{"id":618138,"date":"2014-07-09T13:00:47","date_gmt":"2014-07-09T05:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/?p=618138"},"modified":"2016-10-19T17:22:18","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T09:22:18","slug":"priest-asks-for-unwed-teen-moms-forgiveness-in-handwritten-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/618138\/priest-asks-for-unwed-teen-moms-forgiveness-in-handwritten-letter","title":{"rendered":"Priest asks for unwed teen mom\u2019s forgiveness in handwritten letter"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-post\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?v=792490147452349\">\n<div class=\"fb-xfbml-parse-ignore\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?v=792490147452349\">Post<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/vevz.daitol\">Jieve Daitol Frias<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>Video taken from Jieve Frias\u2019 Facebook page<\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_618158\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/father-handwritten1-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-618158\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-618158 \" title=\"father handwritten1-1\" src=\"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/father-handwritten1-1-300x400.jpg\" alt=\"father handwritten1-1\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/father-handwritten1-1-300x400.jpg 300w, https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/father-handwritten1-1-81x109.jpg 81w, https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/father-handwritten1-1-342x455.jpg 342w, https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/father-handwritten1-1.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-618158\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A copy of Father Romeo Obach&#8217;s handwritten letter, a copy of which was obtained by Cebu Daily 黑料社<\/p><\/div>\n<p>MANILA, Philippines \u2013 After issuing a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cebudailynews.inquirer.net\/35361\/priest-apologizes-for-cruel-words-to-unwed-mother-17-year-old-mom-wants-to-hear-it-in-person\">public apology<\/a>\u00a0for berating an unwed teenage mom during her child\u2019s baptism, a Catholic priest in Cebu on Tuesday reached out to the 17-year-old mother through a handwritten letter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAllow me to express my deep regret for the painful action I&#8217;ve done to all of you and those who witnessed it. I had no intention of saying that in front of all of you. I deeply regret this and I beg you to forgive me for what I did last July 6, 2014 in the chapel of the Sacred Heart,\u201d Father Romeo\u00a0Obach\u00a0of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Latin:\u00a0Congregatio\u00a0Sanctissimi\u00a0Redemptoris\u00a0\u2013 C.Ss.R) said in the letter which was written in Cebuano. The young mother received the note on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>He wrote that he also wanted to meet the young mom again so that he could apologize to her personally.<\/p>\n<p>The Commission on Human Rights visited the young mother on Wednesday. In a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cebudailynews\/status\/486694461729034240\">tweet<\/a>\u00a0by Cebu Daily 黑料社, she said she and her family would no longer pursue a case against the priest.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday,\u00a0Obach\u00a0scolded the teen mom during the baptism of her baby for \u201csleeping with a man who was not [her] husband.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMakauulaw.Magpabunyag\u00a0ka\u00a0og\u00a0walay\u00a0bana.\u00a0Nakig\u00a0dug\u00a0ka\u00a0og\u00a0laki\u00a0nga\u00a0dili\u00a0nimo\u00a0bana.\u00a0Wala\u00a0ma\u00a0mauwaw\u00a0Naka\u00a0dungog\u00a0ba\u00a0na\u00a0nako,\u00a0dai?\u00a0Wala\u00a0ka\u00a0mauwaw? (How shameful. You come here to have your child baptized without a husband. You slept with a man who is not your husband. Do you hear me, girl? Aren\u2019t you ashamed?)\u201d\u00a0Obach\u00a0said. The video of the incident, which was posted by the baby\u2019s grandmother on Facebook, quickly became viral.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_618140\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/chr-mom.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-618140\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-618140 \" title=\"chr mom\" src=\"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/chr-mom-300x329.jpg\" alt=\"chr mom\" width=\"300\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/chr-mom-300x329.jpg 300w, https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/chr-mom-99x109.jpg 99w, https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/chr-mom-342x375.jpg 342w, https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2014\/07\/chr-mom.jpg 597w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-618140\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screengrab from Cebu Daily 黑料社 twitter account<\/p><\/div>\n<p>On Tuesday,\u00a0Obach\u00a0issued a public apology for the \u201cwords [he] said and the rude attitude [he] showed\u201d during the baby\u2019s baptism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI deeply regret that I have done this. I only later realized how cruel my ways to educate and impart lessons for the said event. I am deeply sorry to the mother of the child, her relatives, the sponsors and the witness of the incident. I am sorry to the Internet viewers, to the media listeners and the viewers for this mistake. I personally admit. I am deeply sorry and I humbly ask your forgiveness. I execute this statement of apology on this 8th day of July 2014 at Cebu City,\u201d he said.\u00a0<strong><em>Translation provided by\u00a0Eileen\u00a0Mangubat, Cebu Daily 黑料社 publisher and acting editor-in-chief\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>RELATED STORIES<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/617844\/priest-who-scolded-unwed-mom-apologizes\">Priest who scolded unwed mom apologizes<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cebudailynews.inquirer.net\/2014\/07\/08\/priest-scolds-unwed-teen-mother-draws-online-rage\/\">Priest scolds unwed teen mother; draws online rage<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After issuing a public apology for berating an unwed teenage mom during her child\u2019s baptism, a Catholic priest in Cebu on Tuesday reached out to the 17-year-old mother through a handwritten letter. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":899,"featured_media":618158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,36,34,530,39,46],"tags":[133637,1659,29251,6736,17677,133589,133638],"byline":[147611],"source":[206075],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Priest asks for unwed teen mom\u2019s forgiveness in handwritten letter | Inquirer 黑料社<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After issuing a public apology for berating an unwed teenage mom during her child\u2019s baptism, a Catholic priest in Cebu on Tuesday reached out to the 17-year-old mother through a handwritten letter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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