Posted on 11/16/2019 1:30:02 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The mother of an 18-year-old college student who died by suicide last December, has filed a lawsuit against the Rev. Don LaCuesta, a priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Temperance, Michigan, for suggesting at her son’s funeral that he might not go to Heaven.
Linda Hullibarger and her husband, Jeff, whose son, Maison Hullibarger, died by suicide on Dec. 4, 2018, had previously called for LaCuesta to be fired for traumatizing grieving friends and family at his funeral on Dec. 8, 2018.
In a statement shortly after the backlash over LaCuesta’s comments, the Archdiocese of Detroit apologized and admitted that LaCuesta failed to bring comfort to the family. It was also noted that the priest would be suspended from funeral duties and undergo additional training and review.
On Thursday, The law firm of Charles E. Boyk said the family was taking things further and had filed in a lawsuit against The Archdiocese of Detroit, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, and Father LaCuesta for injuries the Hullibargers allege were caused by the pastor’s conduct during Maison’s funeral, The Monroe News reported.
The mother of six, who is seeking restitution in excess of $25,000, alleges that LaCuesta deliberately ignored the wishes of her and her husband regarding their son’s funeral. She said that her family had not shared the cause of her son’s death with the pastor or the wider community which made the pastor’s comments all the more shocking.
″[A]t our own child’s funeral, we were taken down yet again when it was a place that we were supposed to be lifted up,” Linda Hullibarger said. “And we had no idea, no indication that was going to happen. ... No parent, no sibling, no family member should ever, ever have to sit through what we sat through.”
Andrea Young, an attorney at Charles Boyk Law, further noted that they believe the pastor planned to condemn suicide at the funeral.
“It was apparent to those in attendance that Father LaCuesta had a message he wanted to relay,” Young said. “That message was not previously disclosed to the Hullibarger family and it did not conform to homily that Father LaCuesta previously agreed to deliver. At a time of tragedy, the Hullibarger family turned to their church for peace and comfort but instead Father LaCuesta’s actions caused them irreparable harm and pain.”
A copy of LaCuesta’s sermon the archdiocese posted on its website shows the pastor warning Christians against taking their own lives.
“If we Christians are right in believing that salvation belongs to Jesus Christ, that it does not come from us — and that our hand cannot stop what God allows for us, then yes, there is hope in eternity even for those who take their own lives,” he said.
“Having said that, I think that we must not call what is bad good, what is wrong right. Because we are Christians, we must say what we know is the truth — that taking your own life is against God who made us and against everyone who loves us. Our lives are not our own. They are not ours to do with as we please. God gave us life, and we are to be good stewards of that gift for as long as God permits,” he continued.
“The finality of suicide makes this all the worse. You cannot make things right again. Neither can [REDACTED]. And this is much of the pain of it all. Things are left unresolved, even if it felt to [REDACTED] like this was the only way to resolve things. You want to turn the clock back and say, ‘Please don't give up. We can work through this pain together.’ But now you will have to work through this pain by yourselves, or with those close to you now who will need to lean on you even as you lean on them,” he added.
Agreed - the priest did a nice job.
I’ve heard terrible homilies at a few funerals. Homilies that really disappointed families.
A homily like this one would’ve been welcome.
What a handsome boy and what a crying shame. How horrible for the family to deal with that loss.
Same here, which is why I was so ready to believe the news except. I should know better.
Saying: “...there is hope in eternity even for those who take their own lives,”
Would, as a grieving parent make me feel like he was talking down to suicides as if they we’re in some different class of soul deserving of forgiveness.
I didn’t read what he said. You’re right there. I’ll remember to slow down next time.
It was not my purpose to get into the intent of the priest. I am just saying the word suicide or reference to it should not have been a part of the service at all.
If the deceased had died committing a bank robbery or other crime I doubt they would have mentioned that or made it part of the service. The service is a time for family to mourn.
Also I hate the blanket statement of what suicide is. There are many honorable reasons for suicide. It is not as black and white as some want to make it. I read of a man who took his own life to donate an organ and save his niece. Yes, he was terminal, but his niece had run out of time and he knew she couldn’t wait.
History is filled with brave men who took ‘suicidal’ actions to save lives of others. I just tend to leave the judgment to God.
You'd be far better of trusting me and God than trusting any Catholic priest...
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law:
for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Exo 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exo 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Exo 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
Exo 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. Exo 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.
Exo 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Exo 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
For all you Catholics who are conned into believing and then repeating that the LAW refers only to the ceremonial law you can now see you were lied to...
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
And of course we know, thou shalt not covet is one of the Ten Commandments, the Moral Law...When you read Law, it's the entire Law; the ceremonial and the moral law, the Ten Commandments...
This helped me during the suicide of someone close, provided by the person’s Catholic priest, both in the service and written out personally.
This helped me during the suicide of someone close, provided by the person’s Catholic priest, both in the service and written out personally.
Wisdom 3:1-9 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
3 But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them.
2 In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery:
3 And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace.
4 And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality.
5 Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself.
6 As gold in the furnace he hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them.
7 The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds.
8 They shall judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.
9 They that trust in him, shall understand the truth: and they that are faithful in love shall rest in him: for grace and peace is to his elect.
You do realize that you’re just babbling, right?
Then the mom doesn’t understand or accept catholicism so why have catholic service for dead son?
“Sounds more Protestant than traditional Romanish.”
Protestants don’t believe that suicide prevents a Christian from going to Heaven. At least our denomination doesn’t. You can’t lose your salvation.
2283
God is not constrained by space and time. From the time the bullet exits the jacket to the strike of the flesh, God can certainly act on salutary repentance. We should never judge.
Think about it.
Jesus said he didn’t come to negate the law, He came to fulfill it. So the law still applies to help us, as we choose whether or not to follow Jesus and His examples.
And I am a practicing Catholic btw.
You don’t seem to be familiar with Romans through Philemon, b4me. If you were your understanding of the law in this dispensation of the GRACE of GOD would be easy to understand. PAUL is the Apostle of the Gentiles. Not Peter and the 11.
Yes, but just because someone plays church, it doesn't mean that they were ever among the elect.
Rev. 22:12-16
“Look, I am coming soon!
My reward is with me,
and I will give to each person
according to what they have done....
“Blessed are those who wash their robes,
that they may have the right to the tree of life
and may go through the gates into the city.
Outside are the dogs,
those who practice magic arts,
the sexually immoral,
the murderers,
the idolaters
and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
“I, Jesus,
have sent my angel
to give you this testimony
for the churches.
I am the Root and the Offspring of David,
and the bright Morning Star.”
It's necessary to say that, because Jesus said it. Any kind of murders, including self-murder --- if you are clearly knowing and directly intending your death (you purposely wanted the result to be self-fatal) ---will not enter the gates of the City of God.
This is balanced with several other truths:
(1) intending your death is not the same as accepting your death. For instance shielding somebody else with your own body in a terrorist attack is not killing yourself, it is accepting that you'll probably be killed
(2) You're not fully culpable for acts done when you're not in your right mind, Many suicides may fall into this category, e.g. for neuro-psychiatric or extreme emotional duress
(3) God may, in some way unknown to us, be able to bring you to repentance-- who knows? --- in the last seconds of your life, such that you can receive His ever-abundant mercy and be saved.
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