“The Rev. Alberto Cutié, the Roman Catholic priest and international television and radio celebrity who was caught in tabloid photographs kissing a woman, said Monday that he was torn between two loves – the church and his girlfriend.

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In an interview on Monday with Maggie Rodriguez of the CBS ‘Early Show,‘ Father Cutié said he had been in a relationship for the last two years with the woman, identified in news reports as Ruhama Buni Canellis, 35, a divorced mother living in Miami Beach. But he said he had not decided whether to leave her or the priesthood.” The New York Times/Damien Cave

Sex is the most intimate, powerful and satisfying expression of love. To abstain from sex is a sin against your humanity, and it’s akin to getting a lobotomy.

No church should force celibacy on its clergy, the celibate lifestyle should only be for those who choose to walk down that lonely and difficult road.

The Roman Catholic Church argues that a celibate priest will find it easier to grow closer to god, but what kind of perverse deity will dispense spiritual enlightenment at the price of denying your own humanity?

It is normal for a healthy 35-year old priest to be attracted to woman (or a man), and no priest should be put in the position where he has to choose his lover or the priesthood.

Father Cutie should choose his lover over the Roman Catholic Church, it is far better to be fully human than a sex-starved priest.

Cutie doesn’t need the legitimacy conferred by his association with the Roman Catholic Church. Cutie is a celebrity and in this country and much of the Western world, fame trumps wealth, religiosity and everything else. He can walk away from his Neanderthal church, and use his fame and pastoral heart to minister to millions via the TV and the radio.

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