The priest who healed orphans with poetry

From The Washington Post-

Spencer Reece had gone to Honduras to learn Spanish after a crisis at work.

Reece, an acclaimed poet who later became an Episcopal priest, had been working as a chaplain at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut in 2009 when a teenage boy was rushed into the ER late at night. Stabbed 25 times, the boy died at 6 the following morning, another gang-war casualty. Reece had tried as best he could to comfort the mother, but she spoke only Spanish. Reece, a Midwesterner who in a previous incarnation sold wingtips and windowpane suits at Brooks Brothers, spoke only English.

Reece called Leo Frade, the Episcopal bishop of Miami. At the time, the Diocese of Southeast Florida, led by Frade, was sponsoring Reece at Yale Divinity School. How could he became fluent in Spanish, Reece asked Frade.

“He immediately said, ‘I have just the place for you,’’’ recalled Reece, who prior to seminary had been an assistant manager at the Brooks Brothers in Palm Beach Gardens.

More here-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2017/04/03/the-priest-who-brought-the-healing-power-of-poetry-to-honduran-orphans-in-the-murder-capital-of-the-world/?utm_term=.fe65fea6270b

What Bishop Frade May Have Meant When He Called President Obama A Sodomite

From Miami-

Miami's downtrodden, disenfranchised and undocumented probably have no greater friend than Bishop Leopold Frade, spiritual leader of Southeast Florida's 33,000 Episcopalians.

The Cuba-born clergyman -- once the Bishop of Honduras -- authorized the South Florida diocese's first same-sex wedding in 2012. Five years before that, he demanded that the Bush Administration give protected status to 101 Haitians refugees who had washed ashore in South Florida after a three-week ordeal at sea. Even earlier, he was convicted of trading with the enemy for helping Cuban refugees make it to Florida after the Mariel boatlift (the conviction later was overturned).

More here-

http://wlrn.org/post/what-bishop-frade-may-have-meant-when-he-called-president-obama-sodomite

Ex-Catholic Priest Alberto Cutie Prepares to Wed After Scandal

From The Latin American Herald Tribune-

Ex-Catholic priest Alberto Cutie will wed in two weeks, after sparking a scandal when he was photographed nuzzling his girlfriend on a Miami beach, The Miami Herald newspaper said.

The wedding will be held in an Episcopal church here at a private ceremony for which several ex-police have been hired to ensure security, according to sources close to the religious.

Cutie, born in Puerto Rico of Cuban descent, left the Catholic Church after the photos were published and weeks later announced that he was joining the Episcopal Church, for which he has already given his first sermon.

The marriage of Cutie, 40, and the Guatemalan Ruhama Buni Canellis, 35, the divorced mother of a teenage boy, will be officiated by Bishop Leo Frade, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, according to the daily.

After hiding her love relationship with the priest from the public for the past two years, the Guatemalan woman appeared smiling together with Cutie at the end of May at Miami’s Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

She joined Cutie for a ceremony where Bishop Frade announced that Father Alberto had become a member of the Episcopal Church and wanted to be ordained a priest.

The Episcopal Church does not require priestly celibacy.

The scandal broke out in mid-May when the tabloid TVnotas USA published 25 photos of the couple, in one of which Cutie was snapped putting his hand in Canellis’ bikini bottom.

Cutie hosted radio and TV programs in the United States and Latin America, and was considered one of the most influential Hispanics in this country.

His photos, seen around the world, again raised the subject of celibacy in the Catholic Church.

Popular reaction in Florida and in the rest of the country among Catholics has been enormous and many have expressed their opinions on whether or not Catholic priests should be required to remain celibate.

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=337135&CategoryId=12395

Cutié will get married soon

From the Miami Herald-

Alberto Cutié will tie the knot within weeks, say sources close to the former Roman Catholic priest who joined the Episcopal church in May.

Cutié and his fiancé, 35-year-old Ruhama Buni Canellis, recently hired several off-duty police officers to work security at the high-profile private wedding, which will take place at an unnamed Episcopal church in the next two weeks.

The Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, will officiate at the ceremony.

One church not on the wedding list: Miami's Trinity Cathedral, the diocese's flagship church and one that dozens of reporters flooded after Cutié and Canellis switched Christian denominations on May 28.

Cutié left his position at St. Francis de Sales Catholic church in Miami Beach when photographs showing him nuzzling Canellis on a Florida beach -- a violation of his vow of celibacy -- were published in a tabloid in early May.

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/people/story/1095103.html

Bishop who took in Rev. Cutié unafraid of making waves

From the Miami Herald

It was the made-for-TV ending to a weeks-long saga of fame and faith: Alberto Cutié, the telegenic priest embroiled in a magazine-photo scandal, would leave the Roman Catholic church to become an Episcopalian -- and would marry his girlfriend of two years.

But when Cutié's new bishop, the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, stood inside Miami's Trinity Cathedral to announce the news to dozens of international reporters, he created his own waves.

The ''Inquisition is over,'' Frade said in widely broadcast remarks after Catholic Archbishop John C. Favalora admonished him for a disrespectful ``public display.''

The style is typical of Frade's nine-year tenure, say those who know him well: casual, off-the-cuff and, to some, a bit too in-your-face.

For three weeks in May, the 65-year-old Cuban American became the face of the traditionally white Episcopal church, granting dozens of interviews about Cutié, who has kept a low profile since preaching at an Episcopal church in Biscayne Park last month.

The first Hispanic to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, Frade has campaigned for gay rights, expanded church missions to the Caribbean and the Americas and, as his courtship of Cutié shows, is intent on recruiting Hispanics to the Episcopal fold.

''He has an entirely different personality,'' says Calvin O. Schofield Jr., a former Navy chaplain who preceded Frade as South Florida bishop. ``He's expanded the influence of the church.''

More here-

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/religion-values/story/1086748.html?asset_id=1086662&asset_type=gallery

Anglicans damage relations with Catholics by snapping up scandal-hit Fr Cutié

From the London Telegraph-

Fr Alberto Cutié, the Catholic media priest caught cuddling his girlfriend on a Florida beach, has jumped ship and become an Anglican - to the delight of Ruth Gledhill of The Times.

Archbishop John Favalora of Miami is understandably offended. The priest has not been released from his vows or laicised; it is impossible to imagine the Catholic Church snapping up an Anglican clergyman who had left because he was caught breaking his vows. The Archbishop says: "Father Cutié’s actions have caused grave scandal within the Catholic Church, harmed the Archdiocese of Miami − especially our priests – and led to division within the ecumenical community and the community at large. Today’s announcement only deepens those wounds."

And now read this paragraph by Ruth:

If Father Cutié is not eventually dismissed from his orders, but even if he is, and then goes on to become an Episcopal priest, will he need to be ordained again? And whether re-ordained or not, will the Catholic Church then view his orders as 'absolutely null and utterly void' or not? If not, could this apparent tool of ecumenical discord have the potential to bring about eventual healing between our two churches, beginning a line of succession that the Holy See could recognise as Apostolic? Forgive me please for the betrayal of ignorance in these questions, but if any readers have the answers, I would be most interested to know.

I'm sorry, but why should Times readers forgive such a "betrayal of ignorance" from someone who has been their religion correspondent for 20 years?

The rest is here-

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2009/05/30/anglicans_damage_relations_with_catholics_by_snapping_up_scandalhit_fr_cuti

World's 'cutiest' priest becomes an Anglican

From the London Times-

Father Alberto Cutié, the Roman Catholic priest who has been a cause of some international scandal since captured on film cuddling his girlfriend, now his fiancé, on a beach, has been accepted into The Episcopal Church in the US. It is likely he will go on to become an Episcopal priest. As The Lead reports, Father Cutié and his fiance were received into the worldwide Anglican Communion by the Bishop of Southeast Florida, the Right Rev Leo Frade, a fellow Cuban.

Frade explained why he had done this: 'We have been talking to him as friends. We've known each other from the year 2000. We are both Cubans, and dealing in ecumenical and also trying to bring a peaceful change in Cuba. And he became more and more interested in our church, and showed that interest, and with time, about two years, it has been a long search for him, because he did not want to leave the Catholic faith.'

Father Cutié's former Archbishop, Miami's Most Rev John Favalora, is disappointed by his priest's actions. He is also disappointed by TEC's response. He says he was not told by Father Cutie of his intention to defect. He said the new Episcopalian remains a Catholic priest but cannot exercise his ministry as a priest and further, is not released from his vow of celibacy.

In a statement he said: 'Catholic faithful of Saint Francis de Sales Parish, Radio Paz and the entire Archdiocese of Miami, I again say that Father Cutié’s actions cannot be justified, despite his good works as a priest. This is all the more true in light of today’s announcement. Father Cutié may have abandoned the Catholic Church; he may have abandoned you. But I tell you that the Catholic Church will never abandon you; the Archdiocese of Miami is here for you.

More here-

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/05/worlds-cutiest-priest-becomes-an-anglican.html

Cutie joins the Episcopal Church

'Father Oprah' Joins Episcopal Church

Video is here-


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFDBoAv9268

Episcopal Church Would Welcome Embattled Priest

For the second time, supporters of Father Albert Cutié gathered in front of St. Francis de Sales church in Miami Beach, where Cutié used to lead mass. They are demanding not only that the Archdiocese of Miami reinstate him, some are also demanding changes to the entire Catholic religion.

This Friday evening rally looked more like a sermon, with the 50 people gathered to urge the Archdiocese to forgive Father Albert Cutié for possibly breaking his vow of celibacy. The rally and march were peaceful. That's a far cry from Thursday's rally that turned violent, leaving a counter-demonstrator on the ground.


Many who came to the rally were emboldened after seeing a Spanish-language television interview with Father Albert. In that interview with Univision's Teresa Rodriguez, Father Albert said he asked for time away from the church since this scandal broke, but he said, "I'm a priest and I will be a priest until I die."

(snip)

Meanwhile, the spiritual leader and head of the Episcopal church in South Florida tells CBS4 he believes that popular Catholic priest Alberto Cutié will make a decision soon to become an Episcopal priest.

The Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, told CBS4's Peter D'Oench he's spoken twice with Father Cutié at length since the provocative photos surfaced in TV NOTAS Magazine, showing Cutié kissing and caressing 35-year-old Ruhama Canellis on the beach.

"I think the issue for Father Cutié is one of celibacy," said Bishop Frade. Celibacy is required of Catholic priests. It is not required of Episcopal priests.

More here-

http://cbs4.com/local/Father.Alberto.Cutie.2.1004984.html