Did you hear that the Rev. Alberto Cutie', the high-profile Spanish TV priest whose parish is on Miami's South Beach, got caught by a photographer canoodling on another Florida beach with a woman? Very sad. Of course he's been taken out of his parish, and now he's got to figure out if he's got any business remaining in the priesthood, or what.
There's talk on some websites that this is yet another example of why the Vatican should let priests marry. I personally favor an option to marry for priests, and did before I left the Catholic Church, though I rarely if ever talked about it. But if a priest vows celibacy, his vow is his vow, period. If a priest cannot or will not live by that vow, he has no business in the priesthood. It could be that Father Cutie' will need to leave; according to the Miami Herald story I linked to, he had expressed in a recent interview a desire to marry and have children.
Funny, but the thing I thought about when I first read the news was about my own three years living in South Florida, and how unbelievably carnal the whole place is. I was a single man then, and I tell you, going to mass and seeing teenage girls there in miniskirts and short-shorts was ... distracting. And good grief, Father Cutie's parish was on freaking South Beach. And he's young, handsome and famous too. He'd have almost had to have been the Cure d'Ars to over come those temptations.
Still, he should have done it. Please understand I'm not excusing what he did -- there is no excuse for it -- just trying to understand. I too lived as a celibate young male Catholic in South Florida (celibate, because I wasn't married), and I wasn't handsome or famous, but still had a lot more trouble struggling to be faithful to my obligation to chastity in that environment than I'd had living in Washington, DC, where I'd come from. If you are a person committed to celibacy, living in South Florida is like being a reformed alcoholic having to pitch a tent on the floor of the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Or so it seemed to me.
I can't decide if the lay Catholics quoted in the piece being very forgiving of Father Cutie over this are being admirably merciful, refusing to kick a priest when he's down, or are excusing him too easily because he's a celebrity they like and admire. Thoughts?
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
Re: The ancient understanding of the Church was almost universal in that, while a presbyter may be married, he must remain celibate within that marriage.
Please cite some sources. It's true that certain bishops made this a requirement in their own diocese, but there was never a church-wide rule to that effect. In fact, there were even bishops before the 400s who had wives and, yes, children.
Re: This is a far cry from the ancient teaching of the Church that our bishops are the divinely instituted mechanism through which we find the ordering of the Church's life and the preservation of our doctrine.
There is a small but crcuial in how the Eat views the matter of authority in the Church. In the East the chrism of the Holy Spirit infuses the Church as a whole, laity and clergy both, and the bishops are simply appointed to exercize this chrism without being uniquely endowed with it. Likewise no teaching, not even a Council, can be considered dogmatic unless it has been "received" by the whole Church. That does not mean that the Orthodox hold plebiscites on God's will, but it does mean that if the laity balk at something, it will not become accepted into our tradition.
I'm a "devout" (try to be, anyway) Catholic and I can understand how Fr. Cutie faced many temptations. As Catholics we are called to give offer our entire being to Christ. A vocation should not be chosen in the same way we choose a job. It's a calling. Also, if we had married priests, would it not be likely that priests might leave for other reasons, stress of parish life too great, wife wants priests to make more money, jealous of time he spends with parishoners. Ask any honest pastor's wife and she'll tell you that the family strain in enormous. I'm not saying there should definatively never be married priests, for it is a Church discipline, not a divine law. However, it will not end the scandals as long as sexual perversion pervades our cultue.
"how has the Orthodox Church (and, for that matter, the Eastern Rite Catholics) survived with married priests?"
Our pastor (an Eastern Rite celibate priest whose grandfather was a priest) said that men who had vocations to the priesthood tended to marry daughters of priests. Those girls knew what was involved in being a priest's wife. I've no idea if that's still the case today, since married priests are rare in this country.
Seems to me the RC Church ( any church) must be able to respond to new social conditions, new technologies and new discoveries. The Church must also be able to recognize and admit when either the Church or those who use the Church have done wrong and must correct that. Consistency and a logical connection in all of the Church's teachings is necessary, but one would not continue the Spanish Inquisition in the name of consistency. I am inclined to say that the Church has evolved in some of its teachiings not changed. And this to me is best.
On birth control, sometimes it seems to me that the Church is obsessed with protecting sperm. I am pro life but would appreciate a lot more pro life talk from the bishops about rape, incest, domestic violence too. I also think the bishops are not the only ones who can hear the Holy Spirit. Being given authority does not mean you always use it well
At least he went for a woman his age instead of preying on little kids. At least he's not a predator Creep!!
I would have joined the Ukrainian Catholic clergy if I were him. They allow married clergy.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.