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Fallen Catholic Priest Alberto Cutie Now Married

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Scandal continues as Catholic priest marries in a civil ceremony in Coral Gables, Florida.

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Highlights

By Randy Sly
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
6/18/2009 (1 decade ago)

Published in U.S.

WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) - Alberto Cutie (pronounced koo-tee-ay), the Catholic priest who admitted to having an affair, is now married. On Tuesday, Cutie, 40, wed his Ruhama B. Canellis, 35, in a civil ceremony Tuesday in Coral Gables, Florida.

Cutie made headlines in early May when he admitted to having an affair that lasted two years. Cutie was then an active Roman Catholic Priest who had gained fame, an international following and the nickname "Father Oprah" for advice he gave on Spanish-language television and radio.

After acknowledging the affair, the priest was removed from his duties at St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Miami Beach, Florida, as well as on the Radio Paz and Radio Peace networks.

Toward the end of May he announced that he was leaving the Roman Catholic Church and joining the Episcopal Church. On May 28, Cutie was received into the Episcopal Church at Trinity Cathedral in Miami. He is now seeking to re-enter ordained ministry as a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida.

At a press conference regarding his decision, Cutie had said, "I want to assure you that this journey did not begin a few weeks ago. I have searched my soul and sought after God's guidance for a long time.

"I have also spoken to friends in and outside the Episcopal Church about their service to God and the many similarities that exist among the various branches of Christianity, which profess the Catholic faith. I will always love the Catholic Church and all its members. But I want to start today by going into a new family."

Canellis was publically identified as the woman when photographs of Cutie at a beach, embracing a woman in a bathing suit, emerged last month in "TV Notas" magazine.

At the time, Cutie told CNN, "It looked like a frivolous thing on the beach, you know, and that's not what it is. It's something deeper than that."

Archbishop John C. Favalora, from the Catholic Church's Miami Archdiocese, said last month that Cutie's actions have "caused a grave scandal within the Catholic Church."

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