In Cuba, Presiding Bishop affirms 'sea of possibilities' for ending oppression
Episcopal News Service. February 7, 2007 [020707-03]
Bob Williams, Director of communication for the Episcopal Church
Vast as an ocean deep with common good is the dream to be realized by God's people, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said while visiting the Episcopal Church of Cuba's Synod meeting February 2-4 in Cardenas.
Highlights of the 98th annual gathering included the appointment of two new suffragan bishops -- Nerva Cot Aguilera and Ulises Aguero Prendes -- to assist Interim Bishop Miguel Tamayo in local oversight of some 40 congregations serving Cuba's estimated 10,000 Episcopalians. In a June 10 liturgy at Havana's Holy Trinity Cathedral, Cot will become the Anglican Communion's first woman bishop in Latin America. (See related story here.)
Metaphors of fishing and abundance were central as Jefferts Schori -- preaching at St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church, now in its 100th year -- addressed the Sunday gospel reading in which Jesus calls his disciples to cast nets that yield new followers in the faith.
The dream of God is "a better life for all the world, and not only for one country," Jefferts Schori said in Spanish during her homily for the Synod's closing Eucharist. "What is the dream of the Episcopal Church in Cuba?"
She spoke of "a sea of possibilities" for ending human suffering -- from the local sharing of nutritious vegetables to caring for the elderly and infirm -- outlining how the "abundant life that God dreams for all creation" overcomes the death inherent in "oppressive and cruel systems." (Full sermon texts in English and Spanish.)
"Worthy catches are only possible in deep water, in waters that may instill fear in us," said Jefferts Schori, who cited her own experience of casting large nets as an oceanographer specializing in the study of squid and octopuses in the Pacific. "Jesus calls us to be courageous and hopeful fishers in all areas of life."
This requires tenacity, Jefferts Schori said, such as that of the central character in "The Old Man and the Sea," the novel by Ernest Hemingway, who is well remembered in Havana for the years in which he lived and wrote in Cuba.
In other remarks to the Synod, the Presiding Bishop joined in applauding the Diocese of Florida and the Cuban church for sharing a 25-year companion relationship. Retired Bishop Frank Cerveny of Jacksonville was present in Cardenas to mark the anniversary, and to bring greetings from the diocese and from one of Cuba's former bishops, Emilio Hernandez, 81, who is now retired in the Miami area.
Tamayo led the Synod in welcoming its visitors from the U.S. and Canada, thanking them for "the joy" of their collaboration. Well experienced and respected in international Anglican relations, Tamayo is a member of the planning team for the 2008 Lambeth Conference.
Pastoral focus, 'firsts'
Pastoral concerns were the focus of Jefferts Schori's five-day visit to Cuba, the first international journey of her nine-year term of office, and the first time a Presiding Bishop of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church has personally attended a meeting of the Metropolitan Council of the Cuban Church, an extra-provincial region of the Anglican Communion.
The Council's principal work during this meeting was interviewing and appointing the two suffragan bishops, and reappointing Tamayo, who is also bishop of Uruguay, to a second three-year term.
Other Council members are Canada's Archbishop Andrew Hutchison -- who presided at the body's February 2-3 proceedings -- and West Indies Archbishop Drexel Gomez, who did not attend, citing reasons of ill health.
The three are expected to attend the Anglican Primates' February 14-19 meeting in Tanzania. Gomez, Hutchison and Jefferts Schori are among participating leaders representing the Anglican Communion's 38 member provinces or nationally based churches. Jefferts Schori is one of several Primates joining the meeting for the first time, while Hutchison has announced he will retire this June, and Gomez after the 2008 Lambeth Conference.
Anglicans' global collaboration -- such as achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goals -- was a focus of Hutchison's sermon at the Eucharist opening the Synod under the theme "Fiesta Diocesana: Danos un corazon grande para amar, fuerte para luchar" (Grant us a heart big enough to love, strong enough to strive). (Full sermon texts in English and Spanish.)
The Metropolitan Council was formed in 1967 in the wake of political tensions between the U.S. and Cuban governments. Before the Council's formation, the Cuban Church was previously a diocese of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church.
For humanitarian reasons the Episcopal Church has repeatedly called upon the U.S. government -- most recently in a 2006 Executive Council resolution -- to end its economic and political embargo against Cuba. When the Presiding Bishop delivered word of this new resolution in her opening remarks to the Cuban Synod meeting, the announcement was received with a standing ovation.
Visiting government offices in Havana on Feburary 1, the Presiding Bishop also inquired of officials as to the status of prisoners incarcerated by the Cuban government for actions contrary to policies of the socialist regime, led in recent months by Raul Castro after his brother, Fidel, ceded active leadership due to illness. Fidel Castro was pictured in January 31 media reports of his meeting with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez the day before.
Seminary, interfaith resources
The ocean was again in view on February 3 from the campus of the Seminario EvangĂ©lico de TeologĂa, where its rector, Reineiro Arce, welcomed the Presiding Bishop and her husband, Richard Schori, together with a mission resource team from the Episcopal Church Center in New York, and colleagues from the Anglican Church of Canada.
Church Center resource team members included the Rev. Canon Juan Marquez, who coordinates Latin America and Caribbean partnerships in the Episcopal Church's Office of Anglican and Global Relations; Suzanne Baillie, in-house counsel to the Episcopal Church; and Sharon Jones-Coombs, executive assistant to the Presiding Bishop.
The delegation talked with seminary students and faculty, including 92-year-old retired professor Rene Castellanos. Six young-adult students also described their mission work in Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterian and other faith traditions. The visitors toured the campus, founded in 1948, and its Chapel of the Resurrection, a gift of U.S. Episcopalians.
The interdenominational seminary will next year welcome the Episcopal Church's recently retired Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold, as a guest instructor. Griswold's own 2006 Cuba visit, including a meeting with Castro, was instrumental in calling for an end to the embargo, and in strengthening relations between U.S. and Cuban Episcopalians.
In February 1 meetings in Havana, Jefferts Schori, Hutchison and their U.S. and Canadian delegations met with representatives of the government Office of Religious Affairs, led by director Caridad Diego, who described growth among churches and the emergence of government policies to address national needs in housing and transportation.
Hutchison's Canadian delegation included his principal secretary, the Rev. A. Paul Feheley; Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, the Church of Canada's general secretary; and Sam Carriere, the Canadian church's communication director. The archbishop's wife, Lois, also traveled with the delegation.
The groups visited the offices of the Cuba Council of Churches, where leaders said that under new U.S. travel limitations, religious visitors to Cuba were down annually some 62 percent, from as many as 55,000 in 2004 to fewer than 10,000 in 2006.
The Presiding Bishop expressed her appreciation that U.S. government officials have continued to renew the Episcopal Church's travel license, honoring its more than 130-year history with the Cuban clergy and parishioners.
The morning also included a visit with the Papal Nuncio in Havana, Monsignor Luigi Bonazzi, at his official residence. Discussion topics included shared concern about the serious need to restore deteriorating church buildings and erect new structures in neighborhoods that have emerged in the last 40 years without local churches.
The Presiding Bishop notified the Havana offices of the U.S. Interest Section, by telephone, of her delegation's arrival in Havana. Owing to the U.S. embargo, the Interest Section is situated in Havana in lieu of a formal embassy.
The Presiding Bishop and her colleagues departed for New York mid-afternoon on February 5 after morning meetings at the Havana diocesan offices, where operations are coordinated by Lay Canon Francisco de Arazoza. He and his wife, Teresa, and the bishop's wife, Marta, also a deacon, shared in organizing arrangements and hospitality for the visiting Canadian and U.S. delegations.
Indigenous ministries' emphasized
Indigenous American themes were underscored by the gifts that the Presiding Bishop presented to her hosts in Havana, Cardenas and Matanzas.
Drawing from her own experience as bishop of Nevada during the years 2001-2006, Jefferts Schori brought icons and stationery depicting images recalling the Good Shepherd and the Virgin and Child in likenesses of indigenous people from both North and South America. She also wore a pectoral cross beaded in the traditional Native American style.
Reflecting on her visit, the Presiding Bishop said the journey sought to reflect the Latin American Christian principle of "acompanamiento," or collaborative accompaniment, especially through struggle.
As she declared to the Synod's opening session, "liberation from oppression is essential to everyone's spiritual health and growth."