wfn.org | Episcopalians: Cuban Episcopalians reverse decision on rejoining ECUSA

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

April 7, 2003

2003-072

Episcopalians: Cuban Episcopalians reverse decision on rejoining 
ECUSA

by Jan Nunley

(ENS) Anglicans in Cuba have decided against seeking to rejoin 
the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA). The decision, 
made at the regular annual synod of the Episcopal Church of Cuba 
in Matanzas this February, reverses a strong vote the previous 
February to seek reunion with ECUSA.

In a vote by orders, 11 clergy voted against and eight voted in 
favor of the move, while in the lay order, 31 voted in favor and 
17 voted against. A majority in both houses was required to pass 
the measure.

The decision means the Cuban church will continue to operate as 
an "extraprovincial" Anglican church, with oversight provided by 
a Metropolitan Council, chaired by Canada's Archbishop Michael 
Peers. 

Cuba's diocesan bishop, Jorge Perera announced his retirement in 
January. Its acting bishop is now Bishop Julio Holguin Khoury of 
the Dominican Republic, a member of the Metropolitan Council. It 
is expected that a convention in the fall of 2003 will elect a 
new bishop.

Extraordinary synod

"The Diocese of Cuba presents a very interesting scenario," 
observed the Rev. Juan Marquez, ECUSA's international 
partnerships officer, who attended the most recent Cuba diocesan 
synod. It was only recently, Marquez said, that the diocese 
began to talk about readmission as a full participant into the 
Episcopal Church, and passed a resolution indicating the desire 
to rejoin as a diocese of the American church in February 2002.

That put the ball in court of the Standing Commission on World 
Mission's (SCWM). The commission met in Havana in October 2002 
to discuss the idea with the Cubans, but the proposal hit a 
slight snag. "One of the provisions in the resolution from Cuba 
was the request to be readmitted on a provisional or temporary 
basis," said Marquez, "because they were thinking always of the 
possibility of joining some other provincial structure in the 
region" -- most likely, the long-anticipated Episcopal Province 
of the Caribbean, composed of the Dioceses of the Dominican 
Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico and Cuba, which is currently in 
moratorium status.

The SCWM told Cuba that any reunion would have to be on a 
permanent basis. According to Marquez, that didn't rule out 
leaving again someday. "It was clearly stated, and they fully 
understood, that even if they rejoined the Episcopal Church, 
that doesn't mean that they cannot leave," he explained. "So 
they could erase that clause about entering provisionally and 
still leave." 

Because of the deadline for the Blue Book report to the 2003 
General Convention, the SCWM requested that the Cuban church 
send them a revised resolution, and a sinodo 
extraordinario--"extraordinary synod" -- was scheduled to 
address the issue in December at the cathedral in Havana. 

"At that extraordinary diocesan synod there was a vote, but it 
was not a clear vote," said Marquez. Some of the 22 clergy--the 
number is disputed--apparently left the session at a noontime 
recess, expressing discontent with the process; others pleaded 
illness. Some had objected earlier that Cuba had already made 
its request and didn't need to address the issue again; others 
proposed that the reunion decision be revoked. In any event, by 
the afternoon session only 10 clergy were present, two short of 
a majority, and no vote could be taken on the revocation 
proposal.

Breathing space

That left the original resolution on the table. It was taken up 
at the regular diocesan synod in February, and was 
defeated--rejecting and reversing the previous action. The 
decision gives the Cuban church some "breathing space" on the 
issue of reunion.

"We have to understand that there's some polarization in the 
life of the Diocese of Cuba," Marquez pointed out. "It's a 
diocese that has tried to elect a bishop a number of times and 
has not been able to because of people staying in opposition and 
not really being able to join together."

But the latest meeting was different. "We feel very good about 
it," said Marquez. "People did the work they were supposed to do 
there in a very orderly manner, respectful and prayerful. Bishop 
Holguin presided with the full cooperation of the synod. It was 
a sign that we hope can provide a path for the next weeks and 
months to bring a sense of unity and reconciliation and a deeper 
sense of mission for the diocese."

"We're not taking sides on this," he added. "We have visited 
Cuba a number of times and we can continue to work as partners 
in mission and strengthen the life and mission of the church in 
Cuba."

In fact, the Council of Associated Parishes for Liturgy and 
Mission met in Cuba just a few days after the February synod 
meeting, reporting that Cubans are "resilient and filled with 
hope" despite hardships and remarking on the "openness, 
hospitality, and Christian maturity" of the Episcopal Church of 
Cuba.

A still-unresolved issue is that of pensions for Cuban clergy. 
The Cuban church has no retirement fund for its clergy and, 
until quite recently, the clergy receiving pensions were those 
ordained prior to the formal separation of the Cuban and US 
Episcopal churches in 1967. 

Now even that is threatened. New Federal regulations, including 
anti-terrorism provisions of the USA Patriot Act passed in 
October, 2001, have apparently led the Church Pension Fund (CPF) 
to terminate the payment of pension benefits directly to Cuban 
nationals until a license is issued from the Treasury 
Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) authorizing 
such payments. 

"I personally talked to two of those people, they are elderly 
people, and the only income they have is these pension 
benefits," Marquez said. Pension funds reserved for Cuban clergy 
are being paid into a "blocked account," with interest, until 
CPF obtains an OFAC license--or the U.S. lifts its economic 
embargo against Cuba.

------

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of Episcopal News 
Service.