When Maison Hullibarger died by suicide on Dec. 4, his parents — devout Catholics — began planning a funeral that would celebrate their 18-year-old son’s life. He told mourners, local media reported, that Maison may be denied admittance to heaven because of the way he died. “This will occur both on a human level (counseling) and a spiritual level (spiritual direction).”For centuries, the Catholic Church has struggled with the religious implications, and societal stigma, of suicide. Jeffrey Hullibarger told the Detroit Free Press that he feels removing LaCuesta is the only way to prevent the compounded grief at Maison’s funeral from happening to another family. “We’re afraid that, like the Catholic church does, they’ll send him off and he’ll do it to somebody else," Hullibarger told the newspaper.

Source: Washington Post December 15, 2018 00:01 UTC