Former Catholic priest in photo scandal weds girlfriend in Episcopal church ceremony in Miami

October 12th, 2009 Calif church gives up property after diocese splitLOS ANGELES — A conservative Los Angeles-area church that broke away from the Episcopal Church over theological differences and the consecration of a gay bishop is giving up its property. St. Luke's Anglican Church in La Crescenta is being returned Monday to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

September 30th, 2009 Pa. couple has 49-year marriage but no documentsWILMORE, Pa. — A western Pennsylvania couple still plan to celebrate their 49th wedding anniversary next month even though they recently learned their marriage paperwork was never filed.

September 7th, 2009 Berlusconi: Relations with church excellentROME — Silvio Berlusconi says relations between his government and the Catholic Church, which have been strained by a sex scandal involving the Italian premier, remain excellent. Berlusconi said Monday that contacts with the church are kept up "almost daily" by his top aide.

August 30th, 2009 Berlusconi allies work to patch up church tiesROME — Allies of the Italian government have pledged to patch up ties with the Catholic church, after a newspaper in Premier Silvio Berlusconi's media family attacked a Catholic editor who had demanded he answer allegations in a sex scandal over young women. Lawmaker Fabrizio Cicchitto, a leader in Berlusconi's Freedom People party, told Sky TG24 TV Sunday it would be the conservative coalition's "aim and task to work hard so that there are no lacerations or fractures in relations between the government and the Catholic church." Support from Catholic voters is considered crucial for any Italian government to come to power, and good ties with the Vatican are courted by many politicians.

August 23rd, 2009 Conn. priest convicted of $1M theft dies in prisonBRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport says a Connecticut priest who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $1 million from a Darien parish to support a lavish lifestyle has died.

August 4th, 2009 Conn. whistle-blow priest says bishop scolded himNEW HAVEN, Conn. — A former Connecticut priest claims a bishop who played a leading national role in responding to the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal threatened to send him to live with nuns after he hired a private investigator to look into his pastor.

August 2nd, 2009 L.A. Episcopalians nominate gay clergy for bishopLOS ANGELES — An openly gay priest and an openly lesbian priest are among six nominees for assistant bishop positions in the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Los Angeles. The church announced Sunday that Rev.

July 16th, 2009 Episcopal bishops OK prayer for gay couplesANAHEIM, Calif. — Episcopal bishops authorized the church Wednesday to start drafting an official prayer for same-sex couples, another step toward acceptance of gay relationships that will deepen the rift between the denomination and its fellow Anglicans overseas.

July 15th, 2009 Police: Man impersonates priest, visits officerPHILADELPHIA — A 26-year-old Philadelphia man suspected of impersonating a priest while visiting a wounded police officer was arrested on Monday. The man was charged with criminal trespass and false impersonating.

July 13th, 2009 Spanish priest killed in Cuba, 2nd in 5 monthsHAVANA — A second Spanish priest in five months has been found dead near the capital, Cuba's Roman Catholic Church said Monday. The Rev. Mariano Arroyo Merino's body was discovered Monday morning in his room at the parish he served in the coastal neighborhood of Regla, situated on Havana Bay across from the capital, the Havana Archbishop's office said in a news release.

June 18th, 2009 Pope deplores priests' infidelities to their vowsVATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI deplored priests who were unfaithful to their vows and called Thursday for a "frank and complete acknowledgment" of the Catholic Church's weakness in a letter to priests around the globe. The letter was the first public statement from Benedict since an independent commission in Ireland issued a report last month detailing "endemic" molestation and rape at church-run boys' facilities and ritualized beatings at girls' schools from the 1930s to the 1990s.

June 2nd, 2009 'Father Oprah' is big news in Hispanic communityMIAMI — It has the makings of a telenovela: A handsome Cuban-American priest and TV personality caught cavorting with his girlfriend on a Florida beach. After much soul-searching, he decides to leave the Catholic Church for his love.

May 31st, 2009 Fla. priest who left Catholic Church preps sermonMIAMI — A popular Miami priest nicknamed "Father Oprah" said Sunday that "church is about forgiveness" during his first sermon since leaving the Roman Catholic Church after photographs surfaced of him kissing his girlfriend on the beach. The Rev. Alberto Cutie (pronounced KOO'-tee-ay) gave the sermon at the Episcopal Church of The Resurrection in Miami.

May 31st, 2009 Fla.'s 'Father Oprah': Church is about forgivenessBISCAYNE PARK, Fla. — A popular Miami priest nicknamed "Father Oprah" said Sunday that "church is about forgiveness" during his first sermon since leaving the Roman Catholic Church after photographs surfaced of him kissing his girlfriend on the beach.

May 11th, 2009 Fla. priest in trouble over woman defends celibacyMIAMI — A popular Miami priest and media personality said Monday he is thinking about leaving the Roman Catholic Church for a woman he loves after a magazine ran pictures of the couple kissing and hugging. Rev. Alberto Cutie (KOO'-tee-ay) told the CBS "Early Show" on Monday he supports the church's stand that priests should be celibate and said he does not want to become the "anti-celibacy priest." "I think it's a debate that's going on in our society, and now I've become kind of a poster boy for it.