My
trip to Cuba,
Chapter 16
by
Julie Sullivan
Just when I thought I had seen
it all, done it all, met all the people I could meet, my 16th trip
to Cuba from
February 1-6 to attend the Cuban Synod in Cárdenas was truly spectacular. Thanks to the fact that Bishop Cerveny’s son
was unable to go with him, I was persuaded by the Bishop to accompany him to Cuba. The
Bishop was most anxious to attend the Synod since it was the the 25th
anniversary of the Companion relationship between our two Diocese, which was begun
by Bishop Cerveny and Bishop Emilio Hernández of Cuba in 1982 at the General
Convention here in the US. Bishop
Cerveny had first gone to Cuba in 1957 and had made many wonderful friends
there, mostly young seminarians at the time who have all grown up, become
priests and some of whom are old enough now that they are close to
retirement. The Bishop felt that it
would be a good time for him to go down and see all of his friends while they
were all still alive and healthy. He was
hesitant and unsure whether he should go or not, but his wife Emmy convinced
him to go. Bishop’s younger son who was
to accompany pulled out at the last moment and the Bishop called me and asked
if I could fill in as his guide and translator.
It was not difficult to convince me since he sweetened the deal by
saying he would pay for my plane ticket!
So, in about 2 weeks time we were able to pull the trip together, get
our visas from Cuba,
which normally take about 2 months and we arrived in Havana the
morning of February 1st.
What made the trip even more
exciting for me was that our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori was
going to attend the Synod and I would get a chance to meet her. Also accompanying her were her husband, Richard,
her financial adviser, personal secretary, communications officer and my good
friend Fr. Juan Márquez who is the Latin American and Caribbean
companion relationship person at the National Church. It was wonderful to meet the Presiding Bishop
and her fellow travelers and be able to socialize with them. The Bishop is a very intelligent and
knowledgeable person (who is my same age!) and it turned out was the first
presiding bishop from our country to attend a Cuban Synod. Last year Bishop Frank Griswold went to Cuba just
after the Synod and caused lots of excitement by denouncing the US
embargo against Cuba from
the pulpit and even spoke with President Castro.
The Synod itself went
extremely well. They had an ordinary and
an extraordinary session in which they revised the canons of the Church in Cuba. It was during the latter session that they
were able to change things so that Bishop Tamayo would be able to split the
Diocese of Cuba into two parts, east and west and create a situation in which
suffragan Bishops could be appointed by the Metropolitan Council. The Metropolitan Council consists of the
Bishops of Canada, the US and
the West Indies. The Canadian Presiding Bishop Andrew Hutchison
was also there. Bishop Drexel Gomez from
the West Indies was
not able to attend due to illness but between Bishops Hutchison and Jefferts
Schori, the suffragan bishops could be named.
Which brings me to the next
exciting ocurrence at the Synod! But
before I get to that, yet another wonderful event was the ordination of
Marianela de la Paz Cot. She is the
daughter of the Dean of the Cathedral in Havana, the
Reverend Juan Ramón de la Paz and his wife the Reverend Nerva Luisa Cot. Adding to the excitement was the fact that
our Bishop Jefferts Schori was to give the sermon (in Spanish!) during the
ordination ceremony AND Marianela was the first woman to be ordained in Cuba in 20
years! And despite the fact that it was
February, this was Cuba and we
had a very warm day at the service. So
you might imagine that with all of the finery adding to the nervousness of the
candidate to Holy Orders, we had lots of brow-mopping going on. But never mind all that, where was I? Oh, yes, lots of people, lots of purple, a
nervous candidate, and a sermon in Spanish by our own PB! The ordination went beautifully and was very
emotional with BOTH of her parents up on the altar along with all of the clergy
in Cuba.
And as if all that were not
enough, at the end of the ceremony came even more momentous ocurrences. Bishop Hutchison came forward to make his
announcements. First of all, he
announced that the Metropolitan Council had decided to extend Bishop Tamayo’s
interim bishop status for another 3 years.
I am surprised that here in our Diocese the great cry of joy was not
heard. The entire church erupted in thunderous
applause and shouts of joy. Bishop
Tamayo is well loved and respected in all of Cuba and
has been the great unifying factor that has brought peace and tranquility to
the entire Church in Cuba. But, alas, he is also Bishop of Uruguay (and
well loved there too, I might add) and being Bishop of two countries and one as
large as Cuba is a
lot of work. Which brings me to the next
momentous announcement made by Bishop Hutchison. After the thunderous applause, we all became
extremely quiet while awaiting the Bishop’s announcement of the two suffragan
bishops. No one but the Metropolitan
Council and Bishop Tamayo knew who had been named and so we were all on the
edge of our seats. When he announced
that Ulises Agüero from Santiago (at
the eastern end of the island) had been named, another great cry went up and
the tears started to flow. Lots of hugs
and congratulations were exchanged.
Bishop Cerveny and I were in the front row and immediately upon the
announcement, Bishop Cerveny went up and gave Ulises a gigantic hug. Then the church got quiet again only to erupt
once more in the same manner when Nerva Cot was named as first woman suffragan
bishop in all of the Caribbean and Latin
America. We were
all totally stunned as her nomination was truly unexpected. With Fr. Ulises we could understand his
appointment since he had been a front runner in their last (unsuccessful) elections
for Bishop. But Mother Nerva was really
a delightful surprise. And we were all
amazed at what a good job the Metropolitan Council had done at appointing two
Bishops that had a long history in the church, were well loved by all of the
clergy and were also very loyal to Bishop Tamayo. Thank you, Lord for the wisdom of the
Metropolitan Council that the peace and tranquility initiated by Bishop Tamayo
would continue under the leadership of these two wonderful people!
And so, after all that, you
can understand why despite the fact that this was my 16th trip and
perhaps my shortest one to Cuba it was the most exciting one on many
levels. I was able to accompany Bishop
Cerveny, a great and wonderful travel companion, meet the presiding Bishop
Jefferts Schori, attend the Synod and an ordination and be present for the
naming of two suffragan Bishops. All of
this reminded me of how lucky I was to be part of this amazing Diocese whose foresight
those many years ago under Bishop Cerveny had initiated a relationship that not
only endures but is strengthened with each passing year. Thank you Diocese and Bishop Howard, thank
you Bishops Cerveny and Hernández, thank you Cuba, and thank you God for
helping us to see your wonderous works all around and to remind us, as Bishop
Cerveny said in his words at that same momentous ceremony, that there is ONE
Lord, ONE Faith, ONE Baptism and ONE God, Father of us all. AMEN!
