wfn.org | Recent events signal new hope for women in ministry in Cuba

[bpfna@primeline.com (Baptist Peace Fellowship)]

LAKE JUNALUSKA, North Carolina-Two recent events may signal a new day of
hope for women in ministry in Cuba.

On February 4, Gisela Pérez Muñiz was ordained as a minister by Second
Baptist Church in Santiago, Cuba, becoming only the eighth Baptist woman to
be ordained there. The ordination was the first to be recognized by leaders
of the Eastern Baptist Convention, one of four Baptist bodies in Cuba.

In 1992, the Baptist Peace Fellowship sponsored a week-long Women's
Friendship Tour to witness the ordination of Cuba's first three Baptist
women pastors, Ena Garcia, Clara Rodés and Xiomara Díaz Gutierrez of the
Fraternidad de Iglesias Bautistas (Fraternity of Baptist Churches).

Less than a week after the ordination of Muñiz, Yamina Apolinaris of Puerto
Rico was the opening plenary speaker for worship services marking 100 years
of Baptist work in Cuba. Apolinaris, executive minister for Baptist
Churches of Puerto Rico, was the first woman ever named to address an event
of this magnitude.

Lee McKenna-duCharme, a Baptist Peace Fellowship board member who
represented the BPFNA for these events, said the ordination of Muñiz was an
affirmation of the two years she has spent teaching an ecumenical class
through the Centro Cristiano de Servicio y Capacitation (the Christian
Center for Service and Training) at Second Baptist Church.

"Women come in from the country side and they are really uncertain they are
doing the right thing," she said. "Their husbands may not think they're
doing the right thing. But by the end of the first Saturday, they are going
'Wow!'"

McKenna-duCharme said it was also evidence that Second Baptist Church is
gaining some ecumenical support in the face of continued denominational
resistance.

"There is no doubt that there is going to be some displeasure about this,
but there was also something wonderfully irrevocable about it," she said.
"This was such a public pronouncement of what they are doing and there was
such a public affirmation. I think that the significance for Second Baptist
Church  is that this is one piece in the life of a church that is bringing
a very different take on the relationship between faith and life."

As an ordination gift in honor of Muñiz, McKenna-duCharme brought in
several hundred dollars worth of medical supplies, which were donated by
Canadian Baptist churches and the BPFNA. These supplies will be distributed
by Second Baptist Church.

On February 10, approximately 2,000 people attended the first of several
worship services commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Eastern Baptist
Convention in Cuba.

McKenna-duCharme said one of the most significant aspects of the services
was that it marked the first time they had been open to the public. She
credited Dr. Roy Acosta García, president of the Eastern Baptist
Convention, for a sympathetic gesture toward women in ministry in inviting
Apolinaris to open the session.

The services included liturgical dance and special music written for the
event. Muñiz' husband, Rev. Elmer Lavistida, pastor of Second Baptist and a
concert pianist, also performed. In addition to Apolinaris, other plenary
speakers included John Sundquist, executive director of the American
Baptist Board of International Ministries, and José Norat, also of
International Ministries.

Founded in 1984, the BPFNA is a network linking Baptists involved in
justice and peace issues throughout North America. Its board of directors
is composed of members affiliated with 12 Baptist conventions and five
racial/ethnic groups in Canada, the U.S., Puerto Rico and Mexico. The
organization has no official sponsorship of any convention. Its primary
purpose is to encourage greater Baptist involvement-at local, national and
international levels-in justice and peace concerns and to help clarify
understanding of such involvement as essential to Christian discipleship.

For more information contact:
Ken Sehested, Executive Director, or David Teague, Associate Editor
Phone: 704/456-1881
Fax: 704/456-1883
Internet: bpfna@primeline.com

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