Exclusive: Msgr. Lincoln of Sacred Heart Church retiring in July
Longtime Palm Desert priest Monsignor Howard Lincoln is stepping down from Sacred Heart Church after decades of service to the parish.
Lincoln characterized the change as a retirement of sorts for him. After 20 years there, he hopes to move on to carry out community service here in the valley. I was going to leave actually last year and the bishop asked me to stay on one more year because of the pandemic, Lincoln said. It s a bit unusual for a priest to be at one parish for 20 years. I ll be 75 by then. And I think it s time to move on to maybe a different aspect of my life, but also it s fair to the parish. Maybe 20 years is enough of me; let s go to somebody else, who, in many ways is really more capable than I am.
The coronavirus pandemic, protests over the police killing of George Floyd, the Blue Ridge fire, lockdowns, and the closing of schools rocked the Chino Valley and the rest of the nation during this extraordinary year.
The devastation was matched by the goodness of residents who helped school children cope with social isolation, collected food and items for those hit hardest by the pandemic, and rallied around frontline healthcare workers.
Barely had the year begun when the coronavirus pandemic originating in Wuhan, China spread across the globe resulting in 334,000 deaths in the United States by the end of the year.
There were 11 deaths in Chino Hills and 70 in Chino, with 26 of those at the California Institution for Men in Chino and one at the California Institution for Women.
Coadjutor Bishop Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino, Calif., is seen in this 2017 file photo. He succeeds Bishop Gerald R. Barnes who submitted his resignation to Pope Francis Dec. 28, 2020. Bishop Barnes is 75, the age at which canon law requires bishops to submit their resignation to the pope. (CNS photo/Sam Lucero, The Compass) Dec. 30, 2020 Catholic News Service WASHINGTON – Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino, California, and Coadjutor Bishop Alberto Rojas immediately succeeds him. Bishop Barnes has headed the diocese since 1996. In June, he turned 75, the age at which canon law requires bishops to turn their resignation into the pope.