MIAMI -- A Miami woman is seeking a restraining order against a Catholic priest, accusing him of attacking her when she told him he fathered her child.

"He just got me in the moment when I was down and very, very depressed," said Beatriz Hernandez, who said she has had an on-again, off-again relationship with the Rev. David Dueppen for the past seven years.

Hernandez said Dueppen was kindhearted and caring when they first met. She was a stripper at Porky's in Hialeah, and she said he was a frequent customer. Hernandez said they became intimate and eventually lived together.

On Sundays, she said, the priest would put on his Catholic collar and preach the Bible but during the week, he became infatuated with sex clubs and nudist camps, Local 10's Roger Lohse reported.

"It's just like making fun of God, that's how I saw it," Hernandez said.

"Did you ever express that to him?" Lohse asked.

"Yes. He said, 'You have spirits and I have to help you out,' and that's the only way we could do it," Hernandez said.

In January, Hernandez gave birth to a girl, who is now the focus the permanent restraining order Hernandez is seeking against Dueppen. In court records, Hernandez claims the Catholic priest denies fathering the child, has become violent, choked her, told her to stay quiet and even threatened to take the child away if she told the Archdiocese of Miami.

Nobody answered the door at the church-owned home in Pembroke Pines where Dueppen lives. He has declined to comment on the allegations.

Dueppen is on a voluntary leave of absence from St. Maximilian Catholic Church. Parishioners said they are surprised by the allegations, but for the most part, they don’t feel betrayed.

"He's a young man. Everybody needs somebody," said one woman.

"He could've met a nice woman here at the bingo place. He comes in every week. The women loved him," another parishioner told Local 10.

But the allegations are another black eye for the Catholic Church, which is still reeling over the loss of the Rev. Alberto Cutié. When Cutié's secret relationship with a woman became public this summer, he left the church, married the woman and joined the Episcopal church.

Hernandez said she is going public for the safety of her daughter, the only thing she said she doesn't regret about her relationship with Dueppen.

In a statement, a representative of the Archdiocese of Miami said, "Father Dueppen's actions are contrary to his public vow of celibacy; he is responsible for these personal actions and decisions."

Three years ago, the Archdiocese paid Hernandez $60,000 after she filed a civil suit claiming the church didn't do enough to keep the priest away from her.