Despite visits by popes, ministering to Cuba's Catholics remains difficult
By KEVIN G. HALL
McClatchy Newspapers
GUAIMARO, Cuba -- After two papal visits, support is growing for the
Roman Catholic Church among long-suffering Cubans, yet support from the
Communist Party that rules this island nation can be described as
reluctant at best.
Priests from Cuban interior, far from the large cities of Havana and
Santiago, say it remains nearly impossible to operate with a semblance
of normalcy. They cannot approximate the kind of church services or
evangelical outreach that is common in the rest of Latin America.
There is a strain on what elsewhere in the Americas is taken for granted
- whether it's being forced to celebrate Mass in someone's crumbling
home, or having government agents sit in on sermons to keep a leash on
what is said from the pulpit.
"This place is at zero as far as I'm concerned," said the Rev. Alberto
Reyes, a 44-year-old parish priest in the central Cuban town of
Guaimaro, 250 miles east of Havana.
While Pope Benedict XVI's three-day visit to Cuba last week highlighted
what is considered the improvement in church-state relations in the
years since Pope John Paul II made his trip to Cuba in 1998, a visit to
Cuba's rural parishes shows the limits of that rapprochement.
The Cuban government still won't let the Catholics build churches. Only
the restoration of churches that predate the 1959 revolution is
permitted. There are newer hotels, but in most cities across the
country, buildings generally either predate the revolution or were
constructed before the collapse of the Soviet Union - the Cuba's
economic benefactor.
Churches in the interior are largely in the same crumbling state as the
rest of Cuba's buildings. In Reyes' church, the ceiling has been
repaired but many of the cross-shaped windows cut delicately into brick
years ago for ventilation no longer have storm covers. They're now just
open spaces through which water pours when it rains. Birds and insects
enter at will.
Reyes hopes Benedict's trip will allow for new churches to be built in
Cuba and that he can spread the church's message on a wider scale. But
he isn't holding his breath.
"The church can teach what it wants to teach, but within the church," he
said, noting that without new churches, the task is made much more
difficult.
With Cuba's priest shortage, Reyes, 44, ministers to several towns in an
area with a population of about 47,000. There are one or two old
churches where he can hold services and where volunteers can do charity
work such as providing breakfasts for the aged.
But in most of the towns, Reyes celebrates Mass in someone's home.
Often, he says, it's the only place that also has a television and a DVD
player. Reyes sometimes shows up to find a large crowd of people in the
middle of a movie.
"If I try to give Mass it means they'll have to stop the movie. They'll
hate the priest," Reyes said. "If I had a small church, it would put an
end to that."
The Rev. Jose Santana can relate to that. He is a Colombian from outside
Bogota who has led a small Catholic Church for the past two years on the
outskirts of Pinar del Rio, a mid-size Cuban city a couple of hours west
of Havana. Upon arriving in Cuba, he learned that he would tend to
communities spread out in the countryside but with no church where the
faithful can congregate.
"It's distinct because ... it's not a neutral place," he said of the
homes in which Mass is offered. "The place is small, there is no silence
(for reflection). People get distracted. The neighbor plays music, or
they are talking. And there's the unpleasant smell of pigs."
The worshipper who offered up a home for Mass raises swine, and that
isn't a clean or quiet task.
Then, there are the secret agents who attend services, Santana said,
citing word from his followers.
"They view us as a threat," he said. Of particular concern, he said, is
any message against abortion, a central tenet of the church.
Cuba officially was an atheist state until a constitutional change in
1992 that declared the nation secular. Abortion is a state-provided
service, along with inexpensive birth control offered at state
companies. It's an issue that government officials do not welcome
discussion on, and Santana said he has twice been the subject of
complaints to his superiors from government minders.
The long history of official state atheism led many Cubans to reject
religion or practice it in hiding since it could cost them their
livelihood. Today the state tolerates more expression of religion,but
people are still nervously flirting with a formal relationship with the
church.
"It's like we are starting over," said Santana, who noted that last year
was the first in 53 years that the church was allowed to send the statue
of Our Lady of Charity of Cobre - Cuba's patron saint - to parishes
across all of Cuba
"People want to express their religiosity but have not been sufficiently
able," he said.
Cuba's Roman Catholic leaders say being allowed to build new churches,
rather than just restore ones that are in varying degrees of ruin, would
be a start. So would be allowing the church to offer education in
parallel with public schools, or having some exposure to religious
tenets in schools.
But Benedict's recent visit, while raising the profile of the church
through huge outdoor church services, did not conclude with any promises
of further liberalization. Relations between church and state have
improved, but for the operational side of church activities, not much.
Will that change after the death of Fidel Castro, 85, or his brother
Raul, who will turn 81 in June?
"That's the million-dollar question," said Alfredo, 47, a Jehovah's
Witness in Havana who practiced his faith clandestinely for most of his
life but now is more public about his beliefs.
Jehovah's Witnesses, known for going door-to-door to preach their faith,
have been allowed large temporary assemblies in Cuba, but like the
Catholics are prohibited from building new churches. They must conduct
services in makeshift fashion. Concerned about retribution, Alfredo
spoke on the condition that his surname not be used.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/01/v-fullstory/2726420/despite-visits-by-popes-ministering.html
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