For a decade, Father Robert “Bob” Caudill has opened the doors of All Saints Catholic Mission in Oakland Park every morning, serving hot meals to anyone who shows up. Dozens of people line up daily, and he has kept the soup kitchen running even as the city has tried, repeatedly, to shut it down. The clash landed in a courtroom this year, where the case briefly went to trial before being tossed on a missed deadline. Caudill’s legal team insists the fight is only in a later round, not over, as redevelopment plans and code enforcement square off against the basic need for a plate of food.
What the mission does
All Saints, at 3460 Powerline Road, is far more than a Sunday sanctuary. The mission serves daily meals, hands out clothing and offers showers for people experiencing homelessness, often helping hundreds of visitors across its breakfast and lunch shifts. Its schedule and services are listed in local assistance directories, including RightService Florida. State filings identify All Saints as a registered Florida nonprofit based at the Powerline Road address, and records at the Florida Division of Corporations show the mission operates independently of the Archdiocese of Miami.
Decade-long legal fight
Caudill first sued the City of Oakland Park in 2016, arguing that a municipal zoning change trampled his right to minister to the poor. In 2019, he amended his complaint, asserting that feeding the hungry is a core part of his religious conviction. The case was finally set for both bench and jury consideration in January 2026 but was dismissed before jurors could deliberate, after a missed pretrial deadline. His attorney, Peter Mavrick, has since asked the judge to give the case another shot with a new trial. Those developments were detailed by the Miami Herald.
Oakland Park had rezoned the Powerline Road corridor in 2014 in an effort to spur redevelopment, a move city officials say blocks parish houses and similar charitable operations in that district. When All Saints kept serving meals on site anyway, the city responded with cease-and-desist orders and daily fines. Reporting shows the financial hit was once set at $500 per day before being lowered to $125, a running tab that has fueled years of legal and financial tension between the mission and City Hall. Those details were documented by the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
Religious freedom at the center
At the heart of Caudill’s lawsuit is Florida’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which bars government from substantially burdening a person’s religious exercise unless it is furthering a compelling interest and doing so in the least restrictive way possible. The law is codified in Florida Statutes, Chapter 761, and provides the legal scaffolding for the mission’s challenge to the city’s zoning move and enforcement tactics.
Neighbors and volunteers push back
Volunteers and guests say All Saints has become a lifeline in a city where consistent services are already thin. Supporters have shown up at public meetings to urge officials to back off the mission, arguing that shuttering the soup line would punish people who have nowhere else to go. Local coverage has included firsthand accounts and video of the daily lines and volunteer crews, underscoring how many people rely on those meals. That on-the-ground perspective has been captured by CBS Miami…