De Profundis
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Filipino priest suspended after sermonizing suicide at teen's funeral. A Filipino priest in Michigan has been suspended after his controversial homily on suicide, given at a funeral service of a boy …More
Filipino priest suspended after sermonizing suicide at teen's funeral.
A Filipino priest in Michigan has been suspended after his controversial homily on suicide, given at a funeral service of a boy who killed himself on Dec. 4, caught national attention.
Nicolaus
Being a priest myself I think this priest should not do funerals any more, go back to the Philippines where you belong to.
mccallansteve
I have read the sermon and it really wasn't as bad as the press is making it out to be. The priest stated Catholic doctrine in a merciful way.
mattsixteen24
Why was the boy given a Catholic funeral in the first place? Catholic Church isn't suppose to give funerals to those who commit suicide.
alex j
Such unwarranted criticism reveals he is on the right path.!!!
De Profundis
Amid torrents of criticism, the Archdiocese of Detroit hastily moved to censure a priest who delivered a funeral homily steeped in Church teaching after the parents of the young man who committed suicide loudly complained to the media and church officials. Complaints by Jeff and Linda Hullibarger, parents of 18-year-old Maison, who committed suicide, drew the attention of national secular media to …More
Amid torrents of criticism, the Archdiocese of Detroit hastily moved to censure a priest who delivered a funeral homily steeped in Church teaching after the parents of the young man who committed suicide loudly complained to the media and church officials. Complaints by Jeff and Linda Hullibarger, parents of 18-year-old Maison, who committed suicide, drew the attention of national secular media to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Temperance, Michigan, where Fr. Don LaCuesta presided over their son’s funeral Mass. The Hullibargers had met with Fr. LaCuesta in advance of the funeral and told him “what they expected in the homily,” according to an initial report by the Detroit Free Press. “We wanted him to celebrate how Maison lived, not how he died," said the boy’s mother. “Maison didn’t deserve this," Linda Hullibarger told The New York Times. "He basically called him a sinner in front of everybody. We were just blindsided.” The parents were so incensed that they asked the priest to stay behind rather than accompany them to the cemetery when the Mass was over. After his homily garnered national attention, the Archdiocese abruptly suspended Fr. LaCuesta from presiding over funerals while also demanding that all other homilies be “reviewed by a priest mentor,” according to a press release from the Archdiocese of Detroit. The priest will also be “getting help from professionals – on human, spiritual and pastoral levels – to probe how and why he failed to effectively address the grief of the family in crisis,” continues the statement. However, a review of Fr. LaCuesta’s text for his homily makes much of the criticism seem unwarranted, if not hyperbolic. “Father LaCuesta was thrown under the bus, a fate that is typical for any priest who acts like a priest instead of a social worker,” said attorney and Catholic commentator Donald R. McClarey, writing at The American Catholic.
Marianna
This is why we must return to the somber black of tradition with no flowers and with the organ being silent. Funerals are to remind all that the deceased is before the judgement throne of God, giving an account for his/her life and it is our duty to intercede on their behalf for a merciful judgement, especially if the took their own life.