This is so shocking that I ... zzzzzz ... almost ... zzzzz ...

While at Borders a couple of days ago I saw the newly published self-righteous declaration of victimhood book, Dilemma: A Priest's Struggle with Faith and Love, by Alberto Cutié. The Miami Herald reports that Cutié, in the gracious, humble spirit of honesty and disclosure he is now famous for, blames the Catholic Church for his sins and tacitly commends himself for fleeing to more accepting, progressive pastures:

In a controversial book being released Tuesday, Roman Catholic-turned-Episcopal priest Alberto Cutié lashes out against his former church, calling it "misogynistic," ‘‘disconnected'' and an "institution that continues to promote old ideas."

Writing at length for the first time about his fall from the Archdiocese of Miami, Cutié vehemently defends his decision to leave the Catholic church and shares his increasing disenchantment with it over 14 years as a priest.

Cutié, you see, was surprised to find sin, hypocrisy, and deceit within the Catholic Church, even while he cannot find any of those nasty things within himself:

Secretly, Cutié writes in the book, he had come to doubt much of the church's teachings as early as 2003, after several run-ins with church hierarchy and after a growing disillusion with ``bishops too concerned with their own images'' during child sex-abuse crises.

In several passages, Cutié blames the church's celibacy policy for the dwindling clergy pool and the child sex-abuse scandals. He also accuses church leaders of being hypocrites and says they tacitly accept secret homosexual and heterosexual relationships among priests but disapproved of his because it became public.

What does history tend to tell us about those who, in the face of sin and hypocrisy, turn and head for the hills, or use such sad facts to distract from their sins? Well, not much. We tend to know a lot more about those, such as Saint Francis or Saint John of the Cross or Saint Catherine of Siena, who understood that their faith is ultimately rooted in Christ and His Church, not in this or that bishop or priest, and that the pursuit of holiness is the best way to address the failings of ourselves and others. The fact is, Cutié's point about priests being unchaste rings very true—it is something that has distressed many Catholics for many years, just as the failure of many bishops to address such serious problems has also been cause for scandal.

But—and here, for me, is the bottom line—any mature adult who uses the moral failings of others as an excuse for rejecting the doctrines and dogmas of the Catholic Church is either a fool, an unrepentant sinner, a charlatan—or all three. As Abp. Fulton Sheen said (in a quote I've used more than once), "Souls generally do not fall away from Christ because of the Creed; they first have difficulty with the Commandments." And if you know what you are doing is wrong but wish to deny it, what better way to deflect than to point to the sins of others? (I speak from experience, believe me.)

Oddly, Cutié finds it hypocritical that (according to him) "church leaders" look the other way when it comes to priests having illicit relationships, but he doesn't find it hypocritical that he publicly lived as a celibate (and somewhat famous) priest while carrying on an affair that went directly contrary to the vows he freely accepted and proclaimed in being ordained as a priest. You would think he would at least be thankful that the Church called his bluff and forced him to embrace his inner, courageous self since he apparently didn't have the guts to publicly declare the truth about his actions until he had been exposed. The real problem, of course, isn't that Cutié sinned—we all have sinned and we're all sinners—but that he still refuses to admit that he sinned and that he—not the Church, not this bishop, not that Church leader—is at fault for his actions. "If there is any truth brought home to us by conscience," wrote Newman in his Grammar of Assent, "it is this, that we are personally responsible for what we do, that we have no means of shifting our responsibility, and that dereliction of duty involves punishment..." Or, put otherwise, be a man, Cutié.

• "Uh, hey, I was forced to write the story that way..." (Decemer 3, 2010)
• How about vows against stupidity? (May 11, 2009)
• "Padre Oprah" (aka, Fr. Cutie) is leaving the Catholic Church... (May 28, 2009)
• TIME "renews" the celibacy debate. What's the point? (June 22, 2009)

Comments

[Faithofthefathers.blogspot.com]

All too many are completely unwilling to point the finger at the person responsible for their own sin. Themselves. It is easier to blame someone else, anyone else but "me". Because Cutié did not have the moral courage needed for his vocation, he won't have the moral courage needed to accept his responsibility for his own actions. They forget the old saying, "when you point your finger at someone else, you have three more pointing back at you".

[Mrs.O]

Well, as I have said before, he got the teachings right, and was right on track in his chapter from the book Priests are People Too. He stated there, very nicely, the teaching behind celibacy. His words (published) will be his dismiss, unless he was just joking at the time. Of course, we can all have a change of heart, but what it sounds like is he gave in because others were doing it! Phosh. So, he would have stayed if he hadn't been outed? Yeah, ok.....

[Julie]

What sympathy I might have had for "Fr." Cutie is gone now. I wonder who is encouraging him to use this to attack the Catholic Church. For his sake, I am sending prayers. I hope that he can truly open his heart to Jesus. There is no reason to let sin keep dragging you further and further down. I know very well how easy it is to lose your way.

[Dan Deeny]

Great article. Just this morning I was rereading a section on Adam and Eve in Rabbi Jonathon Sacks' great book To Heal A Fractured World. Right at the beginning we begin to blame somebody else: Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the devil! I sympathize with Eve: What was the devil doing in Paradise? And how could Eve, who had no experience with evil, be expected to outwit the devil?

[Dan]

It seems no one has an easier time getting a book deal than a former Catholic priest who is attacking the Church. James Carroll for example cashed in big time via that route.

[Brad]

It is beyond gross to accuse Christ's own bride of being misogynistic. The Church is his "bride", are we not getting that? To say nothing of Mary being the most highly favored daughter of the Father, mother of the Son, spouse of the Holy Spirit. Hyperdulia knows no end. Cutie will regret this particular slur. Catholic women should remember to feel like the princesses they are, being daughters of Mary. How constantly they/we forget their universe-shattering matrilineage. Sad.

[LJ]

"institution that continues to promote old ideas."

I have never understood this concept. What should one call it, "truth by calendar?"

[Carl E. Olson]

Righto, LJ. In the words of Chesterton: "My attitude toward progress has passed from antagonism to boredom. I have long ceased to argue with people who prefer Thursday to Wednesday because it is Thursday." (New York Times Magazine, 2/11/23). Cutié would rather side with with temporary fame than with lasting truth. Sad.

[Dan]

The New York Times Magazine isn't what it used to be.

[joe]

I am no supporter of Fr. C., but think you miss *his* point. He is saying the system and expectations that he failed were impossible and wrong, so that while he is flawed, he was set up for failure. People are meant for sexuality and love. Deny this, and you will force them into unnatural, untenable situations. Same argument Gene Robinson makes, and that is the one that needs refuting.

[Cristina A. Montes]

"He is saying the system and expectations that he failed were impossible and wrong, so that while he is flawed, he was set up for failure. People are meant for sexuality and love. Deny this, and you will force them into unnatural, untenable situations."

Then how do you explain the numerous canonized saints, as well as the countless living persons, who have successfully (and heroically) lived up to the demands of chastity, both in the married and in the celibate state?

There is also the question of whether having an illicit sexual relationship is the only way to actualize one's sexuality and one's need for love. How do you define sexuality, and how do you define love? Is the need for love simply the urge to give in to one's libido? Or does it mean something higher, as in giving oneself to another (and not necessarily in a sexual way)? Is sexuality (understood in the narrow sense in which it is usually understood) the be-all and end-all of being human?

Finally, I think the argument that the demands of chastity are simply too, well, demanding disregards the workings of grace, which enables us to do more than what we can do unaided.

[LJ]

Well said Christina A. Montes.

This is a crisis brought on by low expectations, at the very least.

[Dan Deeny]

A bit more on this article. I'm writing this from our county public library, where I've just finished reading People magazine's article on Fr. Cutie's marriage. I wish him and his lovely wife all the best. I hope they have many, many children. I also hope the Cutie family is pro-life.
I haven't read Fr. Cutie's book; it doesn't sound very good. And I'm sure the people who've commented are all fine people and good Christians. But the comments and Carl's article now suggest pious sanctimony.

[Carl E. Olson]

... where I've just finished reading People magazine's article ...

Uh, not to make too fine of point on it, but I'm not sure People magazine is the best guide on such matters (and their music picks usually stink as well).

Seriously, Dan, the man (1) knowingly took vows as a priest, (2) he broke those vows by having an affair with woman, (3) he refused to acknowledge his serious sins and the scandal they caused, (4) he refused to co-operate with his bishop and other Church authorities, (5) he blamed and continues to blame the Church and Church teachings for his actions, (6) he continues to seek celebrity status and support, mostly through bashing the Church and relying on his good looks (does anyone think this might have been different if he was a 65-year-old, fat and ugly priest?), (7) has written a book to take advantage of the situation, and (8) plays the victim card with shameless impunity.

Well, come to think of it, other than that, he's handled things wonderfully...

[Carl E. Olson]

Nicely said, Christina.

Joe: Surely you're joking, right? Has the New Year caused people to lose their minds?

[Brad]

Cutie "is saying the system and expectations that he failed were impossible and wrong" according to Joe. Hi Joe, in charity, brother, I answer you that chastity (to which we are all called in varied forms according to station) in the form of a priestly oath of celibacy is not impossible, since many do it successfully. Therefore it is literally and statistically "possible". And as far as "wrong": according to whom? Not Christ's Church.

May God bless you, Joe, and you, Dan Deeny.

[Dan Deeny]

Carl,
Thank you for your orderly and detailed response. (You might want to reconsider the last comment. The tone, Carl, the tone.) I'll try to respond as best I can.
1) Yes. 2) Well, this one I don't know: "an affair with a woman" suggests he was using her. According to the article in People, they are now married and have a baby. Hopefully their marriage will be filled with love and hope and many, many children. Also, I hope they are pro-life. (By the way, Carl, thank you for your active support of the pro-life movement.) 3)Well, I don't know about this. Why leave the young woman alone? Wouldn't that be wrong? I think of Augustine and his concubine. What happened to her? 4) I don't know what the bishop said. As you know, many bishops are having problems, particularly regarding their indirect tolerance for the abortion business. 5) I don't know about this. If he blames the Church for his falling in love, then he is making a mistake. Perhaps he should thank the Church for helping to create a situation where he and his wife can meet and fall in love. 6) You are right, partly. "Bashing the Church" is not a good idea. "Seeking celebrity status" - if that is what he is doing - is also not a good idea. The "65 year old priest" comment doesn't deserve a response. 7) Well, I don't know. Maybe he wrote the book to explain himself to the public at large. 8) How do you know this? Perhaps you attribute to him motives he doesn't have. Perhaps he is a victim, though not of the sort he thinks.
I don't know about People magazine's music picks, Carl. Though, surely, they must be as good as that group from the West Coast. What was its name? Soundgame? I started looking through and sometimes reading People after starting Dostoevsky's The Idiot. Don't you think many of his scenes could be drawn from People?

[Carl E. Olson]

Dan: My interest is not in his marriage or his family; I certainly harbor no ill will toward his wife and child. That's a completely different topic. I'll simply note the following:

1). Augustine became a Catholic after he had finally renounced and severed his relationship with his concubine/mistress (with whom he had a son). In fact, that relationship was a major reason it took him so long to become Catholic. Why? Because Augustine knew it was sinful, and knew it kept him from entering fully and completely into communion with Christ and His Church. His "Confessions" discusses this at length.

2). You write, "The "65 year old priest" comment doesn't deserve a response." But why not? Seriously, would the media and many people be as enamored with Cutie and his situation if he wasn't a young, handsome man? Would he be in People magazine? No, he would not.

3). I know he "plays the victim card with shameless impunity" because I read his remarks.

4). It's "Soundgarden", the group that essentially invented the grunge genre, ranked #14 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, with a vocalist (Chris Cornell), who is ranked 4th on the list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists" by Hit Parader--if that carries any weight. :-)

[Helen Reilly]

Cutie fled to the pigsty that the Episcopal Church has become - an appropriate place for him. (My apologies to pigs everywhere.) Ironically, Episcopalians and Anglicans are fleeing in droves in the other direction - to Rome.

[Carl E. Olson]

Dan: Think of it another way: if I left my wife and took up with another woman, divorced my wife, and then "re-married"--and then badmouthed her for trying to hold me to my marital vows, what would you think of me? Now, what is different between those marriage vows and the sacred vows taken by Alberto Cutie? Are they both not sacramental vows? Are they both not binding and sacred?

[Dan Deeny]

Carl,
Thank you for your interesting response.
1) I have heard much about Confessions, but haven't yet read it. I have read that he left his concubine because his mother had chosen a wife for him. As you know, Roman society classed women, more or less, into two groups: honorable women and the others. Augustine should have kindly refused his mother's offer-Was she a Christian to make such an offer?- and become a Christian, married his concubine and fathered many more children and with his wife made a happy, Christian home. And then he could have written his great works of theology! Yes, I think that would have been the Christian thing to do. As for the sin of living with his concubine, well, I don't know. He wasn't a Christian and was living as a Roman citizen.(Augustine's situation is quite a bit different than Gov. Cuomo and Bishop Hubbard. Dr. Peters describes this in his blog.) So what happened to his concubine, so cruelly mistreated by Augustine and his mother? Since Jesus is just and merciful, she must be in heaven praying for us right now.
2) You are right. An old priest might not be in People magazine. But he might be. Was Bishop Robinson in the magazine? And the magazine recently had a married, evangelical pastor with a family who has now decided he is gay!
3) I'll trust your judgement on this one. I don't have enough experience to know why he makes his remarks.
4)Ah, so it's Soundgarden. Poor fellows! I recommend you listen to some music by Eleanor McEvoy. She has one CD that is schlock rock (except for two songs), but the others I've listened to-Snapshots, Yola, etc.-are great.
5)I'm not quite sure how to handle your additional comment. I want to attribute it to your youth, enthusiasm, tenacity, and inexperience. No, Carl, a man's wife is much more important than the Church. She is made in the image and likeness of God, and is the one who brings new life into the world. You might want to read, if you haven't already, JPII's The Dignity and Vocation of Women. A beautiful book. The Church is an institutional organization started by Jesus, with Peter as the rock, whose task it is to preach the Good News and save souls. But your comment is interesting. It brings out what may be our most serious problem: the attack on women, children, the family, life, and love. I think those are all connected. Don't you agree?