PRIEST PUBLICLY EMBARRASSES 12-YEAR OLD CHILD AT GREAT-GRANDFATHER'S FUNERAL

Submitted to JungleWatch

Yesterday, during my father’s funeral Mass, Father Felixberto C. Leon Guerrero interrupted the service to publicly call out my 12-year-old granddaughter, who was standing near the back of the church while watching her 1-year-old sister and looking at the memorial boards. He stated that she was “dancing” and told her that if she was not going to pay attention, she should leave the church.

If she was making dance-like movements, I am certain she was not putting on a dance performance or doing a “TikTok” in the middle of my father’s funeral Mass. She is a 12-year-old child who was grieving, helping watch her baby sister, and moving around near the back of the church. Children do not always sit completely still, and they process grief and emotions differently from adults.

What happened was deeply upsetting and, in my opinion, completely inappropriate. My granddaughter was publicly embarrassed in front of everyone during an already painful and emotional day for our family. She was humiliated, became extremely upset, and left crying because of the way she was singled out.

This was my father’s funeral Mass—a time when our family needed compassion, comfort, understanding, and pastoral care. I struggle to understand how publicly humiliating a 12-year-old child, especially during her great-grandfather’s funeral, reflects the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Church should be a place where people, especially children, feel welcomed, loved, and safe—not shamed or made to feel that they do not belong.

She was standing in the back, helping watch her 1-year-old sister and looking at the memorial boards honoring her great-grandfather. Even if Father Leon Guerrero believed her behavior was distracting, there were compassionate and respectful ways to address the situation without interrupting a funeral Mass and publicly calling out a grieving child.

No child should leave a church feeling humiliated, rejected, or as though she was being told she did not belong there. Jesus welcomed children with love and compassion. As Catholics, I believe our actions toward others, especially children and grieving families, should reflect those same teachings.

What should have been a sacred and comforting final farewell to my father is now also remembered as the moment my granddaughter was publicly embarrassed during his funeral Mass. I cannot understand how that was necessary, compassionate, or acceptable.