At the funeral of a teenager, a priest condemned the suicide and "basically called our son a sinner," his mother said.

"After the first few times that he uttered that word [suicide] I approached the pulpit and I told him, I murmured his ear," Father, s'. please stop. "

It did not work.

"He did not miss a beat, he continued," Jeff said. "He pronounced this word a few more times, which made the worst day of our lives worse."

Distance from the Plan

The Hullibargers barely had time to deal with the death of their son on December 4, when they met Rev. Don LaCuesta to discuss what they wanted in the homily, to be delivered to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Temperance.

"We wanted it to be a family issue, we wanted him to talk about loving each other, to stand up and be kind to each other. the point, "said Linda.

] But once the priest began speaking at the December 8 funeral, "There was no word in his mouth about what we asked for and what we talked about," Jeff said. "It was unprofessional and unacceptable."

LaCuesta did not respond to CNN's request for comments on Sunday. But the Archdiocese of Detroit apologizes to the Hullibarger family.

"We understand that an unbearable situation has been made even more difficult and we are sorry," said the archdiocese in a statement.

He declared that the priest would not preach at the funeral in the near future, and "he will have all the other homilies examined by a priest mentor".

"He has also agreed to ask for help, he needs to become a more effective minister in these difficult situations," said the archdiocese.

"This assistance will involve soliciting the help of professionals – at the human, spiritual and pastoral levels – to determine how and why it has failed to effectively manage the grief of the family in crisis. . "

The priest said

But He also says," We must not call what is bad, which is false because we are Christians, we must say what we know is true: to take one's life for oneself is against God who created us and against all those who love us, our lives do not belong to us, they do not belong to us. We can not do what we want, God has given us life and we must be good, the guardians of this gift as long as God permits. "

The priest also speaks of the consequences of suicide.

The house mother stated that she had no idea of ​​the priest. would give a homily so different from what the family discussed.

"He basically called our son a sinner in front of everyone," said Linda Hullibarger. "We had no idea what he was going to do, we are life members of the church."

The archdiocese said that LaCuesta was trying to convey a message of trust in salvation.

"We recognize, however, that the family wanted a homily based on how their loved one lived, not on his death." says the archdiocese.

"We also know that his father's choice to share the teaching of suicide on the church was harder for the family, so that the focus should have been more on the close to God with those who cry. "

Amazing Son '

After the homily of LaCuesta, the priest was supposed to give the floor to parents to make their speech, said Jeff Hullibarger .

But the priest did not let the parents speak. Instead, "he ended the funeral and the music started," said Linda Hullibarger. "We had to stop the funeral director because everyone had just got up."

The funeral director stopped the music and the parents were able to honor their son in the way they wanted him to be remembered.

"We would like to celebrate the life of the House today," said the parents. "He had a tremendous impact on the lives of many people, passionate and full of opinion, that's what we loved about him."

"Our family's message for you today: Be kind to each other towards others. Contact those who interest you. Be sincere in your actions. And love forever, unconditionally. "

The public is now taking these messages to heart – and implementing them.

The Hullibargers GoFundMe page, which was created before the funeral, indicated a goal of $ 10,000 to help pay for the expenses.

The Hullibargers expressed their gratitude for the help provided, but they explained that their reason for expressing themselves is because they want LaCuesta to be fired, no other family will suffer as well.

"We are supposed to have a meeting with the Archbishop," said Jeff Hullibarger. "We are trying to put this in place now. It may be difficult, but I think it's something that my wife and I have to do. "

" We just do not think the consequences are the ones where they should be right now. We asked him [the archbishop] to remove the Priest from the priesthood. We wonder how they think that send him to class – how that will teach him empathy and give him some discretion. How do you teach this to someone? "

They also want to make sure that funerals do not overshadow the joy House has provided to his loved ones.

" House is a great person. This is a very caring person, "said his mother. Many students came to see us and told us how, when they needed it, he was there for them. […] It was just an amazing son.