Episcopal Press and News
MINNESOTA: Minneapolis Cathedral builds partnership with Cuba's Episcopal Church
Episcopal News Service. February 12, 2008 [021208-05]
Joe Bjordal, Correspondent for Episcopal Life Media in Provinces V and VI
"We need your friendship. We need your presence." These were the words spoken over and over again to the Very Rev. Spenser D. Simrill, dean of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Minneapolis, during a recent visit to Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba (IEC), the Episcopal Church of Cuba.
Eighteen members of the congregation embarked on a 10-day mission trip during Epiphany at the invitation of Bishop Miguel Tamayo of Uruguay and interim bishop of Cuba. It was the third trip by members of St. Mark's in almost as many years.
As part of a deepening relationship between IEC and the Minnesota cathedral, Tamayo also asked the congregation to enter into a formal, long-term relationship.
Discovering a forgotten tie
St. Mark's relationship with IEC began in 2004, shortly after the cathedral was named a Center for the Community of the Cross of Nails (CCN), an international Anglican reconciliation ministry. It was then, as the congregation began to explore partnerships through the Cross of Nails network, that two things happened at once, according to Simrill: discoveries that Holy Trinity Cathedral in Havana was also a CCN Center and that a member of the congregation, Mary Batinich, was a long-time friend of Tamayo.
Those discoveries and subsequent communication resulted in an invitation from Tamayo to Simrill to lead a pilgrimage to Cuba to meet and discuss partnership options in person. Although most travel to Cuba is banned by the United States government, churches may apply for a license that permits travel for religious purposes. St. Mark's received such a license and on the Feast of Epiphany 2005, 24 members of the congregation set out for Cuba.
That first trip was "all about building relationships" said Simrill. The pilgrims spent a considerable amount of time at Holy Trinity Cathedral, where they participated in a Cross of Nails reconciliation liturgy each day with members of the congregation. They also made repairs and improvements to the cathedral dormitory and pruned a garden that had not been tended for years.
A discovery was also made that would immediately endear the Minnesota pilgrims to the church in Cuba. Much to their surprise they discovered a plaque in the cathedral commemorating the role of Minnesota's first Episcopal bishop, Henry Benjamin Whipple, in establishing Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba, a fact that was apparently little known or long forgotten back home.
Whipple first visited Cuba in 1871, en route to the West Indies. Witnessing the need and desire for church services, he returned home and lobbied the House of Bishops to send missionaries to Cuba. It is reported that Whipple held services on a boat in Havana harbor during his first visit.
"That sealed it for us," said Simrill. "Suddenly we realized that, as Minnesota Episcopalians, we uniquely share in the history of the church in Cuba. We knew we had made the right decision. We are both humbled and proud to carry on Bishop Whipple's legacy."
A bishop's invitation
St. Mark's carried out a second mission trip to Cuba in early 2006. Despite a hurricane and lack of electricity for several days, the group carried out its mission of deepening the relationship with the Havana cathedral congregation and also undertook physical improvements at the congregation of Jesus Nazareno in Santa Clara.
The group also issued an invitation for Tamayo to visit the Diocese of Minnesota, which he was finally able to accept a year later. Tamayo came to Minneapolis in late June 2007, when he preached at St. Mark's Cathedral and met with Episcopal clergy from the area.
On July 1, the fifth Sunday after Pentecost, in the presence of the cathedral congregation, Simrill and Tamayo signed a covenant highlighting the common bond of reconciliation ministry between the Minnesota cathedral and the Episcopal Church of Cuba and their mutual desire to work together.
On this visit, Tamayo also explained to Simrill that plans are being discussed which would divide the Episcopal Church in Cuba into two dioceses -- east and west. The plan is not a certainty, although it does have support in principle by the Metropolitan Council, the group of Anglican primates who have authority over the church in Cuba in matters of faith and order. The council includes Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who has expressed her delight about the beginnings of a partnership between St. Mark's Cathedral and the IEC.
Should the plan come into being, which would be no sooner than 2010, Tamayo asked St. Mark's Cathedral to become the official companion partner of the new eastern diocese, with Santiago de Cuba as the official seat. During the recent trip, Tamayo even showed Simrill architectural plans for a proposed new diocesan center in Santiago.
Launching a network of support
Simrill accepted the invitation and challenge but said St. Mark's would not do it alone. He announced plans to form a network of congregations to carry out the proposed partnership, which would also benefit the existing island-wide church in Cuba in the meantime.
Invitations to participate and education about the needs in Cuba has now begun in earnest following the January 2008 mission trip. Part of the introduction to and education about the IEC will be done by sharing a short film made during the trip, produced by Spenser Simrill, Jr., an instructor at the University of Georgia. The documentary captures some rarely seen images of life in a country virtually closed off to the outside world.
Immediate goals for the network include beginning to raise funds so that $100,000 can be on hand if the new diocese is created to build the diocesan center and house for the bishop in Santiago and to purchase an automobile and van.
Plans also call for repeated mission trips during which, as before, medical and other supplies will be taken. St. Mark's license to travel into Cuba is currently only for members of its own congregation and is strictly enforced by the Treasury Department. Simrill is now working with the bishop's office to receive a new license that will allow members of any congregation in the Diocese of Minnesota to travel to Cuba.
Cuban epiphanies
St. Mark's third mission trip was also an integral component of launching the new network. According to Simrill it was planned to allow for "digging deeper into the relationship by understanding the people -- their needs and joys -- at a personal level." In contrast to previous trips where lodging for pilgrims was in hotels or the Havana cathedral's dormitory, this time travelers were hosted in private homes in rural towns. The group also visited many "house churches" that have sprung up as signs of growth and vitality in the IEC despite the government's ban on the building of new churches.
"It was an amazing and moving opportunity to meet the church in Cuba face to face," said Simrill. "In the midst of extreme poverty, we saw the face of Jesus, both the suffering face and the joyful face. We witnessed the discipleship of these beautiful people and how the church plays a big role in alleviating suffering."
"For me and for other pilgrims," added Simrill, "this trip was a series of epiphanies -- Cuban epiphanies -- where we met the living God face to face through courageous people, who, despite all odds, are living out the Gospel and bringing Christ's love to their world, a world in much need."
The documentary is aptly titled "Cuban Epiphanies."