PITTSBURGH, July 4, 2012 – In a unanimous decision, the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church voted to recognize the 45th anniversary of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba and to congratulate the Cuban church for its steadfast faith and testimony to the Gospel in difficult times.
The Rev. Francisco Marrero, general secretary of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba, addressed the assembly, bringing greetings and thanks from what he called his “young church.”
The initial overture, 09-01, was brought to the Committee for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations.
The Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba was founded in 1967. Though the United States government’s embargo of Cuba kept the two churches apart for two decades, leaders from the PC(USA) mission agencies were able to meet with leaders from the Cuban church to create an agreement to guide the work , in partnership, of the two churches.
The PC(USA) currently has a dozen synods and presbyteries and over 80 congregations with ties to the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba.
Although the overture was brought to the assembly by the Presbytery of Santa Fe, it had concurrences from the Presbytery of Chicago as well as the Presbytery of Long Island. The Long Island Presbytery’s concurrence included the statement:
“Our Cuban partnerships have been a serious tutorial for us in the cost of discipleship and the price of the suffering caused to these family members by the collateral damage of our flourishing failed diplomacy. We stand humbled by their ambitious outreach in the reality of so few resources, confident in the power of prayer to redeem.”
It said the assembly’s action represents an expression of ‘thanksgiving for the vital mission ties that bind together the many congregations and presbyteries in the Presbyterian Cuba Partners Network in the U.S. and Cuba.”
