Cuba's Episcopal Church to convene Synod, Metropolitan Council meeting
Episcopal News Service. January 29, 2007 [012907-02]
Local leadership of the Episcopal Church of Cuba will welcome Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to take her seat on its Metropolitan Council February 1 in Havana, and to address its annual Synod meeting February 2-4 in Cardenas.
"I very much look forward to meeting sister and brother Episcopalians in Cuba," said Jefferts Schori, who will also visit the ecumenical seminary, Seminario Evangelico de Teologico, in Matanzas on February 3. "I am eager to learn firsthand about the mission and ministry that is carried out so faithfully in local contexts, notably with excellence in literacy and social services."
Matanzas is the site of Cuba's oldest Episcopal church, Fieles a Jesus, founded in 1883 after U.S. missionary work that dates from 1871 in Havana. Some 3,500 Episcopalians in 40 congregations comprise the Cuban church today, which is based at Havana's Holy Trinity Cathedral and led since 2004 by Interim Bishop Miguel Tamayo, who is also bishop of Uruguay.
After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, and the subsequent deterioration of relations with the United States, the Metropolitan Council was formed in 1967. In the same year, the Cuban church became an extra-provincial diocese unaffiliated with the U.S.-based Episcopal Church or any other province of the Anglican Communion.
Active members of the Metropolitan Council have included the Archbishop of Canada, the Archbishop of the West Indies, and the Presiding Bishop of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church, who in previous years has also been represented by a bishop of the Episcopal Church's Province 9, which includes other Caribbean and Latin American dioceses. Considerable leadership of the Council has been provided over time by the Canadian Primate.
Attending the Council's February 1 meeting -- and marking its 40th year -- will be Canada's Archbishop Andrew Hutchison and Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, together with Jefferts Schori.
Accompanying the Presiding Bishop to Cuba will be her husband, Richard Schori, and a mission resource team including the Rev. Juan Marquez, Caribbean and Latin American Partnership Officer in the Episcopal Church Center's Office of Anglican and Global Relations; Suzanne Baillie, in-house counsel; Sharon Jones-Coombs, staff assistant in the Presiding Bishop's Office; and Canon Robert Williams, communication director for the Episcopal Church.
The visit follows the February 2006 Cuba visit of the 25th Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold, who with his delegation was received by President Fidel Castro. Following that visit, the Episcopal Church's Executive Council adopted the following resolution at its November 12–15, 2006, meeting in Chicago.
"Resolved, That the Executive Council, meeting in Chicago, IL, November 12-15, 2006, calls for an immediate end to all portions of the United States economic embargo against the Republic of Cuba, particularly revisions to the embargo implemented by the U.S. Department of State in 2004; and be it further
"Resolved, That dioceses and congregations in the Episcopal Church consider the establishment of companion relationships with the Episcopal Church of Cuba in order to help support the IEC spiritually and, where possible, financially; and be it further
"Resolved, That, in order to promote the exchange of religious and political ideals, all members of the Episcopal Church are encouraged to travel to Cuba subject to the availability of licenses from the U.S. government where applicable; and receive delegations from the Episcopal Church of Cuba subject to approval by the U.S. government where applicable; and be it further
"Resolved, That the Episcopal Church recommit itself at all levels to pray for the reconciliation of the United States and the Republic of Cuba, in the Name of the Prince of Peace."