Cuban priest says church's role in Cuba is to evangelize culture

Published: 2005-01-27

NEW YORK (CNS) -- A Cuban priest said in a New York lecture that the primary responsibility of the church in his country at this stage was the "evangelization of culture" in the broadest sense of contributing to the ethical values underlying a "way of life." Msgr. Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Garcia-Menocal, one of two vicars general of the Archdiocese of Havana, said the Cuban church lacked the strength to "change the direction of social events." But he said that by using "respectful dialogue as our only weapon" the church could "make Catholic ethics present as a gift, not imposed." Speaking on the Bronx campus of Jesuit-run Fordham University Jan. 26, Msgr. De Cespedes said that although other churches exist in regions of Cuba the Catholic Church is the only nongovernmental institution that is present throughout the country and has been throughout its history. This distinctiveness gives the Catholic Church "a privileged position" for helping Cubans in "the recovery of our awareness of our own history," he said.

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