An Unstable Church Stabilised, a Roof Awaiting Repair: US Parishes Help Cuba’s Episcopal Congregations Rebuild

• US Episcopalians have helped Cuba’s churches install about 26 water filtration systems
• At Itabo, an unstable church facility was stabilised and visitor dormitories built
• Santa Cruz del Norte’s church roof, damaged by Irma, still needed reconstruction
• The Cuban diocese had 46 congregations and five small missions

Episcopal parishes in the United States have been helping congregations in Cuba with their buildings as well as their ministries, Episcopal News Service reported in November 2018, as the Episcopal Church of Cuba prepared to rejoin the wider Episcopal Church.

At Iglesia Santa María Virgen in Itabo, about 122 miles from Havana, an unstable church facility had been stabilised and dormitory-style housing put up for visitors. The church also received a water filtration system, a bio-gas generator that turns pig waste into cooking gas, and a community garden growing beans, corn and coffee. “At her church in Itabo, people come from literally a hundred miles away in horses and buggies to get clean drinking water,” the report noted.

Near Havana, the Episcopal church in Santa Cruz del Norte, led by the Rev Frank Fernández Triana, had a water filtration system installed but still needed its roof rebuilt after damage from Hurricane Irma. Over several years, about 26 filtration systems had been installed at Cuban churches.

The diocese, led by Bishop Griselda Delgado del Carpio, had 46 congregations and five small missions. A parallel campaign sought US$800,000 for clergy pensions after decades of separation from the US church. Among those involved was the Rev Yamily Bass-Choate, vicar of Iglesia Memorial de San Andrés in Yonkers, New York.

Jamaica’s churches have long relationships with partner congregations overseas, and the Cuban example shows what those partnerships can do beyond one-off gifts: they can stabilise structures, add rooms that bring in visiting teams, and turn church land into a source of water, food and energy for a whole district. For a Jamaican parish with land and an ageing building, pairing structural repair with a service to the community can make a stronger case to overseas partners than a repair bill alone.

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