Aid to the Church in Need: Cuba: WYD - A spark of hope for the Forgotten Church

Cuba: WYD - A spark of hope for the Forgotten Church

Posted by Project Description on 5/6/2008, 10:23 pm
Message modified by board administrator 8/7/2008, 9:39 pm

Cuba
WYD – A spark of hope for the forgotten Church
(With pictures of youth from the archdiocese of La Habana)

Before the communists seized power in Cuba in 1959 around 85% of the population belonged to the Catholic Church. Systematically, using every means possible, the communist party imposed its atheist agenda on the country. In the eyes of the party the charitable work of the Church was contrary to the fundamental concept of the revolution. The building and even the renovation of churches was blocked and hindered in every way. Given this policy of open and hidden repression, it is scarcely surprising that today, of the 11 million or so inhabitants of the country, just 3 - 6% are practising Catholics - although the number of those, who on paper, belong to the Catholic Church still stands at around 60%.

The visit to Cuba by Pope John Paul II, exactly 10 years ago, was an event of great importance for the Church and an enormous boost for all Catholics. Nowadays, at least on the major feast days, most of the churches are once again full. But the communist party is still trying as hard as ever to erase the memory of this historic event. Still today a major proportion of young people in this country know nothing of Jesus. The atheist propaganda taught and practised in the state school system can claim credit for this sad state of affairs.

Worse still is the way communism has perverted the human soul. For the last 49 years, the doctrine has instilled individualism over the promotion of life. Often children are separated from their parents to avoid “contamination” from their parents’ ideas and to better indoctrinate them. Parents have little communication with their children, and in many case have little time to devote to their children, due to long and constant queuing for the basic necessities to live on. Half of the time, pregnancies end up in abortion, for lack of hope and means to raise children properly. In order to put further subtle pressure on already fragile families, the school (the Party) organizes frequent activities to coincide with Sunday Mass. In this way families are prevented from staying together on Sundays, attending Mass and participating in community life. Some boarding schools are even set up to separate children and families for more than a month at a time. In such boarding schools, children are taught to smoke and promiscuity flourishes. In this way, Marxist values and not human values are instilled into the children.
The Church, the voice of the voiceless, has decided to react. In all the dioceses, family and life are promoted. Work is carried out in favour of family unity and family religious life, building on the ruins of the past. People rediscover themselves and rediscover the sanctity of life as a gift of God. Ethics are often a good starting point to teach Christian values.

In many dioceses the bishops are endeavouring to provide young people with Bibles, and to organise summer camps.

It is also very important for the extremely isolated Catholic Church in Cuba to be able to have contact and living exchanges with other local churches. For this reason it is the fervent wish of Auxiliary Bishop Juan de Dios Hernandez Ruiz SJ of Havana and secretary general of the Cuban bishops’ conference, to be able to send at least a small delegation of young Cubans to World Youth Day in Sydney. Four young people, accompanied by a priest and a bishop, would love to undertake this trip. Funding is still lacking for two of these pilgrims, and so the Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has promised to help with a contribution of $8,140.

Aid to the Church in Need has made it possible for these young people from Cuba to enjoy this faith filled experience. The charity has helped fund the Cuban delegation to WYD 2008 with a grant of $8,140.

For further information please contact the Sydney office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web:www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org