Row as controversial priest joins Episcopal Church: CEN 6.05.09

The reception of Fr Alberto Cutié into the Episcopal Church followed a two-year period of reflection by the Miami Roman Catholic priest and TV host, and was not a spur of the moment decision by the priest or the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, the Rt Rev Leo Frade has stated. On May 28, Bishop Frade received Fr Cutié into the Episcopal Church, prompting outrage from the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Miami and titillation from the American press, who questioned whether Fr Cutié’s newfound appreciation of Anglicanism was prompted by a moving of the spirit, or the publication of compromising photographs of him in a Spanish-language tabloid. The reception of Fr Cutié into the Episcopal Church has been given great prominence in the South and Central American media and provoked contradictory comments from Anglican bishops in the region. Bishop Bill Godfrey of Peru called the publicity surrounding the secession unseemly while the Bishop of Puerto Rico noted that he had recently received two Roman Catholic priests and was in conversation with three others seeking to join his diocese. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.