Episcopal Church of Cuba

The Episcopal Church of Cuba (Spanish: Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba) is the diocese consisting of the entire country of Cuba in The Episcopal Church. From 1966 to 2020, it was an extra-provincial part of the Anglican Communion.[1] As of 2016, it had about 10,000 members in forty-six parishes, including the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Havana.

Diocese of Cuba

Diœcesis Cubensis

Diócesis de Cuba
Location
CountryCuba
TerritoryCuba
Ecclesiastical provinceProvince 2 of the Episcopal Church
Statistics
Area109,884 km2 (42,426 sq mi)
Population
- Total		(as of 2019)
11,193,470
Congregations46
Members10,000
Information
First holderAlbion W. Knight
DenominationThe Episcopal Church
Established1901
CathedralCathedral of the Holy Trinity
LanguageSpanish
CalendarGregorian calendar
Current leadership
GovernanceEpiscopal polity
BishopGriselda Delgado del Carpio
Website
https://www.episcopalcuba.org/

History

The Episcopal Church of Cuba traces its formal origins to 1901, when the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church established the Missionary District of Cuba under the jurisdiction of the Presiding Bishop. The 1959 Cuban Revolution made communication and travel between the churches difficult, and in 1966 the Episcopal Church of Cuba was made an autonomous Diocese within the Anglican Communion, under the oversight of a Metropolitan Council comprising the Primates of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Church in the Province of the West Indies, and the Episcopal Church based in the U.S.

The Episcopal Church voted at its 2018 General Convention to readmit the diocese.[2]

Bishops of Cuba
Bishop of Cuba Name Dates
1st Albion W. Knight 1905–1913
2nd Hiram Richard Hulse 1915–1938
3rd Alexander Hugh Blankingship 1939–1961
4th Romualdo González Agüeros 1961–1966 (first Cuban Citizen bishop, Spain)
5th José Agustin Gonzalez 1967–1982 (first Cuban-born bishop)
6th Emilio Hernández 1982–1992
7th Jorge Perera Hurtado 1994–2003
Julio Cesar Holguin Khoury 2004 (Bishop of the Dominican Republic; Acting Bishop)
Miguel Tamayo Zaldívar 2005–2010 (Bishop of Uruguay, Interim Bishop)
8th Griselda Delgado del Carpio 2010–

Recent history and future structure

Internal divisions over a range of issues including the possibility of rejoining the Episcopal Church and the election of a successor to Bishop Perera,[3] led to a long period of instability within the Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba, which found itself unable to elect a bishop for many years. Bishop Miguel Tamayo Zaldívar, a native Cuban who moved to Uruguay to serve as a missionary and subsequently became Bishop of Uruguay in the Iglesia Anglicana de Sudamérica (formerly the Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de las Americas), was appointed Interim Bishop in 2005.

Following a number of attempts at resolution of the problem, the Metropolitan Council, in February 2007, appointed Canon Nerva Cot Aguilera and Ulises Mario Aguero Prendes as suffragan bishops of the Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba to carry out pastoral oversight under the direction of Bishop Tamayo. They were consecrated on June 10, 2007.[4] Cot Aguilera was the first woman to be appointed an Anglican bishop in Latin America. After a short retirement, Cot Aguilera died suddenly on July 10, 2010 after a brief battle with severe anemia. She was 71.[5]

Bishop Tamayo worked industriously to heal divisions within the diocese, but repeated attempts to elect his successor ultimately failed. Following Bishop Tamayo's announcement in 2009 of his wish to resign (to focus on his ministry in Uruguay, ahead of his anticipated retirement in 2012/13, and a further inconclusive election, the responsibility for an appointment fell again to the Metropolitan Council, which in January 2010 appointed Griselda Delgado Del Carpio as bishop coadjutor (assistant bishop with the right of succession).[6] She was ordained to the episcopate on February 7, 2010 and following Bishop Tamayo's resignation was installed as diocesan on November 28, 2010.[7]

At least one bishop, Bishop Nerva Cot, has expressed openness to ordaining openly gay and lesbian clergy.[8]

At a meeting of the Diocesan Synod in March 2015, following the decision by the USA and Cuba to re-establish diplomatic relations, it was resolved to take steps to return formally to the Episcopal Church. A commission formed to study the resolution is expected to consider the request at the General Convention in 2018.[9]

In July, 2018, at the 79th Episcopal General Convention, both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies voted unanimously to re-admit the Episcopal Church of Cuba as a diocese of the Episcopal Church[10][11] in province II, which includes dioceses from New York and New Jersey in the United States, Haiti, and the Virgin Islands.

References
  1. Petersen, Kirk (February 15, 2020). "¡Cuba Sí! TEC Officially Welcomes Its Newest Diocese". The Living Church. La Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba on February 15 officially became the Diocese of Cuba, rejoining The Episcopal Church after more than half a century of separation.
  2. Townsend, Matthew (July 11, 2018). "Deputies: ¡Cuba Sí!". The Living Church.
  3. Jane Davidson, Anglican Journal, Mar 1, 2003
  4. Cuban Episcopalians welcome new bishops suffragan Archived 2007-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Nerva Cot Aguilera, Latin America's first woman bishop, dies at 71 Archived 2010-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Griselda Delgado Del Carpio consecrated as bishop coadjutor, February 09, 2010
  7. Griselda Delgado Del Carpio installed as bishop, November 30, 2010
  8. http://www.cubaencuentro.com/, Cubaencuentro.com. "La Iglesia Episcopal ordena en Cuba a la primera mujer obispo de América Latina". www.cubaencuentro.com. Retrieved 2016-07-02.
  9. Cuban Synod votes to return to Episcopal Church, Anglican News, March 2015
  10. Bishops vote unanimously to admit Cuba as a diocese, Episcopal News Service, July 2018
  11. Deputies concur with bishops in unanimous vote to admit Cuba, Episcopal News Service, July 2018
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