Gawker: Miami Vice

On Thursday, July 28th, Gawker, a gossip website, published an ‘investigative’ piece on the Archdiocese of Miami, its past archbishop, priests, and seminary entitled “The Catholic Church’s Secret Gay Cabal.” The very opening lines of the article get the blood boilin’, which is what it was intended to do, I suspect. However, as I read the article, it became apparent that there were several inaccuracies contained within. The article at times even contradicted itself.

The investigative report begins with this statement: “Favalora, who was the most powerful Catholic official in South Florida from 1994 until last year, stands accused of cultivating what one group of pissed-off Catholics described as a corrupt ‘homosexual superculture’.” Whenever you start off an article quoting a group of pissed-off Catholics, there is an extremely high probability that most of the information contained within the article is fabricated and biased. Nonetheless, I think we need to examine all of the assertions being made and determine their validity.

The report makes several other claims about Archbishop John Favalora. The author tends to believe that Favalora, whom I have met on several occasions throughout the last couple of years, liked to have seminarians sit on his lap during parties and that he was co-owner in a company that produced an “all natural” sex drink.

“Come sit on Papa’s lap”

Being a former seminarian who studied at Miami’s minor seminary, I can bear witness to that fact that the archbishop was only around the seminarians once every couple of months, for an hour or two at the most. To my knowledge, there was never any inappropriate behavior exhibited.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami released the following statement upon the announcement of Bishop Felipe Estevez as tenth bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine:

I congratulate Bishop Estevez on his appointment as the new Bishop of St. Augustine. He brings many gifts to Northeast Florida – as a priest, he has served as a pastor, spiritual director, seminary rector, and as a very effective preacher of retreats and missions in three languages: English, Spanish and French; as an auxiliary bishop, he has ably assisted my predecessor and now me in the governance of the See of Miami, especially providing wisdom and direction in the coordination of the rich expression of ecclesial groups and apostolic movements active in the Archdiocese.

St. Augustine, the city where the Servant of God, Padre Felix Varela, died in exile from his native Cuba, is not unknown to Bishop Estevez – he has had occasion to visit there many times; and not a few of the clergy of St. Augustine also know Bishop Estevez as a former rector and spiritual director of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary.

While the People of God here in South Florida rejoice over Northeast Florida’s good fortune in having Bishop Estevez as their new shepherd, we will certainly miss him. Bishop Estevez has not only been a brother priest and bishop to me, he has, for more than 35 years, been and still is my good friend. I look forward to continue working with him as one of the six suffragan bishops of the Ecclesiastic Province of Miami.

Source: Archdiocese of Miami

From Right to Left: Bishop Felipe Estevez, Archbishop Thomas Wenski, Bishop John Noonan

This morning, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Miami Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Estevez, 65, as the tenth bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine, succeeding Bishop Victor Galeone whose resignation was submitted in September.

Bishop Estevez was born on February 5, 1946 in Betancourt, Cuba to Adriano and Estrella Estevez. Leaving Cuba at the age of 15, Estevez came to the United States and began studying for the priesthood. On May 30, 1970, Estevez was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Matanzas (Cuba) after receiving a Licentiate in Theology from Montreal University.

Throughout his priesthood, Bishop Estevez has mostly been involved with educating men for the priesthood. His first seminary assignment came shortly after being ordained, when he was sent to Honduras to teach and direct young men studying for the priesthood. In 1975 Estevez came back to the United States, serving on the faculty of Florida’s St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary.  During this time, he was attending Miami’s Barry University, receiving a Master in Arts degree in 1977.

Bishop John Ricard | Source: Divine Word Radio

On February 15, 2011, the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee reported that Bishop John Ricard had submitted his resignation to the Holy Father for medical reasons. You may recall, Bishop Ricard suffered a pretty serious stroke on December 22, 2009. According to diocesan officials, the bishop underwent multiple surgeries and intense physical rehabilitation in the weeks and months following his stroke.

Shortly after returning to a limited work schedule in January 2010, Ricard was rehospitalized after collapsing while celebrating a funeral Mass.

Truthfully, those of us throughout the state have been wondering when the bishop was going to submit his resignation to Pope Benedict XI. Despite our prayers and wishes for him to remain as the bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, we have been expecting this for some time.

With this announcement, there are two bishops within the state that have submitted resignations to the Holy Father. Bishop Victor Galeone of the Diocese of Saint Augustine submitted his resignation upon turning 75 last September.

Along with the appointment of Archbishop Thomas Wenski as Metropolitan Archbishop of Miami and Bishop John Noonan as Bishop of Orlando, four out of the seven dioceses in the state have experienced leadership transitions in the last year. However, it doesn’t end there.

Just when we thought we had heard the last of Father Alberto Cutié (a.k.a. “Father Oprah”), he makes his presence known once more in a rather desperate attempt to gain more than the typical 15 minutes of shame…I mean fame. Not surprisingly, he is coming out in defense of his own actions, but, then again, I guess that’s human nature and I shouldn’t be so critical. However, when, in your attempt to justify your actions, you attack someone or something else, that’s where I, and many others, take issue.

Before we get into what “Padre Alberto” is saying now, let’s review; shall we?

Father Alberto Cutié was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest in 1995 for the Archdiocese of Miami. During his years of priestly service in the Catholic Church, Padre Alberto quickly became somewhat of a “rock star” as the host of several nationally and internationally syndicated television and radio programs. (Don’t worry, I’m not praising the accomplishments of the man here; it’s a simple fact.) His international reputation, in my humble opinion, definitely had a role in his demise as a Catholic priest.

You might recall: towards the beginning of summer 2009, pictures of Father Alberto were uncovered by a popular Mexican celebrity gossip magazine that caught him in a rather compromising position with a woman on the public beaches of Miami. Remember, as a Catholic priest, Cutié promised to carry out his ministry while living in a state of celibacy, which means not getting married and remaining chaste.