wfn.org | United Methodist agency requests Cuba license

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

United Methodist agency requests Cuba license

April 14, 1998  Contact: Linda Bloom*(212)870-3803*New York  {227}

NEW YORK (UMNS) -- The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries has
requested a U.S. Treasury license to support important ministries of the
Methodist Church in Cuba.

The request follows a recent series of meetings in Cuba involving the
Rev. Randolph Nugent, the board's general secretary, other United
Methodist church leaders, Cuban Methodist church leaders and Cuban
government officials, including President Fidel Castro. 

The license would allow the Board of Global Ministries to provide
materials and other resources to build or rebuild churches and
parsonages in Cuba, according to Nugent.

Other assistance would include humanitarian aid, such as food and
medicine, materials for theological education, and salary subsidies for
pastors and church staff.

In an April 9 statement, Nugent also expressed his support for efforts
in Congress to pass the Cuban Humanitarian Trade Act of 1997, which
would lift restrictions on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba. His
position is supported by the 1996 General Conference, the denomination's
top legislative body. 

Under the current U.S. economic embargo, churches and church-related
groups must receive government approval to travel to Cuba, to send
humanitarian aid or missionaries, or to provide  financial support for
church projects in Cuba.

Nugent visited Cuba last December as part of a National Council of
Churches delegation and returned in February with a United Methodist
delegation of bishops and agency staff.  

On Feb. 9, Castro officially welcomed the group to Cuba and joined in a
two-hour dialogue about church history and traditions, with special
attention to the Methodist tradition, of which he confessed little
knowledge. Nugent later sent him a book on Methodism founder John
Wesley.

Methodism in Cuba has always been closely related to the church in the
United States. More than 100 years ago, Cubans exiled to the United
States after the war of independence with Spain returned to their
country and planted the seeds of the future church.

The Methodist Church in Cuba has official membership of about 10,000,
but it serves a constituency of more than 30,000.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/