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Church leaders applaud Cuba travel changes

 
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1:00 P.M. EST January 24, 2011

President Barack Obama meets with the National Council of Churches in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Nov. 1, 2010.  To his left is United Methodist Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader.  A web-only photo courtesy of The White House, Pete Souza.
President Barack Obama meets with the National Council of Churches in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Nov. 1, 2010. To his left is United Methodist Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader. A web-only photo courtesy of The White House, Pete Souza.

When a group of religious leaders met with President Barack Obama last November, they shared their frustrations over government-imposed travel restrictions that hindered their support of partner churches in Cuba.

Regulations imposed in 2005 have severely limited interaction between U.S. national religious organizations and their Cuban counterparts, members of the joint National Council of Churches-Church World Service delegation — which included United Methodist Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader – told the president.

So ecumenical leaders were pleased when the Obama administration announced Jan. 14 that the president was directing the secretaries of State, Treasury and Homeland Security to ease certain restrictions relating to Cuba “to continue efforts to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their desire to freely determine their country’s future.”

The modified regulations will “allow religious organizations to sponsor religious travel to Cuba under a general license,” according to the White House. A general license also would allow funding directed at religious institutions in Cuba “in support of religious activities.”

Other changes in the Cuba restrictions focus on academic study and educational exchanges, remittances to non-family members to support private economic activity and licensed charter flights to Cuba from U.S. international airports. The decades-old economic embargo of Cuba – long opposed by United Methodists and other denominations – remains intact.

Need for religious travel

If the delegation contributed to the revised regulations, said the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, the NCC’s top executive, it was by “lifting up the importance of religious travel.”

Ecumenical leaders were pleased when the Obama administration announced the President was easing certain restrictions relating to Cuba. A UMNS file photo by Mike DuBose.
Ecumenical leaders were pleased when the Obama administration announced the President was easing certain restrictions relating to Cuba. A UMNS file photo by Mike DuBose.
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“There is a vibrant religious community in Cuba, and we’ve been deprived of easy access to their gifts and vice versa, because of the restrictions,” he added.

For The United Methodist Church, more flexible regulations could provide a new opportunity “to be responsive to particular needs” of the rapidly growing Methodist Church of Cuba, said Rader, the ecumenical officer for the denomination’s Council of Bishops.

The Rev. Stephen J. Sidorak Jr., top executive of the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, commended the Obama administration for its action. “I think it’s an exciting development, ecumenically speaking – a real positive sign that relationships between the churches in Cuba and the U.S. can be more conveniently conducted,” he added.

The modified regulations will take effect sometime this month after being printed in the Federal Register, the White House said.

Thomas Kemper, top executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, said he welcomed the expected changes.

“Global Ministries and other religious organizations held general travel and general fund transfer licenses prior to a tightening of the embargo during the recent Bush administration,” he wrote in a Jan. 20 statement. “Our prayer is that the new regulations, when published, will restore opportunities to obtain such licenses.”

The loss of these licenses has disrupted interactions with Cuban Methodists, affecting the work of the mission agency and some of the denomination’s annual (regional) conferences, he explained, although some projects were able to continue and “spiritual unity” was maintained.

“Global Ministries has worked in recent years with a coalition of denominations and ecumenical partners and organizations seeking relaxation of the religious restrictions,” Kemper said.

“We are grateful to these collaborators in the cause of justice and fair practice.”

‘New era’ of relations

One of the coalition’s leaders was Church World Service, whose executive director, the Rev. John McCullough, characterized the White House announcement as “the beginning of a new era of relations between the United States and Cuba.”

In a Jan. 18 letter to President Obama, he expressed appreciation for the administration’s actions during what he called a “critical time” for people-to-people engagements between the United States and Cuba.

“At this time of rapid growth among Cuban churches, your prescient and important action will finally allow U.S. churches and ecumenical institutions to accompany, support and mutually benefit from unrestricted fellowship with our Cuban church partners,” said McCullough, a United Methodist pastor. “It will enable relations that are more than just historic, but which are vital also to the well-being of our churches and the ministries we serve.”

The efforts of U.S. religious leaders to convince the Obama Administration to loosen the restrictions were reinforced when a delegation from the Cuban Council of Churches – including the Rev. Humberto Fuentes, a Methodist pastor and the council’s vice president – visited Washington Nov. 15-16. The delegation also urged government officials to end the embargo against Cuba, allowing for a full engagement between people of the two nations.

That remains a goal of U.S. churches as well, and Kinnamon already is planning to take a delegation to Cuba next November to give a higher profile to church relations and build on initiatives with the Cuban churches.

“From our perspective, this is a good start,” Kinnamon said. “May the day come quickly when the whole embargo is lifted.” 

*Bloom is a UMNS reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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