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Miami church leaders travel
to Cuba to mark 200th year of archdiocese
By Angelique Ruhi-Lopez,
Catholic
News Service, December 6, 2004.
MIAMI (CNS) -- Archbishop John C. Favalora
of Miami said he and 15 others who traveled
to Cuba Nov. 27-29 for the 200th anniversary
of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba experienced
on the trip the true meaning of Advent:
hope.
"It's always Advent in Cuba. The fact
that the Cuban people hold on, put up with,
endure, it's like waiting for the Messiah,
and the hope that a better day is coming,"
said the archbishop, who made his fourth
visit to Cuba -- his first since Pope John
Paul II's visit to Cuba in 1998.
Archbishop Favalora, Archbishop Roberto
Gonzalez of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and priests
from the Archdiocese of Miami, including
Msgr. Tomas Marin and Fathers Carlos Miyares,
Fernando Heria and Daniel Kubala -- together
with their mothers -- visited Cuba for 48
hours.
The U.S. visitors found the church in Cuba
"surviving and thriving," and
noted that in recent years Cuban Catholics
have felt freer to express their faith.
However, the group also came up against
the numerous restrictions that exist in
the country -- they had brought donated
medicines and religious articles but they
were not allowed to take them to the Cuban
people. So, they returned home with the
items.
There are historically important connections
between the archdioceses of Miami and Santiago
de Cuba that stretch beyond the 90-mile
distance between the Cuban communities on
the island and those in exile in Florida.
Prior to the creation of the Diocese of
Louisiana and the Floridas in 1793, these
Spanish territories came under the jurisdiction
of the then-Diocese of Santiago de Cuba,
which was created in 1522 and later became
the principal archdiocese of Cuba in 1804.
Archbishop Favalora celebrated Mass Nov.
27 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of
Charity at El Cobre, Cuba; the congregation
included 12 Cuban bishops. In his homily,
which he delivered in Spanish, he expressed
his solidarity with the people of Cuba.
At a press conference upon his return to
Miami International Airport Nov. 29, the
archbishop stated that he had prayed before
the image of Our Lady of Charity, Cuba's
patroness, prior to the Mass for "the
needs of Cuban people, both there on the
island and in the diaspora."
"It was a religious experience to
be able to go to Cobre and pray at such
a holy place," said Archbishop Favalora.
"Devotion to Our Lady is part of what
it means to be Cuban."
As the sun set behind the Cathedral of
Our Lady of the Assumption in Santiago de
Cuba Nov. 28, Archbishop Pedro Meurice Estiu,
head of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba,
celebrated the 200th anniversary Mass, which
marked the close of a yearlong celebration.
"The cathedral had a seating capacity
of about 1,500, but the church was overflowing
with people singing with joy and fervor.
Everyone, both young and old, was responding
with a penetrating voice. The church in
Cuba is surviving and thriving," said
Msgr. Marin at the press conference.
Archbishop Gonzalez said he noticed a big
change since his first visit to Cuba 15
years ago.
"When I first visited in 1989, the
churches were empty," he said in Spanish.
"Today, the people don't fit in the
churches. The fear of celebrating their
faith has begun to diminish. Hundreds of
thousands of Cubans are celebrating their
faith openly. The church in Cuba is an example
for all the church."
Despite a greater ability to worship more
freely, restrictions still abound in Cuba.
The visitors brought with them 21 suitcases
filled with medicine -- antibiotics, insulin
and vitamins -- donated by doctors and pharmaceutical
companies, as well as religious articles,
such as rosaries and images of Our Lady
of Charity.
The items, however, were not allowed inside
the country but could either be left at
the airport, and eventually be given to
the Cuban government, or could be taken
back to Miami.
Archbishop Favalora decided it would be
best to bring them back to the United States,
vowing to attempt other means of getting
these much needed items to the Cuban people.
The archbishop said that despite the suffering
and oppression of the Cuban people under
a communist regime the church of Cuba is
alive and grace-filled.
"Were it not for the church, the Cuban
people wouldn't have the enthusiasm and
hope that they have," he said. "They
are waiting to meet Christ daily, and they
understand the journey of being in the desert.
They don't have the material distractions
that we have.
"They don't have anything but they're
satisfied, even though they hope for better
as they wait for the Lord to come liberate
them. We should all be living Advent believing
that another time is coming," he added.
The archbishop closed with a message for
all Cuban people, saying "nothing and
no one should interfere with the unity that
exists among Cubans on the island and elsewhere."
"The faith binds us together and makes
us one," he said. "They have common
blood and heritage. That is a natural bond
that shouldn't allow them to be separated.
They're one family, one people, and family
should always be family."
Copyright
(c) 2004 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All
rights reserved.
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