A Bedford Township family has filed a lawsuit against a priest for his actions during a funeral for their 18-year-old son, who died in December.
The boy’s mother, Linda Hullibarger, has filed a complaint against the Archdiocese of Detroit, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, and Rev. Don LaCuesta, who conducted the funeral services for Maison.
The case was filed Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court in Michigan.
Holly Fournier, media relations manager for the archdiocese, declined to comment on pending litigation.
Mrs. Hullibarger and her husband, Jeff, claim they met with Father LaCuesta to plan funeral services for their son. During the meeting, the couple made it clear they wanted the priest to deliver a positive and uplifting message that celebrated the life of their son, according to the complaint.
However, that’s not the message the priest delivered on Dec. 8, 2018, the family claims.
Father LaCuesta instead turned the homily into a message regarding suicide, questioning whether the teenager would be admitted to heaven.
The family had not disclosed the nature of the youth’s death to the priest, according to the complaint.
“At our own child’s funeral, we were taken down yet again, when it was a place that we were supposed to be lifted up. And we had no idea, no indication that was going to happen,” she said in a media release provided by her representing law firm Charles E. Boyk Law Offices, LLC.
“No parent, no sibling, no family member, should ever, ever have to sit through what we sat through. And it’s happened before. When you’re already beyond devastated, why would you make it even worse? No words can describe that [be]cause you don’t think you could feel any worse,” she added.
Last year, the Hullibarger family called for the priest to be removed.
The Archdiocese of Detroit announced shortly after the funeral that Father LaCuesta would not preach at funerals and would have all other homilies reviewed by a priest mentor “for the foreseeable future.” When asked about those steps on Thursday, Ms. Fournier directed a reporter to the original statement.
That statement also noted that Father LaCuesta “has agreed to pursue the assistance he needs in order to become a more effective minister in these difficult situations. This assistance will involve 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.”
First Published November 14, 2019, 12:56 p.m.
