A priest in Florida bit the forearm of a woman he said was desecrating the Eucharist in a Communion line at church last Sunday, and has now been charged with one count of assault.
Father Fidel Rodríguez, 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, damaging other hosts as she did so.
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“The only defense I found to defend something that for us, for all of us, is sacred, was to bite her. I have acknowledged that I bite her. I am not denying that,” Father Rodríguez told the police, according to the camera video body obtained by CNA, EWTN News’ English agency.
“I recognize that I bite it, as a defense, and as a defense of myself and defending the sacrament,” he said in English with a Spanish accent.
The woman told police that the priest denied her Communion after she refused to answer his questions about whether she had recently confessed.
“I just wanted a cookie. That’s all,” the woman told police, according to body camera video.
Firefighters treated the woman’s arm at the police station. She refused to go to a hospital, according to authorities’ video.
Police in St. Cloud, Florida, charged Father Rodriguez with one count of assault stemming from the incident, which occurred during noon Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Church.
St. Cloud is a city of about 65,000 people located about 38 kilometers south of Orlando.
The events began with a First Communion Mass
The woman told police she went to the 10:00 a.m. (local time) Mass on Sunday, May 19, with her same-sex partner, because it was the woman’s niece’s First Communion.
He parish video of the Mass shows an interaction between the priest and the woman, who does not present her hands to receive the host nor open her mouth to receive it on her tongue. The priest and the woman talk for about 45 seconds, holding the Communion line, although their conversation cannot be heard over the music and singing.
The woman later told police she suspected the priest would not give her Communion because of the way she was dressed and because of her sexual orientation.
“I think his excuse was that I wasn’t super saintly, in his eyes,” the woman, who was wearing a white shirt and pants, told police.
But the priest told police that sexual orientation had nothing to do with the situation.
When the woman didn’t spread her hands on top of each other or open her mouth and say “Amen” after he said “Body of Christ,” he knew she didn’t know what she was doing.
He said he asked her when she last received Communion, and she said it was many years ago. She said she asked her if she had confessed, and she responded, “I don’t need to explain that to you.”
The priest noted that he told the woman that he had the authority to ask her that question and that he could not give her Communion, but that 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 Father Rodríguez celebrated, and the woman again approached him to receive Communion.
He told police he asked him if he had confessed between Masses.
According to him, she responded: “No, I don’t need to explain to you, I don’t need to give an explanation, you have no authority, you don’t need to judge me.”
To which he says he said, “I’m not judging you, I’m just asking you, did you go to confession after the other Mass to receive Communion now? Because if you didn’t go to confession, I can’t give you Communion.”
“And she grabbed all the hosts in her hands, because she wants to receive them for herself. She is not allowed. And she broke all the hosts, scattering them,” said the priest.
The priest said he was worried that she would spill the hosts on the ground.
The Catholic Church teaches that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Jesus, whom Catholics worship as God. The Church also teaches that to receive Communion a person must be Catholic in a state of grace, which means not being aware of having committed a serious sin without obtaining absolution from a priest in confession.
The woman told police that the priest “wouldn’t give me a cookie. I don’t know if it was because of how I’m dressed. You know, it’s what I like.”
“Basically (the priest) told me that I had to go to confession and do all this, that I had to go to Mass every Sunday or whatever. And I said, ‘That doesn’t matter. I’ve done everything I had to do when I was girl. I’m just here to accept the bread.’ And he didn’t give it to me.”
“I tried to grab another cookie, and that’s when he grabbed my hand and bit me,” the woman said.
The video of the incident posted by WFTV Canal 9 in Orlando it shows the woman’s hand in the ciborium, which is the container that contains the Communion hosts, while the priest holds it with both hands. He also shows the priest moving his head towards the woman’s right arm, but does not show the bite itself.
The Diocese of Orlando issued a statement Thursday supporting the priest’s efforts to defend the Eucharist, without endorsing the bite.
The statement indicates that during the noon Mass the priest offered the woman Communion on the tongue.
“At that moment, the woman forcefully placed her hand on the container and grabbed some sacred Communion hosts, crushing them. With only one hand free, Father Rodríguez 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 Rodríguez bit her hand to make her drop the hosts she grabbed. The woman was immediately asked to leave,” the diocese said in its statement.
“It should be noted that Father Rodríguez had no prior knowledge of the woman’s background. Furthermore, although the Diocese of Orlando does not condone physical altercations such as this, in good faith, Father Rodríguez was simply trying to avoid an act of desecration of Holy Communion, which, as a priest, Father Rodríguez is duty-bound to protect,” the diocese added.
The statement continues: “The full video and police report show that 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. Therefore, the act of participating in Holy Communion requires appropriate understanding, reverence and devotion. It is not something that one person can arbitrarily demand and it is certainly not a mere ‘cookie’ as the plaintiff called it.”
A police spokesperson told CNA on Thursday that the state attorney’s office will determine the next steps in the case.
Father Rodríguez did not respond to a request for comment from CNA.
Matthew McDonald
Matt McDonald es periodista del National Catholic Register y editor del New Boston Post.