ST. CLOUD, Fla. — An argument over holy communion at a Central Florida church ended with a priest biting a woman in the arm, according to the St. Cloud Police Department.
It happened around 1:15 p.m. Sunday at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, where a woman was attending mass for her niece's First Communion.
Police said the priest refused to give the woman a communion host during the 10 a.m. mass because she did not take the proper steps to receive it. The priest told officers the woman tried to grab the host between her index finger and thumb, "like you are taking a cookie" rather than accepting it in the palm of her hand or in her mouth, which is standard in the Catholic Church.
In a statement captured on bodycam footage, the priest said her actions led him to believe she had not completed the necessary sacraments to receive holy communion. He told the woman if she did confession after mass, she could return for the next mass and receive communion.
When the woman came back for the 12 p.m. mass and went to receive communion, the priest reportedly asked her if she had done confession between the masses.
The priest said she refused to answer and instead tried to grab her own host from the tray — an action he called "sacrilegious."
The priest told police he grabbed her hand to stop her, and she pushed him in response.
"I have the bowl with the holy hosts which, for us, is sacred. She grabbed all the hosts in the hands because she wants to receive them herself and she is not permitted," he told police. "She breaks all the hosts."
This action, the priest admitted, led him to bite her arm in self-defense.
“The only defense that I can find to defend something that, for all of us, is sacred was biting her. I recognize that I bit her. I am not denying that," the priest said in a statement to police.
"I recognize that I bit her as a defense — defending myself and defending the sacrament," he added.
The woman told police she believed she was singled out because of her sexuality and attire, a white button-down and pants.
The priest told police he was not aware of her sexuality and would not judge someone or deny them communion based on their appearance. He added that there are several members of the LGBTQ+ community who attend the church and receive communion.
In a statement provided to WKMG, the Diocese of Orlando claimed the priest was "trying to protect the Holy Communion" from the woman's "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," the statement said, in part.
The state will determine whether the priest will face any charges.
