
CV NEWS FEED // A Florida priest defended the Eucharist from a non-parishioner on Sunday after the woman grabbed consecrated hosts from him and crushed them with her hand.
On May 19 at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in St. Cloud, Florida, the pastor, Fr. Fidel Rodriguez, was distributing Communion during the 10 a.m. Mass when the interaction first began.
According to a statement from the Diocese of Orlando, the “woman came through Father Fidel Rodriguez’s Holy Communion line and appeared unaware of the proper procedure. After a brief exchange with the woman, it was determined that she was neither prepared nor disposed to participate in Communion.”
According to Catholic News Agency, the unidentified woman explained to the police that she went to that Mass “with her same-sex partner because it was the woman’s niece’s first Communion.”
Fr. Rodriguez told police that he did not refuse the woman Communion because of her sexual orientation.
Catholic News Agency reported, “When the woman didn’t hold her hands out one on top of the other or open her mouth and didn’t say ‘Amen’ after he said ‘body of Christ,’ [Fr. Rodriguez] said, he knew she didn’t know what she was doing.”
Fr. Rodriguez asked the woman when the last time she received Communion was, and she said it had been many years.
“Father Rodriguez gave the woman a blessing and advised her to receive the Sacrament of Penance (Confession) before coming back to receive Holy Communion (Eucharist),” the Diocesan statement noted.
The woman attended the noon Mass the same day and again went to Fr. Rodriguez’s Communion line.
“Father Rodriguez asked if she had been to the Sacrament of Penance (Confession), to which she stated it was not his business,” the Diocese statement continued.
Fr. Rodriguez then offered for the woman to receive Holy Communion on her tongue.
“At that point, the woman forcefully placed her hand in the vessel and grabbed some sacred Communion hosts, crushing them,” the Diocese statement continued:
Having only one hand free, Father Rodriguez struggled to restrain the woman as she refused to let go of the hosts.
When the woman pushed him and reacting to a perceived act of aggression, Father Rodriguez bit her hand so she would let go of the hosts she grabbed. The woman was immediately asked to leave.
Fr. Rodriguez’s actions were an effort to protect the Eucharist from desecration and sacrilege, the statement highlighted.
The Catholic Church teaches that the Eucharist is the real presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, under the appearance of bread and wine.
“The act of participation in Holy Communion therefore calls for a proper understanding, reverence, and devotion,” the Diocesan statement noted. “It is not something a person can arbitrarily demand and is certainly not a mere ‘cookie’ as the complainant called it.”
According to Catholic News Agency, the unidentified woman is heard on police body cam footage telling police, “I just wanted a cookie. That’s all.”
Catholic News Agency also reported that the woman told the police, “He wouldn’t give me a cookie. I don’t know if it was how I’m dressed. You know, what it is that I like. He said basically I needed to do confession and do all of this, I need to go to Mass every Sunday or whatever. And I said, ‘That doesn’t matter. I’ve done everything I needed to do as a kid. I’m just here to accept the bread.’ And he wouldn’t give it to me.”
According to news outlet WFTV 9, Fr. Rodriguez told officers about the exchange at the noon Mass: “I am not judging you; I am asking you; did you confess after mass? If you did not confess, I cannot give you communion. I bit her, I am not denying that. I am defending myself and the sacrament.”
The Diocesan statement added that “Father Rodriguez had no prior knowledge of the woman’s background. Further, while the Diocese of Orlando does not condone physical altercations such as this, in good faith, Father Rodriguez was simply attempting to prevent an act of desecration of the Holy Communion, which, as a priest, Father Rodriguez is bound by duty to protect.”
“The full video and the police report show the woman initiated physical contact and acted inappropriately. The priest was trying to protect the Holy Communion from this sacrilegious act,” the statement noted, later concluding: “The Diocese of Orlando believes all people of all faiths should be respected and that their religious ceremonies or services should never be disrupted.”
According to Catholic News Agency, Fr. Rodriguez has been charged with one count of battery.
