\n

Diocese of Fresno Bishop Joseph Brennan visited the California City immigration detention facility to lead Mass, pray with detainees, and offer guidance \u201cfor them to gain hope.\u201d Brennan said that if there were any awful conditions at the facility, he did not see them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just said, \u2018Hallelujah,\u2019 a couple of times over and over again, and they just lifted up their voices, and some of them were raising their hands,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cClearly, there were some people who were men of faith and prayer. And it doesn’t matter where you are, even if you’re behind, you know, literally prison walls, you’ve got that freedom, and they had, they were, they were using it.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: CA senators Padilla and Schiff concerned over conditions at Cal City ICE detention center<\/a><\/p>\n

Brennan said those who came for Mass at the ICE facility were Spanish speakers. He and other local Catholic leaders made their first visit to the detention center that California Attorney General Rob Bonta scrutinized for unsafe conditions two months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they’re probably good things and bad things happening in terms of the conditions. But what I saw was, like, absolute cleanliness,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cNobody, you know, pulled me aside and said, this is horrible, and this is awful, and this is this shouldn’t be happening. So I didn’t, I didn’t see that.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: AG Bonta urges DHS to address unsafe conditions at Cal City ICE facility, DHS responds<\/a><\/p>\n

Media were not allowed inside the facility during the clergy\u2019s visit. Afterward, Brennan met with reporters at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Parish in California City as rain fell outside the church.<\/p>\n

Brennan said he also sang with detainees, asking God for peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just amazed at how these guys are maintaining other faith, without really, seemingly. Again, I’ve just been an hour with them, but without kind of breaking down emotionally, or just breaking down in general, because I just can’t imagine what it’s like to be in their position, and to be separated from their wives, their husbands, and children. I just can’t imagine that,\u201d Brennan said.<\/p>\n

Church leaders said they plan to continue offering support to families in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Under heavy scrutiny for alleged unsafe conditions, the immigration detention center in California City was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-181808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}