Missioner Finds Mature Faith in Cuba
Episcopal News Service. March 17, 1983 [83050]
NEW YORK (DPS, March 17) -- An intense seven-day pastoral and planning visit to the Episcopal Church in Cuba has led Church Center staff officer, the Rev. Onell A. Soto, to conclude that there is still strength and a witnessing faith there 25 years after the revolution.
" The congregations are small, composed mainly of older people. The church buildings are in disrepair -- three have collapsed -- but the spirit is high and the faith is strong," he reported on returning from his recent trip.
He added that the difficulties of the last quarter-century have matured the faith of many Episcopalians. "'It is not easy to be a Christian in Cuba today, but the grace of God has enabled us to be firm and to stand,' was a refrain I heard many times."
The government of Cuba is officially atheistic and, although the new constitution permits freedom of worship, church people frequently have to remind authorities of this clause. No new churches are permitted to be built and church activities are confined to the "temple." In one case, in Esmeralda, the church collapsed two years ago but the government has allowed the congregation to gather in the rectory.
Furthermore, Soto pointed out, the government -- which is the only construction firm in the country -- is rebuilding that church and Cuban Episcopalians are paying for it with the aid of a 1982 grant from the United Thank Offering. With that modest encouragement, church officials are seeking the right to rebuild the other fallen churches in Havana and Bolondron.
In that small Matanzas Province town, the congregation worships in a Roman Catholic Church with which it shares a warm relationship. "After the eucharist, we were greeted by the pastor, who almost preached another sermon in his greeting. I've never heard a Roman Catholic organist play 'Onward Christian Soldiers' with such enthusiasm. Christian unity certainly has taken on a new dimension in Cuba," Soto reflected.
Cuban Anglicanism is more than 100 years old and was, until 1966, an integral part of the Episcopal Church. Due to political difficulties, the Church was granted autonomy that year and placed under an international Anglican metropolitan council.
At the time of the revolution in 1958, there were more than 66,000 baptized members in 43 congregations served by 29 clergy including the bishop. Although there can be few reliable statistics now -- there are 11 clergy left including the bishop -- it is obvious that the church population has diminished because of immigration and the political climate, but Soto remains hopeful: "The seeds that were planted will grow in due season."
" I was very impressed with the fact that four children of clergy and one other young man are willing to enter the priesthood when they know that there is no prestige, no material gain and that they are to witness in the midst of an atheistic environment," he said, adding "they are willing to take the risk and that is certainly an inspiration."
These thoughts are echoed by the bishop of Cuba, the Rt. Rev. Emilio Hernandez, who has spent a decade in prison, and who asserts: "If God were not with us we would have been dismayed long ago."
"Episcopalians in Cuba are looking at the reality of the present and are well aware that God has called them to witness wherever they are," the bishop explained. "They also feel, more than ever, the importance of the world-wide Anglican family, of knowing that they are not alone and that they are sustained by the prayers of millions of people around the world."
During one meeting, the bishop read a letter from Bishop Frank Cerveny whose diocese of Florida had just approved a companion relationship with Cuba. Soto reported that the news was received "with joy and enthusiasm."
Soto, mission information officer at the Church Center, is a native of Cuba and a former missionary who spent 13 years in Ecuador and El Salvador. He was accompanied by his wife Nina, also a Cuban. The two were originally to have been joined by Bishop Edward Haynsworth, executive for world mission at the Church Center, but their entry visas were delayed until Haynsworth had to shift his plans.
Soto noted that he was free to photograph anywhere, and at no time was his pastoral work interfered with. "At whatever time we would arrive at one of the 13 congregations we visited, we held a worship service and we spoke to the people. They responded warmly and there was real Christian sharing."
In addition to the pastoral focus, Soto was in Cuba to help plan for a Partners in Mission consultation slated for next year. A number of papers on the life of the Church were reviewed at meetings in Havana and these will serve as the basis for that consultation.
It became evident in the planning that the main needs of the Church in Cuba are training for clergy and lay leaders, a place for retired clergy in order to free up rectories for new people, transportation for church workers -- there is not a single working car at this time -- funds for rebuilding and a simplified Prayer Book that would reflect the situation of the Church.
The Church still publishes a quarterly newspaper, El Heraldo Episcopal, which has become an important medium for many Cuban Christians and others outside Cuba. The 50-year-old paper is one of five religious publications in the country.