wfn.org | CRC in Cuba involved in unveiling bust of John Calvin

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> Calvin Bust Unveiled in Cuba

Nov. 19, 2009 -- A bust of Protestant reformer John Calvin was
recently unveiled in a park in Havana, Cuba, as a way to cap a
year-long celebration of Calvin?s 500th birthday. Calvinism plays a
role in the religious life of Cuba in part because of the
more-than-25-year work of the Cuban Christian Reformed Church.

The Calvin celebrations were part of a Jubilee Year organized by the
Presbyterian-Reformed Church of Cuba.

?More than being a set of historical and culture values, Protestantism
continues basically to be commitment, faithfulness and a presence
before the face of God in the world,? said Dr. Isabelle Graessle,
director of the International Museum of the Reformation in Geneva,
Switzerland, at the unveiling of the bust.

?We?ve unveiled Calvin?s bust, but let us continue our happy duty to
recapture spirituality in our time, to respond courageously to today?s
large theological issues,? Graessle said.

This event, celebrated in a park located at the intersection of Egido
and Desamparados Streets in ?Old Havana,? included representatives
from Cuban church and political life along with a group of invitees
and many spectators.

?There is something profound about this, because the ecumenical
churches in Cuba (of which the Christian Reformed Church of Cuba has
been a leader for 25-plus years) have gained grudging respect and
significant room for Protestant believers in that nation,? says Rev.
James Dekker, a former CRC missionary in Latin America who also worked
for a time in Cuba. He is now a pastor in Canada.

The bust of Calvin, sculpted by Francois Bonnot who was present, was
unveiled by Dr. Ofelia Miriam Ortega, vice-president for the Latin
American and the Caribbean members of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches and also president of the same region for the World Council
of Churches.

During the ceremony, Ortega read a letter from the President and
General Secretary of WARC, both highlighting the significance of this
event during the (Presbyterian-Reformed Church?s) Jubilee Year.

Three elements of Calvin?s legacy were emphasized?the gift of unity
and communion; the need for an alliance for economic justice and life
on earth, and the priority of peaceful living along with respect for
the creation.

In her speech, Ortega said, ?Often Havana has been likened to Calvin?s
Geneva. In both places children and youth study and work; school books
are handed down as the students finish their courses. The poor become
the privileged recipients of the church?s economic and educational efforts  ?
?As theologian, educator, pastor and economist, Calvin lived in a
historical moment similar to ours as a new historical era was
approaching. Perhaps as a product of his intuition?among his many
virtues?Calvin cultivated a consummate ecumenical spirit, anticipating
by four centuries the current ecumenical movement?.?

Dr. Reinerio Arce, Jr., rector of the Evangelical Seminary of
Matanzas, received the words of thanks from WARC and the United
Reformed Church of Scotland, which donated the bust of Calvin.

Similarly Arce thanked Bonnot, the sculptor, as well as Graessle, the
director of the International Museum of the Reformation, the Cuban
authorities who granted placement of the bust, the Cuban Council of
Churches, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center and the Evangelical
Seminary?all co-sponsors of the project.

?Calvin isn?t only a personage of faith; he is a personage of history
whose idea and work profoundly have influenced modernity to the
present,? said Leal Spencer, official historian of the city of Havana.
?He had a social reach not only for his city, but for the entire
Reformed world.?

Therefore, said Spencer, ?in the heart of this historic walled center
of the city, where there are many testimonies to faith, this
expression of ecumenical Christianity also expresses the highest
aspirations of human desire.?

--Aymara Cepeda, Communications Office of the Council of
Churches of Cuba, wrote the press release for this story. The release
was translated from Spanish by James Dekker for CRC Communications.

> -- Chris Meehan
> News & Media Director
> Christian Reformed Church in North America
> 1-616-224-0849