WCC delegation visits Cuba
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit underscored the witness and steadfastness of the Cuban churches in the midst of serious difficulties and new challenges, during a recent visit there.
“I found their witness very inspiring and very meaningful to the Cuban society and the universal church as a whole,” Tveit said.
Heading a WCC delegation to the Caribbean island, 25-30 May, Tveit and the delegation attended the 70th anniversary celebration of the Cuban Council of Churches (CIC) held on 29 May in Havana.
Cuban President Raul Castro attended the closing worship of the CIC’s celebration, held at the Episcopal Cathedral, and told the participants, “We need your prayers and blessings more than ever today.”
In his greetings to the CIC, Tveit said “we all share the burden of Jesus’ cross, that the diversity is a sign of the grace of God and that we are called to be witness of justice and peace in the world, in the spirit of the recently celebrated International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC).”
The IEPC was recently held in Kingston, Jamaica, 17-25 May and was attended by some 1,000 church leaders and peace activists from around the world. Jamaica is situated about 90 miles (145 kms.) from Cuba.
During the CIC celebration Cuban Vice-President, Esteban Lazo, said there is currently a serious crisis of civilization – ethical, financial and cultural- and then underlined the role of the churches in contributing to find solutions working together with the people, from their own faith perspectives.
At the end of the visit Tveit said that “in these times of important changes, I am sure that the churches celebrating this anniversary do play an important role to bring values, a prophetic voice and new visions to the Cuban society. Their place in the global ecumenical movement has been beneficial for this worldwide fellowship and this connection should be further strengthened in the years ahead which will be mutually beneficial.”
During their visit the delegates also met with relatives of the Cuban Five, who are serving long sentences at federal prisons in the U.S. and having been accused of spying against the United Stated –an allegation that has been rejected by the Cuban Government who considers them antiterrorist heroes.
The WCC reiterated its position of calling on the U.S. Government to grant non-immigrant visas on a humanitarian basis for those spouses who have not been able to visit their husbands since their imprisonment in 1998.
The visit also included meeting leaders from the two WCC member churches in Cuba, the Presbyterian-Reformed Church and the Methodist Church. The delegation met with Episcopal (Anglican) Bishop Griselda Delgado and visited the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Matanzas. They were offered a reception by the Norwegian Ambassador to Cuba.
Preaching both at the First Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Havana and the Methodist Church in El Vedado, Tveit said that the churches in Cuba have raised the cross as witness for hope and faith, which is a precious gift for the worldwide Church.
A two-hour meeting with Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega at the Archbishopric of Havana was an opportunity to exchange views on the ecumenical endeavor and to analyze critical issues that churches are grappling with around the world and particularly in the island.
Tveit is the fifth WCC general secretary to visit Cuba. In 1977 then general secretary Philip Potter made the first visit of a WCC general secretary.
Accompanying Tveit were Rev. Dr Walter Altmann, moderator WCC Central Committee; Rev. Dr Ofelia Ortega, president of the WCC; Gerard Granado, general secretary of the Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC); Rev. Christoph Anders, general secretary of the Association of Protestant Churches and Missions in Germany (Evangelisches Missionswerk or EMW); Faautu Talapusi, WCC programme executive for youth and the Pacific region; and Rev. Carlos Ham, WCC programme executive for Diakonia and Latin America/Caribbean.
WCC and the Cuban Five
