About the Partnership

Historical Highlights of the Cuban Presbyterian Church

Written by John Walter Monday, 11 August 2008 19:39

The following summary was made by Rev. Dean Lewis of Santa Fe Presbytrery, PCUSA for the Cuba Partners Network. It sequentially presents all the major events of Presbyterianism in Cuba.  

1890:   A Cuban layman, Evaristo Collazo, asks the PCUS Board of Foreign Missions for counsel and oversight for the school and worship services he and his wife Magdalena are holding in their home in Havana.

The PCUS Board sends Rev. Antionio Graybill from Mexico who holds services, baptizes forty adults, organizes a congregation, ordains two Elders for the Session, and then ordains Callazo to the ministry and installs him as pastor! Graybill and Collazo also travel to Santa Clara and begin work there.

1890-1894:  Graybill and Rev. Juan G. Hall make several visits, and with Collazo organize a church and school in Santa Clara and begin work in Remedios, Cam,ajuani, and Caibarien.

1895:    Work on the Presbyterian Church is suspended as Collazo joins José Martí in the Second War for Independence, the only clergyman to serve in  that struggle. The Spanish government suppresses freedom of assembly and chaotic conditions prevail in Cuba.

1898:  The US enters the war against Spain when the battleship, USS Maine expplodes in Havana harbor, and dominates it to such an extent that no Cuban is allowed to participate in the conference concluding the peace treaty. US Marines occupy Cuba.  Later, the Platt Amendment (1902) succeeds in making Cuba a protectorate of the United States, fundamentally imposing restrictions that limit Cuban sovereignty. Guantanamo becomes a US Navel Base in perpetuity.

1899-1900:   Missionaries from both the PCUS and PCUSA, along with other reformed denominations enter Cuba, Both Presbyterian denominations soon set up congregations: the PCUS in Cárdenas and the PCUSA in Havana, building on the remnants of Collazio's work. Collazo joins the PCUSA work in Havana under the Board of National Missions.  

1900:  THe Rev. Robert Wharton joins Juan G. Hall in the PCUS work in Cárdenas and soon organizes the school that grows into Colegio, La Progresiva. A system of schools and clinics grows up under the guidance of the Presbyterian missionaries, many of them women.  

1904:  The Presbytery of Havana is organized by the PCUSA with five pastors and seven congregations. PCUSA General Assembly minutes note, "For the present, the presbytery is placed under the jurisdiction of the Synod of New Jersey." The Rev. Evaristo Collazo was elected Moderator in 1906, the first Cuban to serve in such a leadership capacity.

1909:  The US Congregational Church closes their work in Cuba, transferring five congregations and their ministers to the Presbytery of Havana.

1914:  The Central Presbytery is organized by the PCUS with seven pastors and seven organized churches. Robert L. Wharton was elected its first Moderator. Traveleers to the IPRC Church in Caibarien can see the plaque on the wall naming Wharton among the first pastors of that church.

1918:   The Disciples of Christ close their work in Cuba, transferring two churches, two missions, and one pastor to the Presbytery of Havana.

1930:  The Presbytery of Havana becomes the Presbytery of Cuba, still a part of the Synod of New Jersey.

1941:  Robert L. Wharton is required to retire from La Progresiva at the age of 70, the last US missionary to be heading a Cuban Presbyterian church or institution. The Rev. Emilio Rodríguez Busto is named Director. Wheaton continues to liive in Cuba and is elected Moderator of the Presbytery of Cuba in 1954, forty years after serving as first Moderator of the PCUS Central Presbytery. He is living in Virginia when he dies at the age of 89. By his request, and with Fidel Castro's personal permission, his body is returned to Cuba to be buried beside his wife in Cárdenas.

1946:  The Evangelical Theological Seminary (SET) is established in Matanzas under Presbyterian and Methodist sponsorship, later joined by the Episcopal Church in Cuba.

1950:  The Presbytery of Cuba celebrates the Fiftieth Anniversary of Cuban Presbyterianism in the mistaken assumption that it began in 1900 with the organization of churches by the US missionaries.

January 1, 1959:  The triumph of the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro. The initial period was welcomed and supported by most Cuban Presbyterians; a number had served in the revolutionary struggle, and several served in the new government in various capacities. One year later, on December 31, 1959, the Presbytery of Cuba reported 4,293 members in 34 congregations with 46 ministers. There were 5,987 in Sunday school, and there had been 231 infant baptisms during the year. In 1960, there were 1,419 students at the Presbyterian day schools and an additional 1, 961 in Colegio La Progresiva.

1959-1960:  The Presbytery of Cuba initiates a special service project in a poor area in Oriente Province that had been devastated in the war using land doinated by the new government and $100,000 from the Board of National Missions. Education, healthcare and literacy training, along with Bible study and prayer services were provided at camps at Tánamo and El Caney, and Sunday services in ten surrounding communities.

The Presbytery of Cuba adopts a Five Year Plan to double membership and establish new work in principal Cuban cities with a program of stewardshiip and missionary education intending to engage in mission efforts in Latin America.

The Presbyerty of Cuba acquires property for a Centro de Actividades Nacionales (CANIP) near Santa Clara as a camping center.

1961:  Following the breakdown of diplomatic relations and the imposition of an embargo by the US and the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Government declares itself Socialist and Communist and confiscates the schools and the clinics of the churches. The embargo blocks pension payments to retired ministers and aid to the churchas as well as all normal communication chanels and mutual visits.

The Presbytery of Cuba suffers from bitter internal division, and the departure of members to the US begins. In the next few years, more than half the ministers and members leave.

1963:  The Presbytery of Cuba convenes the first National Presbyterian Institute to conside its present situation and the challenge of the future, with John A. MacKay as keynote speaker. The Institute produces the vision of a Cuban Presbyterian Church that is "rooted, prophetic, indigenous, charismatic and ecumenical."

1966:  The Rev. Fancisco Norniella and Elder René Castellanos go, with great difficulty, as Commissioners to the Boston General Assembly to interpret the Overture from the Presbytery of Cuba asling to be released in order to form an autonomous and independent Presbyterian Church in Cuba. The Overture passes in spite of opposition from the Synod of New Jersey and Cubans in Florida.

1967:The Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba is inaugurated in January with the presence of UPC Moderator Ganse Little, Stated Clerk Wm. P.Thompson and COEMAR Secretary John Coventry Smith. The PRCC applies for membership in the World Council of Churches, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Latin American Council of Churches. Statistics show 3,082 members, 146 Elders, 30 churches served by 17 pastors, three Commissioned Church Workers, two Lay Pastors and four students in the seminary.

1969:  UPC San Antonio General Assembly adopts policy urging an end to the embargo against Cuba, the restoration of normal diplomatic relations and the closing of the US Naval Baseat Guantanamo.

1977:   The Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba adopts a new Confession of Faith to add to the Book of Confessions. The Cuban Confession of 1977 is the only Confession of Faith produced by a Reformed Church living in a socialist society.

1979:    Reported membership drops to 1289 with seven infant baptisms and 418 in Sunday School.

1985:     The Presbytery of Long Island and the Presbytery of South Louisiana establish contact and begin visits to Cuban congregations in the Presbytery of Havana and the Presbytery of Matanzas respectively.

1985:   The PRCC invites agencies of the reunited PC(USA), the Program Agency and the General Assembly Mission Board, to a consultation in Havana. They draft a Mutual Mission Agreement that includes procedures for forming ties between governing bodies of the two churches. The agreement is adopted by both General Assemblies in 1986.

1989:    The disintegration of the Soviet Bloc causes immediate and catastrophic economic collapse in Cuba, as Cuba loses not only the subsidy from the Soviet Union but most of its foreign trade partners. Cuba enters the "Special Period In Time of Peace."

1990:     The PRCC celebrates the Centennial of Presbyterianism in Cuba, having had the historical record clarified by the work of Rafael Cepeda and Alfredo Chao. UPC Moderator Joan Salmon Campbell leads the US delegation in the first phase of the celebration. The Rev.Manolo Rodriguez leads a delegation from Santa Fe and is installed as Pastor Emeritus in the Matanzas Central Church, the only Presbyterian Minister who left Cuba in the 1960s to be so honored.

75 Protestant Church leaders meet with Fidel Castro to discuss church-state relations. Castro asserts that religious groups were providing important support for the Cuban people in a time of great stress and should be respected. A video tape of the meeting is broadcast over national television and there has been a new climate of openness to religion since.

1991:  The law is changed to permit religious believers to become members of the Communist Party.

1992: After a national referendum, the Cuban Constitution is changed so that Cuba is no longer defined as an atheist state. Three Protestant clergy now serve in the National Assembly. One is a Presbyterian, the Rev. Dr. Sergio Arce. The years since 1990 bring a period of steady growth in membership and in vocations for the ministry in the Cuban churches, though the growth has leveled off in recent years.

1995:    The first Partnership Consultation is held in Havana, bringing together leaders of the PRCC with not only PC(USA) General Assembly staff but also representatives of the then four partner presbyteries: Long Island, Santa Fe, South Louisiana and Transylvania.

1996:     The Presbyterian Cuba Connection is founded as an unofficial network of Presbyterians for interpretation, advocacy, and financial support of the life and mission of the PRCC.

 1996, PC(USA) General Assembly Moderator John Buchanan visits the PRCC, participating in the October Conventions of the presbyteries.

1998:    Pope John Paul II visits Cuba in January.

1999:  The Cuban Evangelical Celebration unites the great majority of Cuba's 49 Protestant Churches in a series of 19 municipal and four national public rallies, culminating on June 20 in the Jose Marti Revolution Plaza in Havana in a three-hour program of hymns, prayers, music, dance and a sermon attended by 100,000 persons including President Fidel Castro and a number of government leaders.

2000:  A Celebration of Mission Partnership in the New Millennium in November in Cuba brings together 28 representatives of GA, presbytery, congregational and institutional PC(USA) partners with an equal number of representatives of the PRCC from all levels of church life. A joint declaration of intention and commitment is adopted.

2002:    The Rev. Tricia Lloyd-Sidle is appointed a Mission Co-Worker for Cuba Partnership. First Gathering of PC (USA) Cuba Partners held in Washington DC in September.

2003: - PC(USA) General Assembly Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel visits PRCC with wife Mary Zumot during Holy Week. PC(USA) Cuba Partners meet in Chicago in September.

2004:    A Symposium on the Biblical /Theological / Pastoral Foundations of Partnership in January brings together 12 from the PC(USA) and 12 from the PRCC to discuss papers prepared and presented by some of the participants. The papers and responses were printed for advance study for the Mission Partnership Celebration in Cuba in October 2004.  Seven Presbyterians graduate in the pastoral ministry track of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in the largest graduating class in the history of the seminary.  Cuba Partnership Gathering at the Matanzas Seminary in October brings together representatives of some thirty PC(USA) partners with Cuban counterparts.

2006:    PC (USA) Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase visits the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Cuba, visiting all three presbyteries, the Matanzas Seminary and preaching or speaking to large congregations.

PRCC Moderator Hector Mendez and his wife Oneida Padilla visit the Birmingham General Assembly of the PC (USA) to commemorate several important anniversaries: the 40th Anniversary of the 1986 action of the Boston General Assembly of the UPC to approve the request of the Presbytery of Cuba to be dismissed to form an autonomous Church; the 20th Anniversary of the adoption of the Mission Partnership Agreement by the General Assemblies of the PRCC and the PC (USA); and the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Matanzas, Cuba. The Birmingham Assmbly also adopted a Statement on Mission Partnership With the PRCC and protesting recent restrictions by the US Government on religious travel to Cuba.

2006 - The Methodist Church of Cuba votes in June to terminate relation with Matanzas Seminary.

2006 - The Evangelical Theological Seminary celebrates its 60th Anniversary on October 2-5.

2006 - A Gathering of the PC (USA) Cuba Partners Network will be held in Louisville in October.

2007:   The Cuba Partners Network meetings after the World Mission 07 Conference in Louisville.

2008:   The Cuba Partners Network meets in Matanzas, Cuba.