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  Television Station Identifies Alberto Cutie's Female Companion

By Trenton Daniel and Jose Pagliery
Miami Herald
May 7, 2009

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1036731.html

A Spanish-language television station in Miami on Thursday reported the identity of the woman at the center of the romantic scandal involving the Rev. Alberto Cutié, saying she lives in Miami Beach.

The woman, Ruhama Canellis, lives in the 300 block of 20th Street, América TV (Canal 41) and a neighbor said. El Nuevo Herald reports that she has a 15-year-old son.

A gaggle of television reporters and photographers is staked out in front of her three-story pink apartment building. But Canellis has declined to speak with reporters.

Miami-Dade court records show Canellis is divorced with at least one child. She married in Florida in 1994, but divorced two years later.

Miami-Dade County court records show she had been cited for operating a business without a license in 2000. She paid fines and one of the counts was dismissed. She had been cited for operating a business without a license three other times before, but she was acquitted or the charges were dropped.

She also applied for a license with the Florida Department of Business and Professional regulation to be a real estate broker or sales.

State business records indicate that Canellis was also licensed as a "body wrapper" and facial specialist.

The controversy over the popular Catholic priest's relationship with a woman became public this week when Spanish-language magazine TVnotas published pictures of Cutié on a beach with the woman. Another picture shows the couple kissing at an unidentified terrace bar.

The pictures prompted Archdiocese of Miami officials this week to remove Cutié from conducting Mass and other duties at his South Beach parish, St. Francis de Sales, 621 Alton Road.

Reaction to Cutié's removal from his parish and the pictures was strong, with most people supporting the popular priest, whose name is well-known because of his work in Spanish-language television and radio.

He hosts a weekly television show on GenTV, a weekly radio program on the Catholic Church's Radio Paz and pens a weekly column for El Nuevo Herald. He's an author, having published a self-help book in 2006.

The move by the archdiocese spurred a demonstration on Thursday morning by Cutié's supporters.

More than 60 people rallied to the priest's defense in front of his Miami Beach church. The noisy supporters were few in number but boisterous in their support, some waving signs saying they supported him.

"Celibacy no! Choice yes! 21st century" was one chant in Spanish.

And another: "I admire, I respect, I pardon Father Alberto!"

The rally, which gathered after the early morning Mass, drew television cameras from local stations.

 
 

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