UPDATE: Father Romeo Obach says sorry. Read his statement here.
A 17-year-old single mother condemn the sermon given to her by the priest that officiated the baptismal rites of her baby in front of her family and friends in a chapel in Barangay Jagobiao, Mandaue City.
In an interview with Sunstar Cebu, the unwed mother said, “I am hurt. I am affected mentally. I cannot forgive him.”
During the baptism last July 6, Fr. Romeo Obach of the Sacred Heart Chaplaincy in Eversely Child Sanitarium asked the young mother who carried her months-old baby, “It’s humiliating to have a baptism without a husband. You slept with a man that is not your husband? Aren’t you ashamed?”
“This child has no sin but her mother who slept with a man without being married to him lives in sin. She may pass on the consequences of her sin to her child. There shouldn’t have been indulging in their passion then bore a child. Yes, a child is a gift from God but the baby was borne due to sin,” the priest continued.
The child’s grandmother recorded a video of the priest’s sermon and uploaded it to her Facebook account the following day. The video has been shared more than 9,000 times as of Monday afternoon.
The young mother said they don’t know where to go yet. “For now we don’t know whom to seek for help but for sure we will have a move on this,” she said. At the time the priest was publicly humiliating her, she said she wanted to walk out.
“I felt like I wanted to walk out because of my humiliation. I wanted to cry because of his insults,” she said.
The video is 2:03 minutes long and shows Gina (not her real name) standing and holding her baby while Obach was delivering his sermon.
Watch the video below.