Suicide is a very sad thing and also a grave sin, but not without complete hope for the sinner as one must always trust in the mercy of God. This can be a difficult teaching for some to accept, but there are many teachings that are hard such as the teachings on the Eucharist, divorce, and in our modern times for many people, the teachings on homosexuality.
A family had a funeral for their son who killed himself. During the homily, the pries preached the Church’s position on suicide as (greatly) abbreviated above, and the family is now suing the priest because they say that they are upset with his remarks.
According to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Wayne County Circuit Court, the Rev. Don LaCuesta deviated from the “uplifting and loving message about the importance of kindness to one another” that Maison Hullibarger’s parents had requested for his Dec. 8 service at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Temperance.
Although the family had not shared what caused the 18-year-old’s death, the priest mentioned it soon after starting his homily, which “sent the family and many of those in attendance into shock,” the filing stated. “Father LaCuesta repeatedly discussed suicide and how it is condemned by the church, how it is a secular crime, and … a sin against God with dire eternal consequences.”
A copy of the sermon the archdiocese posted on its website shows LaCuesta said in part: “…There is hope in eternity, even for those who take their own lives. … 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 … .”
The priest went on to say “because of the all-embracing sacrifice of Christ on the cross, God can have mercy on any sin,” including suicide, according to the document. (source)
One can argue what a man could, should, ought to, or not say in a situation like this. However, where is the particular error with this priest, as he preached the age-old teachings of the Church at a difficult time, and is it not in the midst of difficult times that teachings such as this are needed?
Sometimes certain beliefs are very hard to accept because people don’t want to accept them, or because they come at a time of trouble. Nevertheless, it is in times of trouble that these teachings exist, because just like how laws are not meant for times of peace, they are points of stability that one can rely on for guidance when one’s vision is obscured by the currents of whatever age one lives in.
People who commit suicide should NEVER be abandoned in terms of hope, but the fact remains that suicide is a grave sin and grave sin for which amends are not made can be the death of the soul. This is all the more reason to trust by decision in the mercy of God and to pray for those who do try to take their own lives, or who carry through on it.
The issue here is NOT the priest, but the parents.
There is nothing “illegal” that the priest said. Rather, they are mad that the priest articulated the truth of the Catholic Faith as She has always taught it, even if those who are entrusted with spreading such truths miserably fail.
This is a reflection of a terrible, but well-known problem in Catholic as well as the greater American Christian circles, which is the desire for a Gospel that preaches only positive things and not difficult truths.
The sodomite issue is an obvious one. Based on the statistics, reliably over three-quarters of American “Christians” support the sodomites, including sodomite marriage, and possibly as high at 90%. Yet their beliefs are in contradiction to the faith they claim, and as Shoebat.com has warned, this is a likely sign of more defections from Christianity in the years to come as people age and simply stop caring about truth.
This issue with the teachings on suicide is a microcosm of this problem. Instead of being upset, but accepting what the Church teaches, these people are proceeding with a baseless lawsuit against their own Church to attempt to shut them up and force them to give money because of telling the truth.
This is NOT Catholic. This is the behavior of an American pagan, of which many ‘Christians’ in the Churches today, regardless of denomination, are by their actions and believes when compared to what the actual Faith teaches.
All people are hypocrites- including me -at some point and to some extent because when one sins, one is not practicing what one is supposed to preach. However, there is the point of being honest about one’s sins and attempting to become a better person as God has ordered from men. It does not make the sin better or justifiable at all, but at least is a recognition of the discrepancy between belief and practice. Unfortunately, there are many today who either believe in something they do not understand, or want to take what they believe and make it fit a series of assumptions that are inherently opposed to the Faith they claim.
Likewise, bringing suits such as this only strengthens the position of people of evil will who are attempting to censor not just the Catholic Church, but all Christians and to impose a “social religion”, be it on the left or the right, of accepting the tides of the age regardless if they are aligned with proper Christian teaching or not. It is difficult enough to fight such things already, but cases coming from within one’s own church makes it all the worse.
Please pray for the deceased, that God would have mercy on his soul, for the parents and their peace of mind, but also never forget the serious nature of sin and that “legal action” against one’s own religion does not change truth no more than bringing a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior will abolish the laws of nature.