MIAMI - Former South Florida Catholic priest David Dueppen admits he fathered a baby with a former stripper, and now wants custody of the infant girl.

Dueppen, in court documents, said he wants to be the primary caretaker of baby Marilyn Epiphany, born in January.

“He has never denied paternity for the child and he would like to be very involved in the child’s life,” said his attorney, Raymon Rafool.

Rafool said Dueppen, 42, should have custody of the child at least 70 percent of the time.

The former stripper, Beatrice Hernandez, 42, came forward last month to claim she had been Dueppen’s on-again, off-again girlfriend since meeting him at a strip club about seven years ago.

Dueppen joined the priesthood in 1999. He took an indefinite leave of absence in August. In court papers, Hernandez said Dueppen had choked her during an argument over paternity and child support. A hearing is set for Oct. 19 on a restraining order.

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The Hingham High School Golf Team

Golf is a culture of kindness and gentle hellos.  Course rangers herd any tipsy, summer players respectfully along.  Those in loud company shush them, but the intermittent and congratulatory whoop is tolerated for a great shot.

Yesterday some high school teams were out on the course, a common occurrence on Thursdays.  After convening with their respective coaches, the walk out in foursomes.  Maybe it really is good to walk as if drying cement were on your feet.

I walked myself to the “forward tee” to wait for the men in front of me to hit their drives from way up top.  I was surprised when I saw a girl sideways on the tee box, leaning on one arm, talking on her cell phone.  Seeing me she continued talking so I interrupted her.

“Are you OK?” I asked rhetorically.

Without moving she looked up and said, “Oh yeah just waiting for them.”  Then quickly back into the flow of the cell phone chat.

“Oh.  Are you with the two men?”

“Yeah,” she answered with no eye contact.

What she meant to say, I am sure, is she was with the three boys from the Hingham High golf team who were driving from the top, now with the two adult men looking/waiting on.  Clogs in the flow are common.

I heard the three balls and a distant clanking, meaning the boys were making their way down the hill.  Meaning, it was time the girl lounging on the tee box snap her cell phone closed and set up her drive.  It was not until the 3 boys arrived that she stood, cocking her head to one shoulder and wedging the conversation so she could address the ball while still chatting.

Off they lumbered, the privileged little people in large bodies.  Eventually I completed the hole with my third birdie in life – three in two weeks, one the day before.

My arrival at the ninth green was within a rare three shots and my adorable white ball nestled in the fringe alone the edge of the watercolor green.  On the other side of the green were about 20 people – ah yes crowds to cheer me in!  The busload of high school golfers stood in clumps laughing and gossiping and doing the typical vigorous interacting that teenagers do.  The coaches, arms folded, caught up in their own huddle.

Since I had a found club in my bag that was baby pink, I thought now was the time to return it to its rightful owner, and surely they would know this was another golfer at the green and to MOVE AWAY FROM THE AREA. 

Oh she was most appreciative and had a nice smile and thank you before returning to the after school program in session on the green’s fringe.  Well, I thought, they certainly are not watching me so I will call it no distraction.  The bank of humans could move at any moment though.  Or suddenly find me there.  It was not a finish worthy of three fabulous shots to the green fringe.  The ball was magnetically charged towards them.

Golf’s backbone is etiquette.  The rules are taught, not known, and examples followed until they become a golfer’s seventh sense.  The teaching offered this day by the Hingham High golf coaches was well below any pay scale. 

When and if this golf team from Hingham shows in a tournament with high school golfers owning a modicum of etiquette, the Hingham High School team will likely be an embarrassment to the town of Hingham.  That would be an unfair experience because the “coaching” sets the pace.

Herding by rangers with coaches present would be horrible golf etiquette.

Greenpeace assembled 100 ice sculptures of 100 children at the Temple of Earth in Beijing where Chinese emperors used to pray for the earth’s well-being.  This project is to bring awareness to our inevitable extinction, more specifically the threat of loss in Asia resulting from water shortages caused by the climate changes.

What is so beautiful about this campaign, aside from its obvious unique presentation, is that the water for the ice is from glacial melt.  The disappearance of the Himalayan glaciers threatens the fresh water supply of the one-fifth of the world’s population who live in their watershed. 

The melting sculptures mark the start of the 100-day countdown to the United Nations Copenhagen Climate Summit, and the launch of the TckTckTck campaign urging  governments to agree at the Summit.

Photography © Greenpeace / Kuang Yin

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — An internationally known Catholic priest who was shown in photographs last week embracing a bathing-suit-clad woman on a Florida beach has admitted they had a two-year affair.

The Rev. Alberto Cutie — sometimes called “Father Oprah” because of the advice he gave on Spanish-language media — said Monday on CBS’ “Early Show” that he is in love with the woman and is considering his options: Whether to break up with her or leave the priesthood and marry her. The woman, who has not been publicly identified, wants to get married, Cutie said.

The priest was removed from his duties last week at St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Miami Beach, Florida, and on the Radio Paz and Radio Peace networks.

“I take full responsibility for what I did, and I know it’s wrong,” he said Monday.

The photos of the Cuban-American priest, also known as “Padre Alberto,” appeared on the cover of last week’s TV Notas magazine and on eight inside pages. The cover says in Spanish: “Good God! Padre Alberto. First photos of a priest ‘in flagrante’ with his lover.”

Other media outlets throughout Latin America, including the official Notimex news agency in Mexico, picked up the story, and it became an Internet sensation. Cutie has millions of followers in the Spanish-speaking world.

In a message posted on the Miami, Florida, archdiocese Web page last week, Archbishop John C. Favalora apologized to parishioners and radio listeners for what he called a “scandal.”

“Father Cutie made a promise of celibacy and all priests are expected to fulfill that promise with the help of God,” Favalora said. “Father Cutie’s actions cannot be condoned despite the good works he has done as a priest.”

Cutie expressed his regret in an online statement last week and again Monday on the CBS program.

“I deeply apologize to the Catholic community and especially to my bishop and to my brother priests who are faithful and who are committed to celibacy,” Cutie said.

The priest said he believes in celibacy but thinks it should be optional. He said he had never had a sexual relationship with anyone other than the woman since leaving the seminary 15 years ago. VideoWatch Father Cutie question the celibacy requirement »

“I don’t support the breaking of the celibacy promise,” Cutie said. “I understand fully that this is wrong.

“I don’t want to be the anti-celibacy priest. I think that’s unfortunate,” he said. “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. But I don’t want to be that. I believe that celibacy is good, and that it’s a good commitment to God. This is something I’ve struggled with. And something that I never expected to become a public debate.”

He also talked about the woman, saying they have been friends for a long time and the attraction was there from early on, but it was not acted on until a couple of years ago. They have “both struggled” with the relationship, he said.

“She’s also a woman of faith,” Cutie said. “She’s also somebody who cares about the priesthood, who cares about these things. So it hasn’t been easy. And those who have helped me through this process know it hasn’t been easy. Obviously, you know, through the photos, it looked like a frivolous thing on the beach, you know, and that’s not what it is. It’s something deeper than that.”

Cutie was the first Catholic priest to host a daily talk show on a major secular television network, his information on the LinkedIn online professional network says.

In addition to his TV and radio appearances, he has written newspaper advice columns and a self-help book, “Real Life, Real Love.”

Before being removed, he was president and general director of Pax Catholic Communications, home of Radio Paz and Radio Peace in Miami.

CNN April 1, 2009

Trained giant rats sniff out land mines, tuberculosis

By Colin Nickerson, Globe Correspondent | November 23, 2008

BOSTON —

The state supreme court has ordered that a graduate of an online law school be allowed to take the bar exam.