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Cutié's actions hurt many of his followers

Cutié's actions hurt many of his followers

By MYRIAM MARQUEZ

mmarquez at MiamiHerald.com

Alberto Cutié took his collar off and walked away from the Roman Catholic Church. Snap of the fingers, that easy. Adios, muchachos!

He didn't wait for the pope to annul his ''marriage'' to the church and his vow to lead a celibate life. Heck, he didn't even give South Florida's Catholic archbishop the courtesy of a phone call to tell him he had made up his mind to head to Catholic-lite.

He just read a prepared statement amid the clicking cameras Thursday after a small ceremony at Trinity Cathedral, where he was accepted as a member of the Episcopal Church.

He seemed happy with his honey at his side.

At 40, he's now a convert to the Episcopal faith, no longer expected to choose between the Catholic pope's call for celibacy and his girlfriend's itch for marriage.

On Sunday, he will preach as an Episcopalian lay minister at the Church of The Resurrection in Biscayne Park. He's not an Episcopal priest yet, but he will take the required tests to become one, and plans to marry Ruhama Buni Canellis, the beach gal he has been not-so-secretly seeing for two -- count them, two! -- years.

(I'm still puzzled why a 35-year-old divorced mother who professes her love for a 40-year-old priest would not have steered him to come clean to his bishop before heading out to the beach and bars to snuggle, and imbibe in public. A mature woman who hung out with paparazzi, which they claim she did, surely knew the public-relations mess that would be created by a wildly popular media priest, known throughout Latin America, being caught in compromising positions.)

Cutié is not the first Catholic priest to move over to the Episcopal church, of course. And he won't be the last.

Henry VIII started it all when he separated the Church of England from papal authority circa 1500s. Six wives and two beheadings later (yes, two of them got the ax), Henry left his mark on the U.S. version of his church, known as the Episcopal Church. Let that be a lesson to el padrecito -- keep those machetes at bay unless Cuban spies come at you.

What irks isn't so much Cutié's struggle to reconcile his desires as a man and his vows of celibacy as a priest or that he chose carnal knowledge over celestial approval, it's the way this sordid affair came down. The scandal not only damaged the Catholic church, it diminished Cutié's reputation among many of his followers who are true-blue Catholics. He hurt them.

And, yes, I know that there have been worse scandals in the church involving sexual abuse of boys and decades of denial by church leaders -- a disgrace that hurt Catholics, even bad ones like me, much more. But to excuse Cutié's lies for two years because he was in love -- lust? -- with a gal gives him a pass on his responsibility as a spiritual leader. He had choices to make and he sure took his sweet time to make them.

And the way the Episcopal Church moved at warp speed to get Cutié, a charismatic moneymaker for the Catholic diocese, in front of the Episcopal pulpit this Sunday has dollar signs all over it. Catholic Archbishop John C. Favalora called it a ``serious setback for ecumenical relations and cooperation between us.''

No kidding.

Episcopal Bishop Leo Frade didn't make any Catholic friends when he swatted away Favalora's criticism by proclaiming the ''inquisition is over'' during a Spanish TV interview.

But this, too, shall pass. The two leaders will have to try to reconcile because forgiveness is the Christian thing to do.

As for Cutié and his gal, let's wish them the best and let God judge the rest. Time to move on.

By Simon on Jun 1, 2009, 20:18 in Off Topic.

Simon says on Jun 1, 2009, 20:22:

Shame on you Mr. Cutie!!

"Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon

0 funny, 0 helpful.

dwmte7 says on Jun 2, 2009, 05:53:

gotta remember, simon, a stiff snorkle got no conscience.

let me hear 'amen'

patriarch

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Simon says on Jun 2, 2009, 09:51:

"ah...another comes over to the anglo saxon side.....sweet"

Go ahead and take our left overs, we don't need them!

"Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon

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Cerealkiller says on Jun 8, 2009, 06:05:

How is that hurting the catholic faith? Who ever wrote that article forgets that what really hurts the church is not priests coming forward and being upfront when caught red handed, but rather those who bone little boys, don't accept responsibility and then say it was a "misunderstanding"...
Screw the catholic church and their hypocrisy.

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives -John Stuart Mill

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dwmte7 says on Jun 21, 2009, 05:00:

yo, CK.....where you been?

patriarch

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