Diocese of Cuba Diœcesis Cubensis Diócesis de Cuba
Location
Country	Cuba
Territory	Cuba
Ecclesiastical province	Province 2 of the Episcopal Church
Statistics
Area	109,884 km2 (42,426 sq mi)
Population - Total	(as of 2021) 11,193,470
Congregations	44 [1] (2021)
Members	1,850 [1] (2021)
Information
First holder	Albion W. Knight
Denomination	The Episcopal Church
Established	1901
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
Language	Spanish
Calendar	Gregorian calendar
Current leadership
Governance	Episcopal polity
Bishop	Rafael Morales
Website
http://www.cuba.anglican.org

The Episcopal Church of Cuba ( Spanish: Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba) is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States ( ECUSA or TEC). The diocese consists of the entire country of Cuba. From 1966 to 2020, it was an extra-provincial diocese under the archbishop of Canterbury. ^[2] As of 2021 ^[update], it had nearly 1,600 members and an average worship attendance of more than 600 in forty-four parishes, including the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Havana. ^[1]

History

The Episcopal Church of Cuba traces its origins back to an Anglican presence that began on the island in 1871. As far back as 1875, the Episcopal Church has had a history with the Cuban people, beginning with pastoral care provided to a Cuban exile community in Key West, to missionaries to Cuba in the 1880s, to the opening of three churches and one school in Havana in 1888. In 1901, the House of Bishops of ECUSA established the Missionary District of Cuba under the jurisdiction of the Presiding Bishop. By 1904 the church had begun establishing co-ed schools and bilingual education providing a revolutionary step forward from the Roman Catholic parochial schools then in existence. The Episcopal Church grew rapidly because of these efforts. Throughout the decades, the church flourished in the cities and among ex-patriots as well as among the Cuban people themselves. From 1939 to 1961, under the episcopacy of the Rt. Rev. Alexander H. Blankenship, partnerships developed new trends in ecumenical activity in the Evangelical Council of Churches and participation in theological education with other churches in the Union Evangelical Seminary.

In 1966 ECUSA's House of Bishops withdrew the Cuban diocese from ECUSA association in the wake of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, which had strained communication and travel between the churches. ^[3] After 1966, as an extra-provincial diocese, the Cuban church was under the oversight of a Metropolitan Council of the Primates of the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Church in the Province of the West Indies, as delegated by Archbishop of Canterbury. The diocese remained a member of the Anglican Communion throughout the period.

In March 2015, two months after the United States and Cuba agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations following a 54-year breach, the Episcopal Church of Cuba’s synod voted 39 to 33 in favor of returning to the church’s former affiliation with The Episcopal Church. That summer, the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church called for closer relations with the Cuban church.

During the 79th General Convention held in Austin, Texas, in 2018, the House of Bishops of the ECUSA voted unanimously to readmit the Cuban church as a diocese, with the House Deputies concurring. ^[4]

Bishops of Cuba

Recent history and future structure

Internal divisions over a range of issues including the possibility of rejoining the Episcopal Church in the United States (ECUSA) and the election of a successor to Bishop Perera, ^[5] 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. ^[6] Cot Aguilera was the first woman to be appointed an Anglican bishop in Latin America. She expressed openness to ordaining openly gay and lesbian clergy. ^[7] After a short retirement, Cot Aguilera died suddenly on July 10, 2010 after a brief battle with severe anemia. She was 71. ^[8]

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 2012-2013), 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). ^[9] She was ordained to the episcopate on February 7, 2010 and following Bishop Tamayo's resignation was installed as diocesan on November 28, 2010. ^[10]

At a meeting of the Diocesan Synod in March 2015, following the decision by the ECUSA and Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba to re-establish diplomatic relations, it was resolved to take steps to formally reincorporate the Cuban church within the Episcopal Church in the United States. A commission was formed to consider what processes would be needed to achieve a reunification, and the General Convention was expected to consider the matter in 2018. ^[11]

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 to ECUSA ^{[12] [13]} as a diocese of province II (also called the Atlantic Province), which includes dioceses from New York and New Jersey in the United States, Haiti, and the Virgin Islands.

The Rt. Rev. Griselda Delgado del Carpio, who had led the Episcopal Diocese of Cuba since 2010, retired on March 23, 2023. She was the first woman to serve as a diocesan bishop in Cuba and in Latin America. Rafael Morales, the Bishop of Puerto Rico currently provides provisional episcopal oversight over the Episcopal Church of Cuba.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Episcopal Church in Cuba.

• Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba official site
• Anglican Communion site
• Historical resources on Anglicanism in Cuba from Project Canterbury