The death of a loved one is sad. Make the loved one a parent and your life will forever be changed. It is devastating. The Hicks Family was, painfully, aware of that feeling and planned to say their farewells at St.Mary’s Church in Charlotte Hall, Md. Agnes Hicks had wanted her funeral at the church since she was a little girl. A series of unfortunate events changed all of that.
As hundreds of people gathered to mourn the death of 54-year-old Agnes Hicks, someone knocked over and damaged the church’s sacred golden chalice when they went in for a hug near the altar.
Shanice Chisely, the deceased’s daughter stated, “That’s when all hell broke loose. [Pastor Michael Briese] literally got on the mic and said, ‘There will be no funeral, there will be no mass, everyone get the hell out of my church.’ He disrespected our family, he disrespected my mother. He called my mother ‘a thing.’ He said, ‘Get this thing out of my church! Everyone get the hell out of my church!’ It was very sad. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
And to add insult to injury, the trifling clergyman called the police, who were waiting outside the church as the grieving family exited with the casket.The police found no wrongdoing and escorted them to a funeral home in a different county where another pastor proceeded to finish the funeral service for the family.
Regarding the traumatizing mishap the Archdiocese said, “What occurred at St. Mary’s Parish this morning does not reflect the Catholic Church’s fundamental calling to respect and uplift the God-given dignity of every person nor does that incident represent the pastoral approach the priests of the Archdiocese of Washington commit to undertake every day in their ministry.
Briese’s behavior is still under the investigation and the Archdiocese hasn’t given any outcome of the results.
