CNA Staff, May 23, 2024 / 18:21 pm (CNA).
A priest in Florida bit the forearm of a woman he says was desecrating the Eucharist in a Communion line at church this past Sunday and has now been charged with one count of battery.
Father Fidel Rodriguez, 66, admitted to police that he bit the woman but said he did so only after she reached into the ciborium and tried to grab a host from it, damaging other hosts as she did so.
“The only defense that I found to defend something that for us, for all of us, is sacred, was biting her. I have recognized that I bite her. I’m not denying that,” Rodriguez told police, according to body camera video obtained by CNA.
“I recognize that I bite her, as a defense, and as defending myself and defending the sacrament,” he said in English with a Spanish accent.
The woman told police the priest denied her Communion after she refused to answer his questions about whether she had been to confession recently.
“I just wanted a cookie. That’s all,” the woman told police, according to body camera video.
Firefighters treated the arm of the woman at the police station. She refused to go to a hospital, according to police video.
Police in St. Cloud, Florida, have charged Rodriguez with one count of battery stemming from the incident, which occurred during the noon Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Church.
St. Cloud is a city of about 65,000 located about 21 miles south of Orlando.
First Communion leads to scenes
The woman told police she went to the 10 a.m. Mass on Sunday, May 19, with her same-sex partner because it was the woman’s niece’s first Communion.
The parish’s video of the 10 a.m. Mass shows an interaction between the priest and the woman, who neither presents her hands to receive the host nor opens her mouth to receive on her tongue. The priest and the woman speak for about 45 seconds, holding up the Communion line, though their conversation can’t be heard over the music and singing.
The woman later told police she suspected the priest wouldn’t give her Communion because of the way she was dressed and because of her sexual orientation.
“I believe that his excuse was that I wasn’t super-holy, in his eyes,” the woman, who was wearing a white shirt and pants, told police.
But the priest told police sexual orientation had nothing to do with it.
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,” he said, he knew she didn’t know what she was doing.
He said he asked her when the last time she received Communion was, and that she said it was many years ago. He said he asked her if she had gone to confession, and she replied, “I don’t need to explain you that.”
He said he told her that he has the authority to ask her that question and that he could not give her Communion, but he could give her a blessing instead, which he said he did.
Second Mass
The woman and her partner then went to the noon Mass in Spanish, which Rodriguez celebrated, and the woman again went to him to receive Communion.
He told police he asked her if she had gone to confession in between Masses.
According to him, she replied: “No, I don’t need to explain to you, I don’t need to give an explanation, you don’t have authority, you don’t need to judge me.”
To which he says he said: “I’m not judging you, I’m asking you only, did you confess after the other Mass [to] received the Communion now? Because if you did not confess, I can’t give you the Communion.”
“And she grabbed all the hosts in the hands, because she wants to receive for herself. She is not permitted. And she break all the hosts, spreading them,” the priest said.
The priest said he was worried that she would spill the hosts on the floor.
The Catholic Church teaches that the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Jesus, whom Catholics worship as God. The Church also teaches that to receive Communion a person must be a Catholic in a state of grace, meaning not being mindful of having committed a serious sin without getting absolution from a priest in confession.
The woman told police that during the second Mass the priest “forced it in my mouth,” which she didn’t want.
“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,” the woman said. “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.”
“And I’m not gonna front. I tried to just grab another cookie, and that when he grabbed my hand and he just bit me,” the woman said.
Video of the incident published by WFTV Channel 9 in Orlando shows the woman’s hand in the ciborium, which is the bowl that holds Communion wafers, while the priest holds onto it with both hands. It also shows the priest moving his head down toward the woman’s right arm but does not show the actual bite.
The Diocese of Orlando released a statement Thursday supporting the priest’s efforts to defend the Eucharist while not endorsing the bite.
The statement notes that during the noon Mass the priest offered the woman Communion on the tongue.
“At that point, the woman forcefully placed her hand in the vessel and grabbed some sacred Communion hosts, crushing them. 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,” the diocese said in a written statement.
“It should be noted 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 diocese said.
The statement continues:
“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.
“In the Catholic tradition, the Eucharist is considered ‘the source and summit’ of worship and faith. The act of participation in holy Communion therefore calls for a proper understanding, reverence, and devotion. It is not something a person can arbitrarily demand and is certainly not a mere ‘cookie’ as the complainant called it.”
A police spokesman told CNA on Thursday that the state attorney’s office will determine the next steps in the case.
Rodriguez did not respond to a request from CNA for comment.
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Cookie?
Ya what’s that all about???? Says a lot!
I am afraid that in this age of atheistic, Catholic-hating, and violent outbursts of anti-social behavior, a stringent revision of guidelines about the reception of Holy Communion is in order. We live in a culture now that knows no shame and will seek any means to desecrate anything held sacred. Our bishops would do well to begin discussing new guidelines. Perhaps only those communicants who are known to the celebrant should be given Communion. Any visiting Catholics who wish to receive Communion ought to speak directly to the priest before Mass begins. If you tell me that no priest/pastor can possibly know all his parishioners, I’d tell you that therein lies the problem. The days of “Here comes everybody” at Communion time are clearly over.
Amen
Not practical at all.
Some might say that about Christ’s dying on the cross for our sins…not practical.
Priest’s gotta do what he gotta do to protect the Eucharist. What a story …
The women went to two different Masses at the same church a few hours apart. They were obviously trying to provoke an incident. The woman who did the talking doesn’t appear to be the brightest tool in the shed either.
Oh, my. The Angelic Doctor would have a thing or two to say about this transaction, assuming he could believe it actually took place.
We had a priest in our parish (not the pastor) who about 25 years ago now would have a box of Vanilla Wafers sitting on the altar while he said Mass. After Communion, he’d invite the kiddies who hadn’t yet received their 1st Communion to approach the altar to receive what I guess he thought was the next best thing to Christ’s Body and Blood – a cookie! If you don’t think that those children didn’t grow into the faith with a very perverse notion of the Eucharist, I have a bridge to sell you. I repeat what I said above, the rules governing who gets to receive Communion need to be reviewed and tightened.
I’m afraid this is a good example of the situation Pope Francis and his buddy have put all priests in – what they do not seem to understand is that the more open approach to homosexuals will sometimes, perhaps often, not result in a holy reconciliation, but in increased aggressiveness. Given an inch, they will try to take a mile. The Lbgt… movement is not simply a community of wounded, misled people needing healing, as much as that description may be accurate from one aspect for many of them, it is also an aggressive demonic-driven attack upon goodness. That faction will not rest, and the demands upon the rest of us will increase, as long as the simplistic “pastoral” approach does not take into account the demonic forces at work.
So true!!!
More media fantasies.
Bless Father Rodriguez and all our priests for protecting our most Holy Eucharist.
Father had his hands full so he used his teeth to defend the Holy Eucharist! Bravo Father! We need more like you to combat the forces of Satan all around us!!!!
Yes, cookie. I’ve heard it before. I’ve also heard “Get me some communion.” Sixty years without catechesis…without authentic evangelization…that’s what you get.
The situation described here has surely been fueled by the controversy surrounding the obsession in Rome with homosexuality and by Fiducia Supplicans. There will be more demonic activity as “hubris” month come into few next weekend.
One hopes the diocese brings a countersuit against this obscenity and defends Father Rodriguez forcefully.
Why do I doubt that will come to pass?
Amen
Bravo Father! We need more Priests like you to combat the forces of Satan all around us!
God help us all. The Holy Spirit guided the priest for sure
The woman is poorly educated, as any modern catholic knows that the correct phrase is “magic cookie”… and shows she is not a true believer in that ALL it takes is eating the magic cookie for a straight shot to heaven….it’s more than a sign of belonging to a catholic social club…it’s MAGIC.
You are to receive the Holy Eucharist with reverence and to think one can come up and try to receive the Body and Blood without reverence is a NO— The priest takes the place of our Lord–she should not have come up to receive Him in the manner she did, and only come to receive without Sin. The Priest was protecting Our Lord God. Amem.Makes me just sick to hear she wanted to make a scene…. many are doing that these days, so as a body of Christ I like that the priest protected Jesus!!!!
This should be an interesting legal test…
The state would hold that the priest was defending only property, force was not warranted, and why the current charges.
The Church would hold the priest was defending a person from assault, and force was warranted.
The state hopefully will drop the matter lest it be drawn into court and either forced to officially deny Catholic belief, or forced to officially certify Catholic belief.
I expect the priest WILL be charged with a misdemeanor battery. I don’t see any way around that. However, he should fight it in court, and he just might win, given the flakiness of the MAN who got bit, and the fact that HE appeared to be deliberately out to desecrate the Eucharist.
I really don’t think the charge will stick…firstly, the priest had a right to defend a person from assault, that person Jesus Christ, and this WAS a religious setting, not out on the street.
Secondly, once it sinks in to the AG office into what a jam that arrest of the priest for defending the Blessed Sacrament put the state in my above stated reasons, I am fairly sure this will all quietly disappear.
Thirdly, the chancery has already come out in defense of the priest for defending the Blessed Sacrament, which will mobilize the diocese, its members/voting citizens, and its legal team, and eventually the USCCB if the case persists, not to mention lay religious defense teams.
The arresting officer will be getting a talking to, as well as the chief of the department, for pushing this into wide public view, on what was a private religious matter, and perhaps them told they arrested the wrong person, if any arrest were to be made at all. The person claiming injury clearly was the troublemaker…who also likely will not be charged due to political sensitivity.
Yeah, I see this just going away.
Let’s go back to a Communion rail and Communion on the tongue.
Amen, Bernard. Our local NO parish did that a few years ago and of course the parishes that have the TLM also have altar rails.
Whatever we may think about this unfortunate, bizarre event, at least it can be said he’s a priest that’s not limited to empty barking.
It’s sort of a “priest bites dog” story.
St. Tarcisius and Blessed Carlo Acutis, pray for our Church during this time of persecution.
Several years ago, I heard that in India it was common for a couple of guys to stand on either side of the priest during Communion and act as “bouncers” (my term) if someone approached who was not known to the priest – usually this was someone looking for something to eat. I’m guessing the use of bodyguards during Communion could become a common occurrence as more radicals try to provoke incidents.
Known in many Dioceses as sentinels. They are supposed to make sure that the Eucharist is consumed and not spirited off for nefarious purposes. Frequently had to track an individual down and get them to return the Host which most did albeit reluctantly. However, every now and then you had a hard head who refused to comply until they were forced to.
Gary – Thanks for the response. Curious, where is this a common practice? I ask because I have never seen it here in the US.
I ministered at a noted North American shrine one summer. Each person distributing Communion had a guard with them to prevent “the faithful” from desecrating and/or stealing “the cookies.”
There has been very little authentic catechesis done since Vatican II. I place the blame squarely on the heads of we priests and bishops. If we don’t instruct our parishioners, who will? And how do priests who don’t believe in the Real Presence—and I have known many—teach people that truth?
The US bishops seem to think the Eucharistic pilgrimage will fix everything. It won’t. It’s just a finger in the dyke.
I’m sincerely grateful to Father Rodriguez for his witness and willingness to act. In former days people died to protect the Blessed Sacrament. How many priests would die to protect It today?
Let us broaden the perspective here. This woman is unidentified. Why? Is she assumed to be threatened by the priest so as to have her name withheld? Outrageous! It is she who assaulted the priest! This is a manifest hate crime even by modernist standards. If she ever had any connection to the Church in her life, then Father Rodriguez is the Pope and I am the College of Cardinals. Now then, having gotten that off of my chest let us be logical about what to do about it. If we put immense self-imposed restrictions on the Church then we will be sending ourselves back to the catacombs while the barbarians laugh. It is a rare human being who has a photographic memory to do what one poster suggested. The burden must be shifted to the criminals. I will made some proposals in my next post then we can brainstorm it.
There is no mention if Father Rodriguez announced that if “you have not been practicing your Catholic faith then you may approach for a blessing”. You can see in the video some crossing their arms for a blessing, but not clear if these too were visitors. Things like this are more apt to happen at funerals, weddings, and First Communions where people attending the Mass have not attended in some time. I knew a priest who never offered such blessings – it is after all a “Communion” line not a “blessing” line. The priest would instruct the visitors who had not been attending Mass to remain in the pew and pray for the deceased, etc. If there are no legal protections that can be used now by attorneys to protect clergy from such disruptive actions, there needs be. Just showing up a second time and grabbing at the ciborium should be disturbing the peace and/or disorderly conduct, if not a form of theft or assault. Let Little Miss Cookie Monster try taking something away from someone (say a child) in the park against that person’s will while in the proximity of a police officer and see what happens. And yet the Consecrated Host is more vital to the priest than a whole truckload of Little Debbie snacks to a vendor. But we can’t draw logical conclusions anymore in the law. “Victim sense” has taken over legal and common sense.
This idea of approaching the altar at the time for Communion and expecting a blessing is an abuse. A blessing is given to all in attendance at the end of Mass; that should be adequate. My dilemma when distributing Holy Communion is that I am left-handed and to give a blessing with my left hand seems inappropriate. I just ignore those with crossed arms at the Communion rail. But a larger issue is those receiving Communion when they should not- it makes a mockery of the Body of Christ.
It is clear from photos taken at the scene that this “woman” was actually a man pretending to be a woman. Many think he was there to steal a host for use in Satanic ceremonies, and the priest realized he was a prime candidate for that sort of thing. A good bite in defense of the Eucharist should be allowable under law, especially when the bitee appears to be a mentally ill person
People certainly have vivid imaginations. In the video clip at the police station, the woman pretty much looked like a woman trying to dress and talk like a man. “I’m not frontin”,” that sort of thing. I doubt she is mentally ill, she knew what she was doing. It is more likely likely that she and the other woman with her wanted to provoke a confrontation, given that they went to consecutive Masses at 10am and noon and approached the same priest at both Masses. Then they went to the police station together. That shows a degree of planning and intentionality that a mentally ill person wouldn’t have. If she was trying to steal a Host, then she went about it in a stupid way that only drew more attention to herself.
Good for you Padre!!
I want to know why this woman was not charged with a religious hate crime?? Cookie??? And then sticking her hand into the ciborium to grab a handful of hosts? Why was SHE not arrested? No person has a “right” to receive communion. But a priest has a right to decide a person is not properly disposed, even if Catholic. The priests usually go to great lengths at weddings and funerals where there may be numbers of non-catholics in attendance to say that simply being Christian is not sufficient to allow you to receive holy communion. You must be Catholic and believe as we do that Jesus is truly present in the host.So if she is calling the host a cookie and making demands, no, she is not entitled. And committing what is viewed as sacrilege in a Catholic Church is very much a hate crime.
It’s unfortunate the diocese gave such a tepid defense of the priest. They missed a teachable moment to make people understand what is required to receive communion PROPERLY.
I am not sorry the priest bit her. I am sorry he didnt have a free hand to slap her in the face.
Ron DeSantis is a faithful Catholic, holds a law degree from Yale University, and is Governor of the State of Florida. Could he weigh-in on this matter?
Judith I am sure that he could and likely would if he were urged to do so in a timely manner. Time is of the essence since gay pride day at Disney World is coming up soon. The regular media has slung this story out in a way that implied that the priest was simply crazy. Petitions by the faithful and Catholic organizations would get his attention especially during an election year. We might also ask why the police did no routine investigation since there were a crowd of witnesses. They had a duty to take the complaint but not to just leave it there. The alleged woman in question could possibly be charged with filing a false police report IMO.
I might add that in the case of repeated harassment and attacks restraining orders and peace bonds are options to pursue.
Let’s get back to basics: Receiving Communion presumes you are IN COMMUNION with the Catholic Church. How will the bishops determine WHO IS IN COMNUNION WITH THE CHURCH IN THEIR JURISDICTION?
If there is no way to distinguish between who is IN COMMUNION and who is NOT IN COMMUNION, then the entire fundamental notion of communion is a farce and the Eucharist has become just another expression of cheap sentimentality in the Church. If something isn’t done to safeguard the notion of communion then we will continue to witness the desecration of what is Most Holy.
Deacon, We have just seen in this case ample indicators of who was and was not in communion with the Church. We did not on the other hand see any discernment as to the potential threat present much less any preplanned responses. All around the country other Christian groups have been attacked in various ways and have been developing methods of self protection. Our little rural Alabama Parrish does basic things but they make sense. There is a prominent dress code sign at the entrance, a couple of greeters, handouts for guests and a nice presentation before Mass that “only Catholics in good standing., etc.” We have an altar rail. We have been lucky but it is a red state. So is Florida but the church that was attacked is only 21 miles from Orlando And “gay pride” time is coming up. Jesus protect them.
Most sorry for the niece whose First Communion must have been affected. Everyone will be talking about her family. Will she ever take communion again?