Episcopal Church of Cuba

Episcopal Church of Cuba
Polity Episcopal
Headquarters Havana, Cuba
Territory Cuba
Members 10,000
Website http://www.cuba.anglican.org/

The Episcopal Church of Cuba (Spanish: Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba) traces its origins to the foundation of an Anglican presence on the island of Cuba in 1901. It consists of forty-six parishes, and about 10,000 members. It is a part of the Anglican Communion though part of no ecclesiastical province, having the status of an extra-provincial diocese within the Anglican Communion. As it is not part of a larger province it has no primate. Its governance includes a Metropolitan Council which exercises oversight "in matters of Faith and Order."[1] The Metropolitan Council is chaired by the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada (currently Fred Hiltz), the Archbishop of the Church in the Province of the West Indies (currently John Walder Dunlop Holder), and the Presiding Bishop of the United States of America (currently Michael Curry).

Internal divisions led to a long period of instability within the Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba, which found itself unable to elect a bishop of its own for many years. The Bishop of Uruguay in the Iglesia Anglicana de Sudamérica (formerly the Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de las Americas ), Miguel Tamayo Zaldívar, served for many years as interim Bishop of Cuba until his retirement in November 2010. Tamayo Zaldívar is a bishop and native Cuban who moved to Uruguay to serve as a missionary.

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 Tamayo Zaldívar. They were consecrated on June 10, 2007.[2] Cot Aguilera was the first woman to be appointed an Anglican bishop in Latin America. After a short retirement, Cot Aguilera died suddenly on July 10, 2010 after a brief battle with severe anemia. She was 71.[3]

Tamayo Zaldívar worked industriously to heal divisions within the diocese, but repeated attempts to elect his successor ultimately failed. Following Tamayo Zaldívar's announcement in 2009 of his wish to retire, 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). She was ordained to the episcopate on February 7, 2010 and installed as diocesan on November 28, 2010.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Anglican Communion Provincial Page: Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba
  2. ↑ Cuban Episcopalians welcome new bishops suffragan
  3. ↑ Nerva Cot Aguilera, Latin America's first woman bishop, dies at 71
  4. ↑ Episcopal news Service item, November 30, 2010.

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