Ex-Catholic Priest Alberto Cutie Prepares to Wed After Scandal

laht ^ | June 14, 2009

[NYer]

MIAMI – Ex-Catholic priest Alberto Cutie will wed in two weeks, after sparking a scandal when he was photographed nuzzling his girlfriend on a Miami beach, The Miami Herald newspaper said.

The wedding will be held in an Episcopal church here at a private ceremony for which several ex-police have been hired to ensure security, according to sources close to the religious.

Cutie, born in Puerto Rico of Cuban descent, left the Catholic Church after the photos were published and weeks later announced that he was joining the Episcopal Church, for which he has already given his first sermon.

The marriage of Cutie, 40, and the Guatemalan Ruhama Buni Canellis, 35, the divorced mother of a teenage boy, will be officiated by Bishop Leo Frade, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, according to the daily.

After hiding her love relationship with the priest from the public for the past two years, the Guatemalan woman appeared smiling together with Cutie at the end of May at Miami’s Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

She joined Cutie for a ceremony where Bishop Frade announced that Father Alberto had become a member of the Episcopal Church and wanted to be ordained a priest.

The Episcopal Church does not require priestly celibacy.

The scandal broke out in mid-May when the tabloid TVnotas USA published 25 photos of the couple, in one of which Cutie was snapped putting his hand in Canellis’ bikini bottom.

Cutie hosted radio and TV programs in the United States and Latin America, and was considered one of the most influential Hispanics in this country.

His photos, seen around the world, again raised the subject of celibacy in the Catholic Church.

Popular reaction in Florida and in the rest of the country among Catholics has been enormous and many have expressed their opinions on whether or not Catholic priests should be required to remain celibate.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Serious character flaws don’t merit a benediction. Before it’s all said and done Cutie will end being as unfaithful to the divorced bimbo he allowed to seduce him as he has been to Christ.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Poor comprehension on your part.

[Radl]

She should be worried. If he can’t keep his vow with God whats the chances of honoring his marriage vow?

[Last Dakotan]

Thanks for your kind thoughts...

[A.A. Cunningham]

Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.

[will of the people]

“he and his bimbo have made a sizable down payment on an extremely unpleasant eternity.”

I'm sadly amused at people; who whether they be Roman Catholic,and believe in purgatory, or if they be subscribers to that unfortunate segment of Protestantism which cannot be certain of salvation; can be and often are highly certain of another’s eternal damnation.

Will Wallace

[mockingbyrd]

well, it appears he didn’t believe in much of anything. And she’s in for an ugly reality, marriage is hard work, and his past behavior shows he jumps ship when things get hard.

[VidMihi]

Allowing priests to marry would end pedophilia. It is completely untrue that celibate priests are more likely to be pedophiles than any other group of men, married or not. Pedophilia affects only 0.3 percent of the population of Catholic clergy, and sexual abusers in general account for less than 2 percent of Catholic priests. These figures are comparable to rates among married men, as non-Catholic scholar Philip Jenkins points out in his book Pedophiles and Priests. Other Protestant denominations have admitted to having similar problems among their own married clergy, so clearly the problem is not with celibacy.

Celibacy has nothing to do with Pedophilia. Extremely few, if any, Catholic priests have been guilty of Pedophilia. What priests have been found guilty of is called "Ephebophilia- which is sex with teen age boys. This is because as many have reported, ( Cozzens, Greeley, McBride ) of “the significant number of homosexually oriented men in the priesthood.“ It is possible that a more significant number of married priests might reduce the incidence of Ephebophilia by the homosexually oriented but that is questionable as they tend to form their own culture to which the heterosexuals do not relate. It is hard to argue any relationship between celibacy and pedophilia (or Ephebophilia) other than the ratio of heterosexual to homosexual men in the priesthood.

[VidMihi]

A married clergy would create a larger pool of healthy priestly candidates, solving the current priest shortage. There are actually plenty of vocations today in faithful dioceses: Denver, Northern Virginia, and Lincoln, Nebraska, have great numbers of men entering the priesthood. If other dioceses, such as Milwaukee, want to answer the question of why they have so few vocations, the answer is simple: Challenge young men to a religious life that is demanding, countercultural, sacrificial, and loyal to the Holy Father and Catholic teaching. This is the surest way to guarantee a greater number of vocations.

If one subtracts the foreign imports, there is anything but great numbers of men entering the priesthood. The idea that a married priest is any less capable of service to the Church is an insult to those married in other rites and the married men in Protestant Churches who are "converting Catholics to Christ" away from the Church where they were so poorly instructed because of the shortage of priests. Now if their celibacy is more important than the mission of the Church, then I guess that's OK.

[NYer]

The idea that a married priest is any less capable of service to the Church is an insult to those married in other rites

Not at all! In fact, the majority of married priest converts from the Episcopal Church, say they have a better appreciation for the vow of celibacy. Since marriage is the first vow taken, the married priest must place his wife before the parish. Not so for the celibate priests who can and do devote most of their time to the parish community.

Married Priests Back Celibacy (Part 1 of 2)

[m4629]

If one subtracts the foreign imports, there is anything but great numbers of men entering the priesthood

A few possible explanation could be drawn from this statement. Not sure what you are getting at. Need to clarify.

My feeling is, the above statement maybe a reflection of our home grown American contraceptive mentality, where a family has an average of something like 1.3 kids. Naturally, giving up a kid to serve the church is tough. Perhaps we need to learn from those backward immigrants about bigger families like we once had and still live a poor but joyful life, and able to give a kid or 2 out of maybe 3 or 4, instead of 1.3

Not sure you are implying that "foreign born" trained priests trained by American seminaries are of inferior quality. You will have to clarify for the discussion. If I simply look at the stats, at my diocesan level, over 50% of seminarians are foreign born, so you are right about the stats. But at the parish level, at least at my parish, 2 out of 3 aspiring seminarians are foreign born, they came here like under 5 years old and, for all intent and purpose, they are like home grown Americans to me.

[m4629]

Indeed.

Take my pastor, he is on the “first to call” list from the county hospital simply because our parish is less than 10 blocks away. The county hospital has a trauma unit and lots of gun shot cases. If he was married, getting the extra calls from the county in the middle of the night more than once a week would be a real drag.

[dangus]

Practically, I cannot see it happening. Is it a possibility? These are the hurdles.

1. His new marriage would be illicit. He’d have to normalize it. When Protestants convert, their marriage needs no normalization. When Catholics defect in order to get married, however, they have a problem.

2. His holy orders are invalidated by his marriage. Anglican priests accepted into the Catholic Church need to have a valid priesthood. That’s normally rare, since they have to establish apostolic succession through their entire lineage of ordination, with every member in the succession being possibly schismatic, but not apostate. In his case, he, himself, invalidated his orders.

3. He’s excommunicated. He’d have to get absolved by his bishop, at least. I think the Vatican needs to be involved, though, because he was a priest.

4. Should he attempt to repent, and be absolved, and un-excommunicated (?!) and his orders somehow found to be valid, his persistence in his current, married state would make it hard to believe sincerity. He’d probably need to get the marriage annulled.

[VidMihi]

Among other things -” His holy orders are invalidated by his marriage.” - No way - Go back to the Baltimore catechism - Once a priest always a priest. Any Mass he may celebrate is a valid Mass. Good thing you don't pretend to be a canon lawyer - or maybe you are one of those new JPII lawyers?

[VidMihi]

Celibacy in the Latin rite is unfair. Since the Eastern rite allows married priests and the Latin rite allows married priests who have converted from Episcopalianism and Lutheranism, why can't all priests be married? The discipline of celibacy among priests is one of the distinctive marks of the Roman Catholic tradition. Anyone who chooses to become a priest accepts the discipline. The Eastern rite, Lutheranism, and Episcopalianism, on the other hand, have a long tradition of married priests and the infrastructure and experience to handle it. However, Eastern rite priests and married priests who have converted from Lutheranism or Episcopalianism are NOT allowed to marry after their ordination or remarry after the death of their wife. In addition, the Eastern Church only chooses bishops from among their celibate, unmarried priests, clearly demonstrating that they see an inherent value in the nature of celibacy.

Unfair to whom? Certainly not to the priest who chooses to be celibate. Maybe it is not fair to some of those not religious, and therefore not living in community, who all too frequently become unhappy, bitter old men, who take their frustrations out on their parishioners or on younger priests. An article I was reading today in Fortune Small Business says that 60% of those who leave a company quit a boss rather than quit the company. Did anyone ever ask why the 10,000 American priests who resigned did so - the presumption is marriage, but the reality may be because of the pastor or bishop, or the fear they would end up like some of the old priests they had to deal with. Would be an interesting study. Most good priests are not in the priesthood for themselves but rather for a rightly idealistic desire to serve the people. Many leave, I suspect, not for selfish reasons but because their desire to serve became the obligation to obey, which they would have gladly done in the interest of service but not in the interest if Episcopal control.

If celibacy is unfair it is to the people who are deprived of good priestly service.

[VidMihi]

Doctors, who are married and with families get such calls. So do men who are members of volunteer fire departments across the country. So do Protestant pastors when one of their people is ill. Aw, poor Father.

[NYer]

Is it a possibility?

There are no hurdles for Cutie. He has been excommunicated.

Father Alberto excommunicated himself by becoming Episcopalian, Miami archbishop says

Gridlock ... pinged you here in response to your comment on the other thread.

[gridlock]

So, if he is an Episcopalian priest and gets married, couldn’t he later become a Catholic priest? Or has he burnt that bridge? The Church does allow for married ministers/priests of other religions to become Catholic priests.

I think this is done on a case-by-case basis. I think, in this particular case, the answer will be a firm "no".

[Mashood]

“well, it appears he didn’t believe in much of anything. And she’s in for an ugly reality, marriage is hard work, and his past behavior shows HE JUMPS SHIP WHEN THINGS GET HARD.

Point taken!

[m4629]

Doctors, who are married and with families get such calls. So do men who are members of volunteer fire departments across the country. So do Protestant pastors when one of their people is ill. Aw, poor Father.

My take is, why should catholics settle for second or third best burnt out priests? There are physical limits. We as a prolife group could easily afford to supply a fresh team of celibate priests full time if we so choose. Why shouldn't we go for the best? Why would you settle for less?

Don't get me started by citing protestants. They have a poor track record of going with the lowest common denominator, on many issues.