By James D. Davis
Orlando Sentinel
April 6, 2011
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/fl-father-cutie-20110406,0,3288232.story
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| The Rev. Alberto Cutie and his girlfriend, Ruhama Buni Canellis, a divorced mother living in Miami Beach, attend a small, private ceremony in May of 2009 at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral where Cutie was received into the Episcopal Church. |
Father Albert Cutie's upcoming talks just happened to fall on Lent, he says. But he adds that it's a good time for reflection and "transformation" — like his newsmaking shift from Catholic priest to married Episcopal priest.
"The news [media] reports in a negative way, but I always saw beyond the storm, to the liberating hand of God on my life," Cutie, once the best-known Catholic in South Florida, said as he prepared to speak at two local churches in the next week. "I'm a better human being now. I don't have to hide something that is good and God-given."
Cutie, 41, will speak Thursday at St. Gregory's Episcopal Church in Boca Raton. He'll then speak Tuesday at St. Mark the Evangelist in Fort Lauderdale. The topic for both talks is "Dilemma," the title of his new book on the clash of his priestly celibacy with his love for a woman.
That conflict burst into public view in 2009, when paparazzi caught him at a beach with a divorced mother named Ruhama Canellis, whom he later married. The photos led to his exit from the Catholic Church and into the Episcopal Church.
He now pastors the Church of the Resurrection in Biscayne Park, and he and his wife have a baby daughter, Camila Victoria Cutie. He hosts a weekly AM radio program, "Faith in Life." He blogs for AOL and the Huffington Post. And he is often asked by news stations to comment on religious matters.
Two years have not softened Cutie's criticisms of the Catholic Church. Besides celibacy, his book faults the Church's judgments against homosexuality, contraception, female priests and remarriage after divorce, and the insistence that it's the one true church.
He agreed that Episcopal circles have their own debates, notably over gay clerics who have been ordained. But he says it's still different. "The Episcopal problems had to do with whom to include. The Roman Catholic Church spent a lot of energy on whom to exclude. We're all God's children. Who are we to say who is in and who is out?"
Since "Dilemma" (Celebra Hardcover, $25.95) came out in January, Cutie said he's reflected often on religion and human nature. "Religious people can be very harsh or very compassionate. Some nuns and older priests have told me 'God bless you, and you're welcome to visit anytime.' Others have asked how it's possible that I could have left the 'one true church'."
Rather than being embittered, Cutie described himself as "liberated," yet "sometimes sad for the way the [Roman Catholic] institution continues to work.
"It could be so different for priests if it didn't have such control issues," he explained. "Because [celibacy] is an issue of control. Economic and sexual control over someone's life."
jddavis@tribune.com or 954-356-4730
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