The 'kneeling incident' with Bishop Brown
I got a boatload of emails regarding this bishop. You may remember him from this and this.
I have yet to compile everything into one report (some 20 emails), but here is the story referenced to by a reader Friday, about Bishop Brown pulling a woman from the kneeling position. I was not there, so I cannot verify the report - but it seems to be well known and the photo (a still from a video) seems quite obvious.
Here is how the woman pictured described the event (in her own words):
I was sitting on the side of the Church, 3rd row, where Bishop Tod Brown distributed the Holy Eucharist, (in the video, I am the woman with short brown hair and glasses, wearing a black sweater and long white skirt sitting on the opposite side (from the camera) of the aisle in the center of the church) and upon approaching the Bishop to receive, I genuflected, out of reverence for the Sacred Species and remained on one knee to receive the Blessed Sacrament. Bishop Brown refused to give me Holy Communion. Bishop Brown said, “You need to stand up”.
I was in shock and didn’t move or respond. He then reached out and took hold of my folded hands, attempting to physically pull me to a standing position, and said more sternly, “You need to stand.”
I looked up and whispered, quietly and respectfully, “Please, bishop”, and he then grabbed my arm, and pulled me, as though to physically pull me up to a standing position (although obscured, you can see where he bends down and extends his right arm to grab mine) as he stated more loudly, “Get up”.
Still on one knee, I then asked very quietly and with genuine ignorance, “Why?”
As he stood up straight he responded, very loudly and sternly, “Because THAT’S the way we receive communion. Now, GET UP, you’re causing a scene.’ (Capitalized words were accentuated (spoken more loudly) by the bishop. You can see in the video, if viewed frame by frame, that at that moment many heads turned toward the bishop, including a young girl and her mother in the other line of communicants and Fr. Pasqual Nguyen (in front and to the side of the bishop).
Confused as to the problem, I lowered my head in a silent prayer, and not wanting to cause any further embarrassment to Fr. Benzoni during this holy occasion, I stood up and received Holy Eucharist. As I came to my feet, noticeably distracted by the incident, I saw 3 of the priests who had been distributing communion were all looking at Bishop Brown.