116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Community mourns Eastern Iowa priest and immigrant rights advocate
Father Gullermo Treviño, who served Catholic churches in West Liberty and Columbus Junction, died Friday
Nov. 3, 2025 6:35 pm
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Francisco Pedro and first met Father Guillermo Treviño when the priest started serving St. Joseph Catholic Church in West Liberty in 2021.
To the people who knew him, Treviño was more than a religious leader. He was involved in his community, attending public events and supporting local sports teams, including the West Liberty High School soccer team, for which Francisco Pedro’s grandson, Pascual Pedro, played throughout his high school career.
Treviño became a close family friend over the years, and a godfather to Pascual when the teen asked him to be his sponsor for his Catholic confirmation in 2022. When Pascual was unexpectedly detained during a routine check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, and then deported earlier this year, Treviño — who also was a founding member and chaplain of the nonprofit Escucha Mi Voz, which fights for immigrant rights in Iowa — became the leading voice in the fight to bring Pascual back.
“We admired him so much for everything he did when Pascual was deported. He fought with everything he had. He didn’t want Pascual to leave,” Francisco told The Gazette in Spanish.
So, when Francisco heard Friday that Treviño, who was only 39, had died unexpectedly, he was shocked.
“We just sat here, thinking it couldn’t be true … We’re left here like orphans, devastated,” Francisco said. “We’re always going to have him with us, in our minds and in our hearts … Truly, I believe his name will never be forgotten.”
‘He didn’t fear death’
Treviño died Friday, shortly after returning from a trip to Rome, where he represented Escucha Mi Voz and the Gamaliel Network — a national organization that trains community and faith leaders to participate in political discourse — during a World Meeting of Popular Movements convened by Pope Leo XIV.
“This is quite a shocking, and a very difficult time for all of us, but especially Catholics in the Gamaliel Network, and leaders in the Gamaliel Network like myself, who saw Father Guillermo as the future — the future of Catholic social teachings, the future of justice,” said Ana Garcia-Ashley, the Gamaliel national director.
Treviño’s death was unrelated to the travel, according to a social media post from his sister, Mariela Treviño-Luna, which states that he died from complications of undiagnosed and untreated diabetes.
Treviño, called Memo by his sister, started feeling ill during the trip, but thought it was food poisoning, wrote his sister, who traveled with Treviño. She said he started to feel better after taking some over the counter medication, and chose not to go to the hospital after he returned to Iowa at 11 p.m. Thursday. Early Friday morning, he called 911 and was taken to the hospital, where he died at noon, according to the post.
“Memo was a well-known figure, both as a Catholic Priest and as an advocate for our community. He was passionate about standing up for our people, especially in the face of ICE raids in Iowa,” Treviño-Luna’s post reads. “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.”
A beloved advocate for the vulnerable
Treviño was born in San Antonio, Texas, and graduated from Moline High School in Moline, Ill. in 2004. He got an associate degree from Black Hawk College before entering into Conception Seminary College and Mundelein Seminary, and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Davenport in 2015, according to an obituary posted by Halligan McCabe DeVries Funeral Home.
He’s served at a number of parishes in Iowa, and has been the pastor at the St. Joseph Catholic Church in West Liberty and the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Columbus Junction since 2021.
“Father Guillermo was a social being, and he flourished by bringing his parish responsibilities to the greater community, by involvement with ministerial associations, chambers of commerce, and cooperation with the local public schools,” said Deacon Kent Ferris, who has served in Treviño’s West Liberty and Columbus Junction churches for three years. “His loss has been felt both by those in our parishes and by members of both towns.”
“He also demonstrated courage in the public square by committing to social and economic justice efforts,” Ferris said. “... To honor his memory, I hope that others, both members of the laity and clergy, take advantage of opportunities that Escucha Mi Voz has to offer so that justice is realized and glory to God can be given in doing so.”
Treviño was known for his advocacy on behalf of immigrants and other vulnerable groups. In 2019, he helped organize members of the Catholic Worker House in Iowa City in protests against new benches installed on the Iowa City Pedestrian Mall that had arm rests in the middle of the benches — which the protesters said were hostile to the homeless population. The protests led to a small number of the benches being replaced, which Treviño called a “real victory,” in a statement quoted by The Gazette at the time.
He wrote a guest opinion in The Gazette in 2021 promoting the use of American Rescue Plan Act funds to create an excluded workers fund that would have addressed “the historic inequities against these (marginalized) communities, inequalities exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic.”
In 2022, Treviño was awarded the National Cardinal Bernardin New Leadership Award from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which recognizes young Catholics who demonstrate “leadership against poverty and injustice in the United States,” according to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s website.
This year, Treviño was a well-known voice at Escucha Mi Voz rallies in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City supporting immigrants as tensions surrounding immigration policies have grown around the country under the Trump administration. He wrote another guest column for The Gazette in July, responding to comments made by Iowa politicians about the deportation of Pascual Pedro.
“He fought for the rights of the most vulnerable. We’re going to miss him so much,” Ruby Caceres, a member of Escucha Mi Voz, told The Gazette in Spanish. “There’s this huge sadness in the entire Latino community, especially in the cities of Iowa City, West Liberty, and Columbus. This whole area is very surprised and very sad.”
Maria Ayala, vice president of Escucha Mi Voz, agreed, adding that despite the shock of Treviño’s sudden death, she hopes his legacy will continue to inspire people to fight for the vulnerable people in their communities.
“I hope people will follow his example and get involved. He was an inspiration for us, and his legacy will continue in the things he taught — that we should always help each other and that everyone is welcome,” Ayala said. “He encouraged us to keep fighting for immigrants, for the community, for the poor and for the marginalized.”
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters