After voluntarily leaving the Catholic Church, the controversial Fr. Alberto Cutie is now married. He decided to leave his faith for the woman he loved. Miami Herald reported the wedding:

A day after Alberto Cutié walked away from a picturesque Spanish monastery as a married man, his supporters and critics were left wondering if the controversy that turned the former Roman Catholic priest into tabloid fodder had finally come to an end.

”I hope so,” said the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, during an unscheduled press conference Friday night after officiating Cutie’s wedding to 35-year-old Ruhama Buni Canellis in front of about 50 guests.

In an hourlong, private ceremony, Cutié, 40, said ”I do” and kissed the new Mrs. Cutié at the historic St. Bernard de Clairvaux Episcopal Church in North Miami Beach. The couple, who dated for two years, then danced at a reception that followed late into the night.

A handful of private guards and several North Miami Beach police cruisers were on watch at the church gate as Episcopal church priests, the couple’s families and friends, were ushered in.

Clad in a white dress, Canellis arrived at 7 p.m. in a black stretch limo with tinted windows. Bridesmaids in dark red dresses sat by her side. Donning a black tuxedo, Cutié arrived in a black SUV.

Dozens of reporters from local and international media staked out the church grounds in addition to many local residents aching to see the famous couple.

”I don’t like the way Alberto has handled himself,” said Maria Rivas, 62, of North Miami Beach, who had heard reports about the wedding and rushed to the church to try to get in.

”It’s a free world,” remarked Victor Gutierrez, 49, of North Miami Beach. Let them have fun and be happy.”

Cutié legally married Canellis before a Miami-Dade County judge in a private ceremony at the Coral Gables courthouse on June 16th. The couple had joined the Episcopal church in late May, and Cutié announced he had begun the process required to become an Episcopal priest.

Cutié left his post at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Miami Beach on May 5th after a Spanish-language celebrity magazine published photos of him entwined with Canellis on a Florida beach, a violation of his vow of celibacy as a Catholic priest.

With its lush greenery and Gothic architecture, St. Bernard de Clairvaux, commonly referred to locally as the Spanish Monastery, is one of the most popular spots in South Florida for weddings and photo shoots.

The oldest European structure in the Western Hemisphere, it was built in Segovia, Spain, in the 12th century and purchased by newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst in the early 20th century. Disassembled and shipped to this country, it was rebuilt at 16711 W. Dixie Hwy. in 1954.

OTWOMD has obtained a rare and exclusive photo of the wedding

My Take:

We have seen this scene before wherein a Priest who refuse to surrender her love for the woman has left the church and gave his love for Christ. The vow of celibacy is heavily debated inside and outside the church. Many ex-priest are lobbying the Vatican to allow priests to get married. There are more cons than pros with regards to married priests which others doesnt know. The Vow of celibacy is not an empty rule which is forced on the priests and nuns. It is actually a commitment, an active promise and solemn dedication of oneself to Christ, promising to serve the Lord solely in his lifetime. hence from the very start, before one is even tordained, he fully knows the life he is going to embrace. A life dedicated to got. So the mere fact that you allowed yourself to take the vow, just means that you are ready to exmbrace that celibate life. It is you and not the church who took the vow. That is why its always misplaced when one bickers against the church which in fact he fully knows the life he is taking before he even took the bite.  That is why the church has a sacrament of marriage and a sacrament of holy orders separately administered because the two cannot be mixed up. Serving the Lord in celibacy gives the priest a chance to focus his full attention on the Lord and on the faithful’s needs while having a wife doesn’t only divides his attention but also conflicts his priorities— prioritize his family or his people? Like I said, we have seen this before wherein Martin Luther cannot reconcile his whims and caprices on the rules of the church, that he decided to go against it rather than controlling his urges. King Henry VIII was also an example where in he established his own church when the Catholic Church refused him to divorce his wife over Anne Boleyn. And countless priest has also rebelled against the church when they saw a dead end in what seems to be an eternal struggle to change the very promise which they vowed to observe for the rest of their lives. Yet, strange but true, when you ask these former priests if they are happy with their married life, 90% of them would openly say NO! why? because when you are a priest, you are a priest forever like Melchisedeck.

Source: Miami Herald