Father Guillermo Treviño, Jr., pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in West Liberty, died on Friday. His sister, Mariela Treviño-Luna, said in a social media post on Friday evening that Treviño had died unexpectedly after a brief illness caused by complications from diabetes. He was 39 years old.
In addition to his pastoral duties in West Liberty, as well as at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Columbus Junction, Father Guillermo — or Father G, as he was known —was a strong advocate for immigrants. He was a founding member of Escucha Mi Voz Iowa (EMV), an eastern Iowa nonprofit that supports and advocates on behalf of immigrants. At the time of his death, Father Guillermo was serving as the chair of EMV’s board and its chaplain.
In a statement on Friday, EMV said Father Guillermo “lived his priesthood alongside the poor, the workers and the immigrants.”
His pastoral work had a great impact in West Liberty and Columbus Junction, Rev. DeLane Wright, the former pastor of West Liberty United Methodist Church, told Little Village.
“As a retired pastor I have been acquainted with quite a few clergy over the years. Father G ranked among the most gifted I have ever known,” Wright said. “His loss is beyond measure.”
In 2022, Father Guillermo was singled out for a national honor, when he was selected as that year’s recipient of the prestigious Cardinal Bernardin New Leadership Award by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The annual award “recognizes a young adult between the ages of 18 and 40 who demonstrates leadership in fighting poverty and injustice in the United States through community-based solutions.” The award committee cited Father Guillermo’s work with EMV during the pandemic to secure funds for essential workers excluded from federal government relief payments.
“As a Catholic priest serving rural Hispanic Catholics who live and work in agriculture and meatpacking, Fr. Guillermo did more than provide spiritual relief to parishioners hard-hit by the COVID pandemic,” the USCCB said in its statement announcing the award. “He helped meatpacking plant workers find their own voice, identify issues impacting their lives, and take effective action to address them, including by contacting government and corporate decision-makers.”
This year, Father Guillermo, working with EMV, took a lead role in pushing back against the Trump administration’s aggressive use of ICE against immigrant communities. His advocacy on behalf of Pascual Pedro Pedro — a 20-year-old West Liberty resident never accused of a crime who was detained and deported to Guatemala earlier this year without warning or a hearing — attracted national attention.
Father Guillermo supported Pascual’s family, and led prayer vigils and protests demanding, at first, Pascual’s release, and then his return to the U.S. He met with the staffs of Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Sen. Chuck Grassley and Sen. Joni Ernst, both in Iowa and Washington D.C., and pressed Pascual’s case with those elected representatives. Even though those meetings produced little beyond a general sympathetic response to Pascual’s story, Father Guillermo never lost his belief that more could be done, and that in the end justice would prevail and Pascual would return to West Liberty.
Pascual was not the only immigrant seized by ICE that Father Guerillmo worked to have released, but his case had a wide resonance. Although neither Grassley nor Ernst was willing to act as an advocate on his behalf with the Trump administration, Sen. Bernie Sanders was. Sanders issued a statement calling for the return of Pascual, and in August, when he was in Iowa for a rally in Davenport, Sanders went to West Liberty to participate in a forum on ICE and immigrants rights at St. Joseph. On Saturday, the Vermont senator released a statement after receiving the news of Father Guillermo’s death.
“I’m saddened to learn that beloved Iowa community member and priest, Father Treviño, has passed,” Sanders said. “He was a brave man who will be missed as a tireless voice and leader for the vulnerable. Let us carry forward his mission of justice. My condolences to his family and community.”
In September, Father Guillermo’s advocacy for Pascual also resulted in an invitation to be a panelist for a discussion on Deportations and Assaults on Human Dignity, organized by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Later that month, it was announced that he would attend the World Meeting of Popular Movements (WMPM) at the Vatican as a representative of the Gamaliel National Network, a social justice and advocacy network that includes EMV.
WMPM was founded by the late Pope Francis in order to further ties between grassroots organizations working for social justice and the church. Pope Leo XIV has continued his predecessor’s efforts. Leo, the first pope born in the United States, has also been an outspoken critic of what he calls “the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” under the Trump administration.
The multi-day meeting in Rome began on Oct. 21, and included a private audience with Pope Leo. It was while he was in Italy that Father Guillermo’s health began to deteriorate, his sister Mariela Treviño-Luna, who accompanied him on his trip, explained in her post on Friday.
“He was starting to feel unwell in Rome,” Mariela wrote, calling her brother Memo, the nickname his family and close friends use. “Initially, we thought it was food poisoning. In Rome and Florence, we visited pharmacies where he was given over-the-counter medicine to help with his symptoms. He started to feel better, so we continued our travels — visiting places like the Vatican, Pisa, Florence, and Milan in Italy. Memo even had an audience with the Pope to discuss immigration issues and ICE raids in the U.S., the very reason for his trip.”
But it wasn’t food poisoning Father Guillermo was experiencing.
“Memo had been living with undiagnosed diabetes for a very long time,” Mariela wrote. “None of us knew, and the high blood sugar led to nerve damage in his stomach, which ultimately caused a stomach perforation.”
The perforation led to an infection that caused sepsis. The sepsis spread to other organs.
Father Guillermo and Mariela returned from their trip on Thursday. He made it home to West Branch at 11 p.m. Mariela had suggested he go to the hospital, since his discomfort was continuing, but Father Guillermo felt he was improving and decided against it. At approximately 5 a.m. on Friday morning, he called 911 and was transported to UI Medical Center Downtown in Iowa City for emergency medical care.
“He was able to document his symptoms so the doctors knew how to proceed when he arrived at the hospital,” Mariela wrote. “… The doctors did everything they could, but the damage was too severe. We were told to prepare for his passing and that he would not survive the day, as even surgery would have been too risky.”
Father Guillermo died at noon on Friday.
Guillermo Treviño, Jr., was born in San Antonio, Texas on March 7, 1986. When he was 3, his family moved to Moline.
As a teenager, he seemed an unlikely future candidate for the priesthood. His father died when Guillermo was in his early teens, and “it was very hard on me and what little faith I had went away,” he told Hola America in 2020 for an article on his spiritual journey.
Guillerno eventually recovered his faith, which grew. Despite the fact his first application for seminary was rejected, he maintained his determination to enter the priesthood. He was ordained in the Diocese of Davenport in 2015, and became the pastor of St. Joseph in West Liberty and St. Joseph in Columbus Junction in 2021.
“Words cannot adequately express the deep sense of loss we feel across the diocese,” Bishop Bishop Dennis Walsh of the Diocese of Davenport said in a statement on Friday.
“Father Guillermo’s heart was consistently with those in need. Throughout the current migrant crises, he showed great compassion for the many migrants who find themselves on edge due to aggressive immigration enforcement action. His voice was becoming a beacon of hope and advocacy on this vital issue, gaining national prominence.”
But even as he received national attention and recognition within the church, Father Guillermo remained humble and focused on those in need.
“I’m just a small-town priest trusting in God to help me bring about change for the people I serve,” he said at the Georgetown conference in September.
Father Guillermo was an advocate who did not back down in the face of official rejection or indifference, but he was always a gentle presence. He had a welcoming demeanor, he smiled and laughed easily. He evinced an almost boyish charm, as well as a clear faith in the fundamental decency of people.
“He was passionate about standing up for our people, especially in the face of ICE raids in Iowa,” Mariela wrote. “Memo also had a deep love for wrestling, travel, and living life to the fullest. He didn’t fear death, and he always embraced each day as if it were his last.”
Since his death on Friday, a number of people have posted memories online of how Father Guillermo would share his love of pro wrestling, movies and other aspects of pop culture with others, especially young people. He was a big fan of the Tejano band Bronco, discussing them extensively in an interview with Little Village music columnist Kembrew McLeod in 2024. It made him relatable and helped build trust between him as a pastor and those he ministered to.
In her post on Friday, Mariela asked people to respect her family’s privacy at this difficult time. She also encouraged people to be aware of the symptoms of diabetes.
“Our father also passed away from diabetes, and it runs in our family,” she wrote, providing a link to the American Diabetes Association’s page on signs and symptoms. “Diabetes is common in Latino families, and I encourage everyone to be aware of the signs. If you recognize any of the symptoms, please seek medical help before it’s too late.”
Funeral services and a mass for Father Guillermo will be held at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 7. There is an online guestbook, where people can share their memories of Father Guillermo.
Father Guillermo Treviño, Jr., is survived by his mother, Maria Treviño, and his sisters, Mariela Treviño-Luna and Jennifer Treviño.
