Priest throws Host down on the floor rather than give Communion on the tongue

Did a priest from the Diocese of Tarbes drop a consecrated host on Sunday?

Our readers report a serious incident during Communion this Sunday morning in Bazet - where the Mass of Bordères-sur-l'Echez, of the diocese of Tarbes-Lourdes, has been transferred since the closure of this church to the public for damages last March. The celebrant, Father Dorothée, is said to have deliberately dropped the consecrated Host in front of a member of the faithful at the end of communion. This did not fail to shock some of those present.

We received two testimonies from the faithful - they also gave us the opportunity to put them online, for which we thank them. (see link below)

"Traumatised and shocked" congregants. 

Firstly, the testimony of a worshipper, present in the front row with his wife. Jean Baptiste: "I was with my wife at the Mass in Bazet, with Father Dorothée. The liturgical leader was Carlito Beixiga and it went well. But at the end of the Mass at Communion we were traumatised, shocked by what had happened. 

Carlito came forward to take communion, he had the guitar in his hands, he couldn't take it in his hands, [he opens his mouth], so the father dropped the host on the ground like this [he makes the gesture of taking the host between two fingers and dropping it], it fell on the ground, the host, and then the guitarist picked it up. With my wife, I was a witness and we were traumatised, shocked that the father had no compassion for Jesus and for this gentleman. 

He added that Father Dorothea "in a previous Mass" where he had asked to receive communion in the mouth, "refused to give me communion and played like this with the host [makes the gesture of moving it from right to left in front of oneself] in front of everyone, I begged him, and then he gave it to me in the mouth, and to my wife as well. 

We also received the testimony of the faithful who had to pick up the consecrated host from the ground.

"My name is Carlito Beixiga. I am a liturgical leader, I lead the Mass with my guitar, I sing and make people sing during the celebrations. I am from the parish of Oursbellile and Bordères-sur-l'Echez. 

This Sunday, April 23, 2023, I went to Mass in Bazet because the Church in Bordères has been damaged and we can no longer go there. This morning at 10:30 I lead the Mass as usual on the guitar, and at the moment of communion there is an incident that I would like to point out, which shocked me, which shocked many.

At the moment of communion, Father Dorothée gives Communion to everyone, I sing. And at the end, I stop singing, Father Dorothée approaches me, I approach him, I lift myself up and I also lift the guitar in my hands. 

So, not being able to take communion by hand, I approach him and open my mouth. I see that Father Dorothée hesitates to put the host in my mouth, he approaches, he steps back. I say to him, "Is there a problem? I have the guitar in my hand, can you see that I can't take Communion?"

I thought he was going to put the host in my mouth, I approach and in front of me, and in front of everybody, he puts the host [he makes the gesture of holding it between his fingers] 10 centimetres from my mouth and he drops it. 

So it falls to the ground.

I was annoyed, I went to pick it up, he picked it up, and I took the host out of his hands and took communion, I went back to my seat and said to myself, "What is this comedy? What happened is an incident that I would like to report, it was done in full view of everyone.

The shocked faithful would like Monsignor Micas, the Bishop of Tarbes-Lourdes, to remind all his priests that they know what a consecrated host is, the principle of transubstantiation, the conditions for receiving the Holy Eucharist - it is not licit in particular to refuse communion to a faithful person who wishes to receive it on his knees or in his mouth, as the Congregation for Divine Worship reminds us - and that they are aware of the protocol to be followed when a consecrated host falls to the ground.

Whatever the case of the celebrant of Bordères-sur-l'Echez, profaning the Body of Christ by mistreating both the host and the faithful is an act of rare gravity.

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