Cutie Blasts Catholic Church In New Book
MIAMI (CBS4) - A former priest who left the Catholic Church after he was photographed in public with his girlfriend offers some harsh criticism to church leaders in his new book.
In "A Priest's Struggle with Faith and Love", 41-year old Alberto Cutie, who is now an Episcopalian priest, writes that he became disillusioned with the church after seeing the "bishops too concerned with their own images" during child sex-abuse crises.
He says church leaders secretly accept homosexual and heterosexual relationships among priests but disapproved of his because it became public.
"There are so many homosexuals, both active and celibate, at all levels of clergy and Church hierarchy that the church would never be able to function if they were really to exclude all of them from ministry," Cutie writes.
Cutie calls former Archbishop John Favalora "an aloof CEO" with a "cold and rigid approach" who was "disconnected" from the parish. He said the two rarely spoke during the scandal.
The Archdiocese of Miami and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declined comment Monday.
Shortly after the scandal broke in 2009, Cutie left the Catholic Church and began the process of becoming an Episcopal priest. He now heads the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Biscayne Park.
Cutie and girlfriend Ruhama Buni Canellis were married on June 26 at St. Bernard de Clairvaux Episcopal Church in North Miami Beach at a small ceremony with 60 friends and relatives.
Last December the couple celebrated the birth of their daughter who they named Camila Victoria.
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