2007-11-20. Congress Of Catholics In Public Life Madrid Nov 2007
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Christian Liberation Movement
No one wants the church to be persecuted but what is true is that a
persecuted church is freer than one that unites and submits to a
political power. The Cuban church has not had that experience of power,
thank God, for more than a century. Rather, for the past half century it
has suffered persecution, harassment, exclusion, repression and up to
the present, the oppressive action of systematic control, interference,
and intimidation of the repressive forces, the Communist Party and the
very Government.
The process of de-Christianization of society and culture, in sum the
intent at forced de-Christianization of life was not a complement or
peculiar addition to the totalitarian regime that was installed in Cuba,
but rather one of its essential components. It was and still is an
instrument of spiritual hollowing of the individual, of moral
destruction, in order to substitute it with the socialist morale which
eventually resulted in a void in many aspects of human behavior which
remained without a referent. The only accepted and imposed moral
consisted of saying and silencing and doing and ceasing to do, in such a
way that the individual and his life were to be unconditional to the
regime and its leading figure.
The result, a grave anthropological damage, from the effort on the part
of the regime to appropriate all aspects of the life of the society and
of the individual, is still being achieved. Marxist-Leninist atheism was
imposed in schools and curriculums, the church was defamed, history was
distorted, and ridicule was used and continues to be used as well as all
forms of degradation of the church's image, in books, newspapers, radio,
television and especially in the cinematographic production that was
reborn in the new regime with the primary, systematic ideological
mission of attacking the church, religion and religiosity among Cubans.
Those who continued to express their faith publicly faced ridicule,
exclusion, banishment to forced labor camps, prison sentences under
various pretexts, martyrdom in some cases, and the fate of living marked
lives as enemies of the revolution in all aspects of society. The
church and consequently its laymen continued to evangelize and remain
united in Christ to the universal Church with a feeling of radical
belonging. The church did not divide, nor did it serve as an instrument
of the regime, which the government has never forgiven it for.
All of this de-Christianizing charge was accompanied with direct
repression, which spans from the police interrogation of every
practicing believer to the various forms of harassment and aggression
against laymen, priests and religious individuals who manifest an
inclination to defend, promote or so much as support those are
disadvantaged for whatever reason.
Communist fundamentalism, like secular fundamentalism, creates
conditions for the total submission of individuals and peoples,
dismantling and even worse depersonifying them. To say that this
totalitarian regime tries to take hold of the life of society in all of
its dimensions and at the level of the individual is not a form of
speech, but rather the most oppressive and dehumanizing trait of this
regime.
We are therefore brothers in the face of a religious problem and a
challenge for Christians. The drums resound, the trumpets are heard,
which call for liberation.
The choice to struggle and work peacefully toward full liberation in our
oppressive situation is a choice for our brethren, which comes from
faith and love. It is a struggle for the dignity of our brothers, for
their rights. It is the rebirth of liberty for the children of God and
the proclamation of that divine gift that is inalienable.
Before the Christian Liberation Movement was born, we had an informal
reflection group that we called "the Circle." Afterward we decided to
found in 1986 a more formal circle, which we called the "Christian
Circle of Cuban Thought," in the Cerro Parish, to reflect on the Cuba
reality in light of the Gospel and the social doctrine of the Church.
There was much silence, fear and rationalization in Cuban society as
well as in the church.
We edited a single-sheet mimeographed publication titled "People of
God." It was perhaps the first free publication in Cuba since the
arrival of Communism. We spoke of religious freedom as something that
must be exercised without permission and we denounced the oppression in
all aspects of life. We did not pretend to make theology, but we simply
said: Jesus stated: Let us render unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Well Caesar seems to
want our lives and our liberty, which are God-given free gifts, which
will not be surrendered to Caesar. Some pastors prohibited our Circle
from continuing its work and from circulating our publication "People of
God."
Thus, we decided to found the Christian Liberation Movement, not under
the umbrella nor the identity or responsibility of the Church, but
rather totally ours and independent. A civic movement, not a
confessional one, not religious nor for religious individuals but
nevertheless inspired by Christian humanism and in which all those who
accept those values could participate, regardless of whether they
practice a religion or not.
Another not unrelated characteristic is the spirituality that motivated
and still motivates those of us who founded the movement and those
members who are Catholic. I cannot deny that our choice in the political
and social life also resulted in a certain level of exclusion and
incomprehension on the part of the church, although we never tried to
get its institutional support and even less so were we aspiring to be
the political arm of the Church. In the first place we have loyalty to
the church, which should not and does not have political arms of any
stripe. Secondly, we aimed to distinguish our domain.
However, solidarity and support from the faith has not been absent,
among some of those who always risk more for the persecuted in their
church. Life in the Catholic community, that is in the large family that
comes together in the Eucharist and shares so many common experiences,
that works evangelizing in the barrio, is indispensable for the life of
the layman whatever his vocation may be and his choice of service
through his faith in the world. If the layman does not feel a lively
belonging to the community that I am referring to, he can not feel that
he was "sent" on his mission in the world, nor can he garner the
strength to remain coherent in his faith in all of the aspects of his
life and would thus run the risk of disconnecting from his source.
The Cuban political prisoners have exhibited truly epic character with
their courage and moral steadfastness. The testimony of the political
prisoners that are Christians is also worthy of admiration, as their
spirituality has flourished, and maintained them in the midst of the
cruel treatment they are subjected to.
They way they have evangelized those who live among them, and the manner
in which they have behaved in the midst of adversity, is truly
inspirational for all of us. I do not want to make reproaches but in
general the voices of solidarity with our brothers in prison have not
been heard from our laymen in Latin America and Europe, with the
exception of a few whom we greatly value and appreciate.
Our movement has struggled peacefully, in the midst of persecution to
promote individual liberation and solidarity as bases for the civic
struggle. We are now developing a civic campaign entitled the Civic
Forum in order to push forward the Varela Project and other initiatives
that call for the rights of citizens.
There are many expectations and uncertainties about Cuba and inside
Cuba. Many speak about changes and different possible models and
approaches by those who are in power to continue totalitarianism in
another form. Meanwhile, our position is radical: we ask for all rights
for all Cubans because we are all human beings.
Though this appears to be elemental it is in danger of vanishing, but
our movement continues to radically insist that the primary value is the
individual over and above ideologies, models, and power. Thus, changes
are good only if they imply the recognition of all rights by law. We
have launched a vision of change in the Program for all Cubans, under
the banner of liberty, democratic participation, dialogue and
reconciliation.
Many criticize us because we affirm that forgiveness is an inseparable
dimension of true liberation and because we defend society from all
types of fundamentalism, political, religious and also mercantilist
fundamentalism, as well as from all oppressive realities that put
political, economic or any other type of power above the individual and
that tarnish dignity and the human condition.
We are also attacked and accused solely because we invoke the Lord when
it comes from our soul. We have experienced that faith can not be
removed from our souls, nor silenced by any power no matter how
repressive or violent it may be, even when this power is so totalitarian
that it completely takes over the social environment. We do not believe
either that faith or religious belief can be imposed or induced by any
power, including that of the state.
Individuals have the right to believe or not believe, to practice
religion or to not do so as well, but it is a right for those of us who
believe to profess our faith and express and consequently live with this
faith publicly.
There is a trap, a contradiction in professional secularism, which is
the affirmation of an assumed right to silence believers and deny us our
authentic right to express our faiths and act in line with it in all
aspects of our life. That is unacceptable. The lay Christian can not
lose his internal freedom due to fear or interests, for he would no
longer be a testimony to faith. He should also not cease to express his
faith openly simply because a rule has been imposed in his environment
that speaking about Jesus Christ or about faith is "in bad taste."
Faith can be expressed simply with respect for ones brethren, his life
and his dignity and the common good without violence or impositions, but
with total freedom. It is that freedom which communist and secular
fundamentalism denies. They deny that freedom, which is the primary
freedom, which all human beings are entitled to as children of God,
believers or non-believers, in order to do away with all other freedoms
and all liberty.
I will comment that I have just received a small wooden statue of Don
Quixote with a shield, sword, huge moustache and everything that sent
was sent to me from prison by Regis Iglesias, one of the leaders of the
Christian Liberation Movement who is serving an 18 year sentence. On the
bottom part of the base of the small statue, Regis inscribed a quote
from Don Quixote that expressed exactly the reason for why the Christian
Liberation Movement exists:
"Because it is a hard case to make slaves of those whom God and Nature
made free"
How wise and liberating is that quote from Quixote for our times, in
which many powers pretend to enslave the human being, try to suppress
God in their lives, and alter human nature itself. But do not despair,
that history always demonstrates that the human spirit and right now as
well responds by recovering its true nature and walking toward the union
with the Lord who is the author of that nature and who imprints on all
his children those first and indelible vocations: love and liberty.
That is liberation.
For more information or to obtain a copy of the press release, please
contact: Francisco De Armas, Julio Hernández, International
Representatives, Christian Liberation Movement, (787) 549-1805,
fdamcl@cs.com
* Oswaldo Payá's speech that was presented by his European
representatives, Carlos Payá, at the Congress on "Catholics and Public
Life" that was organized by the San Pablo Foundation CEU in Madrid.
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=12692
No comments:
Post a Comment