CALIFORNIA
Visalia Times-Delta
Editor’s note:This page is devoted to the reaction within the community of the installation of the Rev. Eric Swearingen as the new pastor of The Catholic Church of Visalia. Following are letters to the editor received over the past week. Previous stories can be accessed at our website at www.visaliatimesdelta.com.
The installation last weekend of Visalia’s newest Catholic pastor, the Reverend Eric Swearingen, was met with an outpouring of joy from the Catholic community.
The Catholic Church of Visalia was welcoming home one of its sons who had attended George McCann school and graduated from Redwood High School in the heart of a community brimming with hometown pride.
The installation and mass at St. Mary’s Church in downtown Visalia on Sunday was held in front of a standing-room only crowd.
But a pall was cast on Fr. Swearingen’s installation by a long-ago but lingering allegation of molestation from a former altar boy when Swearingen was conducting ministry in the Fresno diocese — and the larger, unceasing scandal within the Catholic church of sexual molestation of youth.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.