US Anglicans seek to end Cuban isolation
-23/05/06
Ending US hostility towards Cuba wi
US Anglicans seek to end Cuban isolation
-23/05/06
Ending US hostility towards Cuba will be better for freedom, reconciliation, human rights and the development of the churches than maintaining the current blockade, Anglicans in America are likely to tell President Bush next month.
Legislation calling for an “immediate end to all portions of the United States economic embargo against the Republic of Cuba” will be presented to the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA when it meets from 13-21 June 2006 in Columbus, Ohio.
Drafted by the Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns (AIPJC), the resolution asks dioceses and parishes in the Episcopal Church to consider the establishment of companion relationships with the Episcopal Church of Cuba – known locally as Iglesia Episcopal de Cubato (IEB) – to offer spiritual and, where possible, financial support.
Hoping to promote the exchange of religious and political ideals, the resolution also encourages “all members” of the Episcopal Church to travel to Cuba as well as receive delegations from the IEB, subject to approval by the US government.
It also calls for the Episcopal Church to recommit itself “at all levels to pray for the reconciliation of the United States and the Republic of Cuba.”
The legislation comes on the heels of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold’s six-day pastoral visit to the country in February 2006, when he met with Cuban president Fidel Castro, publicly voiced concerns about the embargo, and vowed to encourage his soon-to-be-elected successor to participate in the annual meetings of the diocese’s Metropolitan Council.
The members of that council are the Primates of the Anglican Church of Canada, the West Indies, and the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, who has been represented in recent decades by a bishop from the Episcopal Church’s Province IX.
Until 1967, the Diocese of Cuba was a member of the Episcopal Church. A vote by the Diocese of Cuba to rejoin the Episcopal Church failed narrowly in 2003.
The ECUSA General Convention has been calling for the lifting of the US economic sanctions against Cuba – known to Cubans as “el bloqueo” or “the blockade” – since the early 1990s.
The Church’s Office of Government Relations (OGR) in Washington DC advocates against the embargo both through direct engagement with Congress and the White House as well as through mobilizing Episcopalians around the country to advocate with their lawmakers.
Alex Baumgarten, international policy analyst for OGR and a member of the Presiding Bishop’s Cuba delegation, explained that “the Episcopal Church’s opposition to the embargo is rooted in a recognition that it has done nothing to bring healing to the long-suffering people of Cuba, but rather has exacerbated and added to their strife.”
The Rev Brian Grieves, director of the Church’s Peace and Justice Ministries, also visited Cuba with the Presiding Bishop.
“We found that regardless of anyone’s political point of view, everyone opposes the embargo because of all the humanitarian hardships it places on the Cuban people,” he said.
In its report to Convention, AIPJC, whose members travelled to Cuba last summer under one of the few remaining special travel licenses, explains that the embargo has “closed nearly all channels of diplomatic, educational and person-to-person contact” between the U.S. and Cuba.
“The punitive effect of the embargo has had particular strain on the mission relationship between Cuban churches and their partners in the United States,” Baumgarten declared, “cutting off Cuban churches from deeply needed financial support, theological and educational materials, and even pensions to pay deeply impoverished retired clergy.”
Baumgarten noted that “one of the cruelest ironies of US policy is that the churches of Cuba are among the strongest advocates of free thought, free speech, free assembly, and all the other virtues that supporters of the embargo claim to hold dear.
“Punishing the churches is not only cruel, but it serves absolutely no policy interest of the United States,” he added.
During its visit to Cuba, the commission said it was particularly moved by the witness of the IEC and its laity and clergy who “despite enormous economic hardship, lovingly and enthusiastically carry forward Christ’s ministry of reconciliation in their own parishes and throughout the country.”
US Presbyterians have also called for an end to the blockade. Relations between the protestant churches and Castroís government are generally good, though there are continuing complaints of violations by independent churches and relations with the Catholic hierarchy are sometimes strained.
The country is regularly praised for its health, education and welfare policies but condemned for political rights violations and incursions on press freedom ñ which Castro seeks to justify with reference to US aggression.
With thanks to Matthew Davies, international correspondent for the Episcopal News Service of ECUSA.
[Also on Ekklesia: Concern over forced closure of churches in Cuba; US Presbyterians call an end to Cuba travel restrictions; Bishop urges Bush to allow help for Cuba; Axis of evil offers to come to America’s rescue; Theologians gather to address religion, violence and globalisation]
US Anglicans seek to end Cuban isolation
-23/05/06
Ending US hostility towards Cuba will be better for freedom, reconciliation, human rights and the development of the churches than maintaining the current blockade, Anglicans in America are likely to tell President Bush next month.
Legislation calling for an “immediate end to all portions of the United States economic embargo against the Republic of Cuba” will be presented to the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA when it meets from 13-21 June 2006 in Columbus, Ohio.
Drafted by the Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns (AIPJC), the resolution asks dioceses and parishes in the Episcopal Church to consider the establishment of companion relationships with the Episcopal Church of Cuba – known locally as Iglesia Episcopal de Cubato (IEB) – to offer spiritual and, where possible, financial support.
Hoping to promote the exchange of religious and political ideals, the resolution also encourages “all members” of the Episcopal Church to travel to Cuba as well as receive delegations from the IEB, subject to approval by the US government.
It also calls for the Episcopal Church to recommit itself “at all levels to pray for the reconciliation of the United States and the Republic of Cuba.”
The legislation comes on the heels of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold’s six-day pastoral visit to the country in February 2006, when he met with Cuban president Fidel Castro, publicly voiced concerns about the embargo, and vowed to encourage his soon-to-be-elected successor to participate in the annual meetings of the diocese’s Metropolitan Council.
The members of that council are the Primates of the Anglican Church of Canada, the West Indies, and the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, who has been represented in recent decades by a bishop from the Episcopal Church’s Province IX.
Until 1967, the Diocese of Cuba was a member of the Episcopal Church. A vote by the Diocese of Cuba to rejoin the Episcopal Church failed narrowly in 2003.
The ECUSA General Convention has been calling for the lifting of the US economic sanctions against Cuba – known to Cubans as “el bloqueo” or “the blockade” – since the early 1990s.
The Church’s Office of Government Relations (OGR) in Washington DC advocates against the embargo both through direct engagement with Congress and the White House as well as through mobilizing Episcopalians around the country to advocate with their lawmakers.
Alex Baumgarten, international policy analyst for OGR and a member of the Presiding Bishop’s Cuba delegation, explained that “the Episcopal Church’s opposition to the embargo is rooted in a recognition that it has done nothing to bring healing to the long-suffering people of Cuba, but rather has exacerbated and added to their strife.”
The Rev Brian Grieves, director of the Church’s Peace and Justice Ministries, also visited Cuba with the Presiding Bishop.
“We found that regardless of anyone’s political point of view, everyone opposes the embargo because of all the humanitarian hardships it places on the Cuban people,” he said.
In its report to Convention, AIPJC, whose members travelled to Cuba last summer under one of the few remaining special travel licenses, explains that the embargo has “closed nearly all channels of diplomatic, educational and person-to-person contact” between the U.S. and Cuba.
“The punitive effect of the embargo has had particular strain on the mission relationship between Cuban churches and their partners in the United States,” Baumgarten declared, “cutting off Cuban churches from deeply needed financial support, theological and educational materials, and even pensions to pay deeply impoverished retired clergy.”
Baumgarten noted that “one of the cruelest ironies of US policy is that the churches of Cuba are among the strongest advocates of free thought, free speech, free assembly, and all the other virtues that supporters of the embargo claim to hold dear.
“Punishing the churches is not only cruel, but it serves absolutely no policy interest of the United States,” he added.
During its visit to Cuba, the commission said it was particularly moved by the witness of the IEC and its laity and clergy who “despite enormous economic hardship, lovingly and enthusiastically carry forward Christ’s ministry of reconciliation in their own parishes and throughout the country.”
US Presbyterians have also called for an end to the blockade. Relations between the protestant churches and Castroís government are generally good, though there are continuing complaints of violations by independent churches and relations with the Catholic hierarchy are sometimes strained.
The country is regularly praised for its health, education and welfare policies but condemned for political rights violations and incursions on press freedom ñ which Castro seeks to justify with reference to US aggression.
With thanks to Matthew Davies, international correspondent for the Episcopal News Service of ECUSA.
[Also on Ekklesia: Concern over forced closure of churches in Cuba; US Presbyterians call an end to Cuba travel restrictions; Bishop urges Bush to allow help for Cuba; Axis of evil offers to come to America’s rescue; Theologians gather to address religion, violence and globalisation]