Posted on 05/09/2009 7:10:56 AM PDT by IbJensen
Speaking extensively to reporters for the first time since a celibacy scandal broke, the Rev. Alberto Cutié said he is considering marriage and a family.
After confessing his love for the mystery woman he was caught with on a South Florida beach, the Rev. Alberto Cutié says he is ready to consider taking the relationship to the next level.
Marriage and children are a definite possibility, he told The Miami Herald late Friday.
''I'm not going to rush into marriage. I know all about that,'' said the man who has counseled countless couples preparing for weddings. ``But I would like to have a family and at the same time serve God.''
Does that mean he will leave the priesthood?
''My struggle has gone on for close to a year. It wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when,'' he said. ``You cannot be a married priest in the Roman Catholic Church. I have friends -- Episcopalian bishops, Baptists, friends in the American Bible Society -- and they have shown me that it is possible to do both.''
Cutié said he finally broke his silence Friday, speaking first to Univisión co-anchor Teresa Rodriguez, because he wanted to protect his girlfriend. She has been identified in media reports as Ruhama Buni Canellis, 35, a divorced mother living in Miami Beach. Cutié would not confirm her name, saying he wanted to protect her privacy and noting she is not a public figure.
''There have been so many rumors, and the paparazzi outside her door,'' Cutié said. He added that he's sure he wasn't set up by his girlfriend or anybody else, as many have speculated, when he ended up in a liplock -- and worse -- in the pages of the Mexican magazine TVnotas. ``People have gone as far as to say that I set it up. That would really be stupid. I didn't set it up and she didn't either.''
Earlier Friday, Cutié told Rodriguez he has few regrets about engaging in the relationship, even though the romance has jeopardized his mediagenic career.
''Do I feel bad, horrible, about it? . . . No,'' he said emphatically during the televised interview, adding: ``I will never say I'm sorry for loving a woman.''
The interview, excerpts of which were broadcast Friday evening, comprised the first extensive public comments from Cutié since the scandal over the illicit liaison exploded on Tuesday.
Univisión's viewers nationwide were treated to the unusual sight of a beloved Catholic priest, in his clerical collar and black suit, confessing his love for a woman to the world.
Cutié, 40, made it plain he was not seeking absolution, even though he did say he felt sorry to have hurt and disappointed God and his followers, and worried about the consequences of breaking his vow of celibacy.
''I can say, sincerely, that she's a woman I love,'' he said in Spanish, noting he had known the woman for nearly 10 years. He first saw her in church, Cutié said.
''From the moment I saw her, I knew I liked her,'' he said. He did not specify when the romantic relationship began.
He did not discuss the relationship in any detail in the excerpts broadcast Friday. The full interview will be broadcast Tuesday night at 10.
The Archdiocese of Miami had no reaction to the interview. ''No further comment,'' spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta said.
Cutié is scheduled to appear on CBS' The Early Show at 7 a.m. Monday. Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez, a former anchor at Miami's WFOR-CBS 4, will do the interview.
Canellis, meanwhile, issued a statement Friday afternoon pleading with the media to leave her alone, but she did not disclose the nature of her relationship with the priest.
''As a single mother, I ask that the members of the media respect my privacy and the privacy of my 14-year-old son,'' the statement said.
Canellis, originally from Guatemala, is a divorced mother with custody of her 14-year-old son, public records show.
She and her ex-husband, David Hope Norton, have been in and out of court dealing with child-support issues since the 1996 divorce.
Cutié was relieved on Tuesday of his duties at his parish church, St. Francis de Sales in South Beach, and at the Archdiocese of Miami's radio and television arm, which he oversaw.
In the Univisión interview, Cutié insisted the sabbatical was voluntary. In response to Rodriguez's remark about his wearing his collar, Cutié noted he remains a priest, and that even those who leave the church are still considered priests.
Cutié accepted blame for the scandal and acknowledged that in hindsight he might have handled the matter differently.
''I am the only one responsible for that,'' he said. ``It was never my intention to hurt anyone.''
He said he suspected photographers had caught the couple on the beach, which he said was a solitary spot north of Miami.
The controversy became public this week when Spanish-language magazine TVnotas published the compromising pictures. The magazine's cover showed the priest on his back in blue shorts with a long-brown-haired woman in a dark bathing suit wrapping her legs around him.
Public reaction to Cutié's removal from his parish and the published pictures, especially in South Florida, has been strong. Though many Catholics have expressed indignation, the scandal has prompted debate over the church's strict policy of celibacy for priests, with many people supporting the cleric and criticizing the church's stance.
On Friday night, after broadcast of the interview, a handful of people showed up outside Cutié's parish church to show their support for the embattled priest.
Virginia Londoño, who also attended a larger support rally Thursday, said she still believed after hearing his explanations that Cutié did nothing wrong. He still has the right to wear the collar, she said.
But Noemi Guzman, a Cutié supporter, said the priest erred in not publicly confessing sooner. ''The people would have accepted it better,'' she said.
Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora, in a prepared statement earlier this week, said Cutié violated the church's position on celibacy.
Experts in Canon Law, the internal rules of the Catholic Church, say it is extremely unlikely the archbishop will allow Cutié to stay an active priest while he is in a relationship.
Cutié told Univisión on Friday that he succumbed to human passion only after long efforts not to.
''I'm a man,'' he said. ``Under the cassock there are pants.
Oh,you'd be surprised just how able I am to "discern".I can discern that there are Catholic priests...priests who recognize the Pope as the true successor to Saint Peter....who are married and have children.Most of them seem to be in the Eastern Rite but some are of the Latin Rite....most of whom,I suspect,are former Anglican/Episcopal priests who converted to Catholicism and were appointed to serve as Roman Catholic priests.
So my questions is....why,at least,are not Catholic men allowed to marry and *then* seek ordination with the understanding that they cannot be elevated to the office of Bishop and must,if their wife pre-deceases them,live a celibate life?
Seems he’s willing to stay Catholic. His sin was falling in love with another human being not, falling out of love with Christ.
Those of you without sin, cast the first stone.
That's a lame effort of out of context Scripture cherry picking and is indicative of your ignorance. No one here is advocating that Cutie or Canellis, or you for that matter, be condemned for eternity, which is what the scribes and Pharisees had planned before Christ intervened. Notice that you failed to include Christ's counsel "Go, and now sin no more."
Cutie has proved that he has no business being a Priest and Canellis has proved that she is an evil woman. She's delusional if she thinks he'll be any more faithful to her than he has been to Christ and before it's over odds are that they'll end up betraying each other.
**With everything that’s happened after Vatican II the novus ordo church has become a cafeteria-style religion.**
Please get in touch with what Pope Benedict is doing: new bishops, back to the Latin Mass, take note — and come back to the Catholic Church.
There are *some* that believe Jesus was married and had children
God will be the judge. Even the woman caught in adultery was not stoned, because none of those accusing her were without sin.
So — doubting that you are God and can make that decision.
**The Pope deserves more condemnation for his tacit approval of abortion by allowing the genocidal Catholic politicians to remain in the church.**
You must not be reading the threads about Pope Benedict condemning abortion. I’ll find just one and post a link to you.
It's always been my understanding that taking the Celibacy vow was to insure our Priests wouldn't fall in love with a woman and get married. The Church believes that a Priest can't serve his Parishioners well if he is torn between caring for them versus caring for his his own family.
Correct me if I'm wrong, please.
sw
IIRC, about 54% of said Catholics apparently shouldn’t be Catholics.
Like said, problems.
What part of < /s > did you not get?
Pope: "Non-Negotiable Human Rights" include "Right to Life and Right to Freedom of Conscience"
Pope ‘rejects Caroline Kennedy for being too liberal’
Pence Calls on Obama to Withdraw Pope-Basher’s Appointment to Faith-Based Program
Now can you stop bashing Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church?
**was her prior marriage annulled?**
Good question.
“I’m not going to rush into marriage. I know all about that.”
So, for all his “expertise” in counseling married couples, experience that would supposedly make him the ideal husband, this doofus turns out to be the absolute archetypal male commitment-phobe, who prefers to mask his horndogness in psychobabble, in hopes that the chicks won’t notice his intent to nail everything that moves, now that he’s seen Paree.
**But the Vow / Pledge is never broken**
Just as in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, this priest is marked forever as a Catholic priest. His solemn vow to obey the Bishop and the Pope and the entire Church is still there.
The vile comments are unnecessary and it's what turns young people away. Before I get jumped on...I'm not for changing any rules. I believe when you join any group you accept their rules...rules should never change to suit you. I'm talking about the reactions and the judgements.
If you check up on Catholic Church history, you just might find that Peter’s wife died. Some Early Church Father think that to be the case.
We know that Peter was married at one time; Scripture never mentions his wife by name, and we know that Peter and the Apostles gave up everything; including a wife if they were married, to follow Christ.
"Then Peter answering, said to him: Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee: what therefore shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting." Matthew 19:27-30 (emphasis added for your edification)
"Then Peter said: Behold, we have left all things, and have followed thee. Who said to them: Amen, I say to you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, Who shall not receive much more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." Luke 18:28-30 (emphasis added for your edification)
Since you seem intent on adding to Scripture that which is not there, I sugggest you familiarize yourself with the writings of Clement of Alexandria contained in "The Stromata"; Book VII, Chapter XI:
'They say, accordingly, that the blessed Peter, on seeing his wife led to death, rejoiced on account of her call and conveyance home, and called very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, "Remember thou the Lord." Such was the marriage of the blessed and their perfect disposition towards those dearest to them.
Thus also the apostle says, "that he who marries should be as though he married not," and deem his marriage free of inordinate affection, and inseparable from love to the Lord; to which the true husband exhorted his wife to cling on her departure out of this life to the Lord.' (emphasis added for your edification)
You might also reflect that Paul was probably married at some point as well, since he had been a member of the Sanhedrin.
I suggest you familiarize yourself with St. Paul's writings in 1 Corinthians.
"For I would that all men were even as myself: but every one hath his proper gift from God; one after this manner, and another after that. But I say to the unmarried, and to the widows: It is good for them if they so continue, even as I." 1 Corinthians 7:7-8 (emphasis added for your edification)
"But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I speak for your profit: not to cast a snare upon you; but for that which is decent, and which may give you power to attend upon the Lord, without impediment." 1 Corinthians 7:32-35 (emphasis added for your edification)
and the guy should have resigned before taking a wife.
On that we agree.
But if being married was o.k. for Peter, then it is o.k. for all those "Bible-believing Protestants", who apparently know the scriptures better than you do.
Obviously not.
You don’t know him or his work. There is no one like him. He is sensationally brilliant and charasmatic. I wish he were president. I’ve always been ultra-conservative re the Catholic church and “reform”, but I have to say that in the case of Father Alberto, it’s the church’s loss.
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