As we reported yesterday, the well-known Hispanic priest and media celebrity Father Alberto Cutié was caught on film necking with a woman on a public beach in Miami. The photos have come out in this week's edition of TV Notas. Padre Alberto was promptly confronted by the Archdiocese of Miami and took a voluntary leave of absence from his role as priest at St. Francis de Sales parish in Miami Beach and from his archdiocesan communication functions at Radio Paz. Padre Alberto took down his Web site and replaced it with a terse bilingual statement:"Before God - full of love and mercy - I ask for the forgiveness of those who may be hurt or saddened by my actions. Since I entered the seminary at the age of 18, the priesthood has brought me great joy. The commitment that I made to serve God will remain intact. I am grateful for the love and support I have received today from so many in our community, especially my parishioners and the supporters of the radio stations who have demonstrated great compassion and understanding toward me as a human being. I ask for your continued prayers and support."But, only days before the damaging photos appeared, Padre Alberto gave an interview with a Spanish-language TV program (see video below) in which he spoke out in favor of optional celibacy. He alluded to Cardinal Egan's recent statements on the subject, implying that it was easy to call for it after you were retired but that he was going to risk disciplinary action by advocating it while still in the priesthood. He said that the Church is far more concerned about sex than God is, that "some women like forbidden fruit", and that if celibacy were optional -- as he thinks it should be -- he would like to get married and have a family.
In conjunction with the articles about the issue, several newspapers conducted online polls on whether the celibacy requirement should be lifted. Here are the current results:
Miami Herald:
Should the Catholic Church reconsider celibacy for priest?
Yes: 1042 - 77%
No: 270 - 20%
Maybe: 33 - 2%
Sun Sentinel:
It is time to reconsider celibacy in the priesthood?
Yes: 3736 - 79.8%
No: 818 - 17.5%
I don't know: 126 - 2.7%
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1 comment:
does this have to do with priests being married? or does this have more to do with a priest that was trying to cover up something else by pretending to be involved in a relationship with a woman?? Hmmm??
Be a grown up! YOu know what you got into when you took your vows! Get out of the priesthood and then marry the girl or go put your hand in her bathing suit all you want. It is just as if a married man was cheating on his wife with a mistress - you took a vow for God's sake! Be a man - Be a grown up and honor your Word!!
Do the honorable thing - get out as many other mature ex-priests have done and then get married, come out of the closet - whatever you want to do.
Why these scandals? Why switch faiths as if you were switching underwear? Please!
He is showing the type of man he is by his actions! Money hungry and media hungry!
Ha ha - the truth will come out in the end - wait and see - the house of cards is coming down. For all those that are supporting him and saying this is about celibacy and about married priests - wait and see! This has more to do with an immature, spoiled, attention hungry child. Trust us here - we know him!
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