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CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz As we report below, Father Alberto Cutié has decided to join the Episopal Church. Some questions arise ... 1. What will his status be as a Catholic? 2. Is he excommunicated? 3. Will he still be a priest? 4. Will his sacraments be valid? I put them to canonist Msgr. Jason Gray, judicial vicar of the Diocese of Peoria, Ill., by e-mail. 1. What will his status be as a Catholic? HE IS IN SCHISM. 2. Is he excommunicated? YES Said Msgr. Gray: “Fr. Cutie is a Catholic priest joining a non-Catholic Christian denomination.  This is...

While reporting on disgraced priest Alberto Cutie leaving the Catholic Church in the wake of a sex scandal, on Friday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez asked CBS News analyst Father Thomas Williams about the Church’s celibacy rule: "It seems to me that the Catholic Church, at least in south Florida, is not necessarily being introspective and considering whether Father Cutie and others have left the Catholic Church, and others are failing to join, because of its stringent rules. Would you like to see your church be more introspective, more progressive?"When the story about Father Cutie first broke in early...

As was reported yesterday, Rev. Alberto Cutié -- the popular Catholic priest caught in a longtime affair -- has joined the Episcopal Church. This morning's New York Times has a surprisingly perceptive lede: A Roman Catholic priest who admitted this month that he was torn between two loves -- his church and his girlfriend -- announced his choice on Thursday.The priest, the Rev. Alberto Cutié, said he was joining the Episcopal Church and planning to marry his girlfriend of two years, who was also becoming an Episcopalian...."With God's help," [Cutié] added, "I hope to continue priestly ministry and service in...

Archbishop John C. Favalora. Credit: Florida Catholic Miami, Fla., May 28, 2009 / 05:42 pm (CNA).- Archbishop John C. Favalora of Miami made a statement on Thursday afternoon in which he revealed that he was kept in the dark about Fr. Alberto Cutié's decision to join the Episcopal Church. The archbishop also stressed that by his actions, Cutié has forfeited his rights as a cleric but is not dismissed from the promise of celibacy he freely made. “I am genuinely disappointed by the announcement made earlier this afternoon by Father Alberto Cutié that he is joining the Episcopal Church,”...

The Rev. Alberto Cutié, the celebrity priest removed from his Miami Beach church after photos of him kissing and embracing a woman appeared in the pages of a Spanish-language magazine earlier this month, will leave the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami to join the Episcopal church. The small and private ceremony will happen early Thursday afternoon at Trinity Cathedral, the church's South Florida headquarters in downtown Miami. Bishop Leo Frade, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, will officiate. Later, Cutié is expected to announce that he will marry his girlfriend, whom media reports have cited as 35-year-old Ruhama...

The Rev. Alberto Cutié, in his first English-language television interview since photos surfaced showing him frolicking with a woman on the beach, apologized profusely to the church and his fellow Catholics. Though the photos have reignited the debate over priests and celibacy, he said he still believed in the vow. ''I don't want to be the anti-celibacy priest,'' he said. ``It's a debate in our society.'' Cutié appeared on CBS' The Early Show, telling anchor Maggie Rodriguez he had a romantic relationship for about two years, though he had known the woman much longer. Unlike his interview with Spanish-language network...