Priest vows to keep Oakland Park soup kitchen open "'til Jesus calls me home"
MIAMI - A Catholic priest, openly breaking city code in Oakland Park, faces five-figure fines, but vows to change nothing.
He is locked in an eight-year legal fight with the city over a soup kitchen.
Twice a day people without homes line up for free restaurant-cooked meals inside All Saints Catholic Mission Soup Kitchen.
The priest in charge is on a crusade that openly violates a city zoning ordinance. He faces $125 fines every day and has since 2016.
When asked how long he will continue to rack up fines, Father Bob Caudill said, "(Until) Jesus calls me home. That's it. I'm here for the long haul."
Nine years ago, Oakland Park commissioners changed zoning along Powerline Road to spark redevelopment.
The move was supposed to close Caudill's soup kitchen. Instead, the Church filed a civil complaint that claimed the city violated Florida's Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Caudill refused to close his soup kitchen.
Eight years later, the city commission has a Broward County court hearing to seek dismissal of the complaint next month.
"I think they thought that they would bide their time and I would just get tired of it," Caudill said. "This is a vocation being in this ministry, the Church, the priesthood, whatever you want to call it. If they happen to close (the soup kitchen) I'll find another alternative. I won't like it. I'll be feeding in front of city hall."
CBS 4 asked the city manager's office for comment and received a 24-word statement.
"Due to the fact that there is a legal proceeding pending on this issue, we are unable to provide a comment at this time," Shannon Vezina, Public Information Officer for the City of Oakland Park said.
In court filings, the city's attorney claimed Caudill could open his soup kitchen in other places in town and showed the court no proof that feeding the poor in the current location is required by the priest's religion.
Seeing growing numbers of people line up for help with 14 restaurants regularly filling refrigerators, Caudill sounds convinced his wrong doing is righteous.
