1	POWER ISSUE MASTERS OF INFLUENCE—power in America Our short list of the most powerful Hispanics, from familiar faces, to those destined to be known. read more...
2	GOOD CALL How Padre Alberto followed the voice in his heart to become an international media mogul, a self-help coach and a bestselling author. read more...
3	VEGAS’ SAFEST BET— power in media Univision news director Adriana Arevalo steers Spanish-language coverage in the nation’s second fastest growing Hispanic television market. read more...
4	TAKING WING—power through philanthropy Made up of determined high profile Latin American artists and business people, the organization ALAS is launched. read more...
5	EN LA LUCHA A photo essay from shutterbug Malcolm Venville’s Lucha Loco, a collection of photographic portraits featuring masked lucha libre wrestlers. read more...
6	IN GOOD COMPANY The nation’s top Hispanic-friendly firms. read more...
7	SPEAK OF THE DEVIL Hockey phenom Scott Gomez of the New Jersey Devils is slap-shooting his name into the history of the sport. read more...
8	TOP HONORS The military leaders awarded by Hispanic Magazine. read more...

The power of FAITH

A Messenger in Deed

Father Alberto Cutie knows a thing or
two about running a media empire,
but what matters to him is its message.

From the moment he burst out onto the scene, Father Alberto Cutié, better known as Padre Alberto, knew he was going to be different. His first assignment as a deacon-intern, the final step before taking his vows into the priesthood, was at St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Key West, FL. At once Padre Alberto was faced with the challenge of living out his holy calling in a hectic world, immersed in what is arguably one of the most eccentric cities in America. In the words of the late Charles Kuralt, “The place has no dignity, but much style.” That style seemed to have rubbed off on Padre Alberto, and Key West proved to be the perfect training ground for what lay ahead.
Today, he is perhaps one of the most identifiable priests in America, and considered one of the most influential Hispanics in the country. He sits atop PAX Catholic Communications. a diversified, nonprofit communications network that provides news, commentary, music and spiritual direction through its Spanish, English and Creole radio stations, a satellite broadcast service (PAX Net) heard throughout the globe, and La Voz Católica, a Catholic newspaper. In addition to his administrative duties, Padre Alberto enters millions of households every single day through his television and radio programs, a daily syndicated newspaper column, Consejos De Amigo, and a recently published self-help book, Ama de Verdad, Vive de Verdad: 7 Caminos Para Lograr una Relación Sólida y Duradera (Real Life, Real Love: 7 Paths to a Strong and Lasting Relationship,) currently on the Spanish-language bestseller list.
So how did a young Hispanic priest from Miami get to become an international media mogul, self-help coach, and best-selling author? By answering what he refers to as the call within a call. “My work is about sending a message every day. It’s not about seeing results,” he says. “In
Corporate America you work toward rewards. I realize that my reward is not here. I have stock options in Heaven.” Indeed, what he considers to be a “ministry,” someone else may consider to be a media empire, but he’s not in it for fame and fortune. “I would never do this for money,” he admits. “It would take a lot more than money to do what I do. I do what I do because if not, I wouldn’t be true to myself.” It is precisely that kind of unadulterated purpose that explains Padre Alberto’s international appeal. He is an original, and whether it is a family tuning in to his television show in Honduras, or an invitation from Shakira to bless her backstage before her concert in Chicago, people are drawn to his message.
Padre Alberto is well aware that he is a very different kind of priest, and he has come to accept that. “I’m not the priest for the regular Catholic crowd,” he says. “I made that decision a long time ago. I’m the priest for the lost sheep. Which is why I do the media thing and the press thing and the book thing. To reach people that don’t set foot in a church.” Yet he has the unique ability to reach the regular churchgoers as effectively as he does those who are separated from the church. That is precisely what makes him different. He is by his own admission a “sign of contradiction.” He is surprisingly traditional for one so young. According to his assistant, “Padre Alberto is the most old-fashioned modern priest I know.” He is so traditional, in fact, that he does not allow guitars and drums in the choir of his parish, St. Francis de Sales in South Beach. “Liturgy and chant has a way of lifting up your spirit. It counters the South Beach extreme. It’s much more inviting for people who are out clubbing all night to come to an oasis of peace.”
Whether it is in front of a TV camera or a radio microphone, in the boardroom or in his congregation, Padre Alberto knows how to communicate his message of peace to a hectic world. “There’s a misconception that priests can only talk about God, and that’s wrong,” he says. “We spend more time dealing with humanity than we do with God, because dealing with God is easy.”
So where does the challenge lie for
Padre Alberto? Is it in leading and overseeing the various media facets of PAX Catholic Communications on a global scale? Or sitting as a member on countless boards? Or is it writing a bestseller? Or the traveling involved in promoting it? Hardly. He takes all of that in stride.
“The most challenging, and the most fulfilling thing I do is bridge a gap between God and people. Between an institution that is 2,000 years old and a society that moves so fast. That’s my work and it’s not easy because on the one hand I have the turtle, and on the other hand I have the rabbit. But I am at peace because I know that in the end, the race goes to the turtle.”