Church again fails to elect bishop coadjutor

CUBA: Church again fails to elect bishop coadjutor
By Matthew Davies, September 08, 2009

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church of Cuba failed to elect a
bishop coadjutor for the second time in three months. None of the three
episcopal candidates, during a September 5 special synod meeting in
Havana, received the required two thirds majority of votes from both the
laity and the clergy.

The candidates were the Rev. Jose Angel Gutierrez, rector of San Lucas
in Ciego de Avila; the Rev. Emilio Martin, rector of San Francisco de
Asis in Cardenas; and the Rev. Alfredo Nuno Sierra, rector of La
Santisima Trinidad in Moron. Gutierrez withdrew after the fourth ballot
and Sierra after the sixth.

After 12 ballots, Martin, the only candidate left on the slate, moved
that the synod be adjourned, Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, general
secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada, told ENS. On the 12th
ballot, Martin had received 16 out of 31 votes in the clergy order, with
14 blank and one void, and 22 out of 36 votes in the lay order, with 13
blank and one void. This was fewer votes than had been cast for Martin
in the previous six ballots.

Although Martin failed to receive the required majority from the clergy,
he gained more than two thirds of the lay votes for six of the 12
ballots, said Pollesel, who oversaw the election on behalf of the
Metropolitan Council of Cuba.

The council, which governs the Cuban church in matters of faith and
order, is made up of the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the
archbishop of the Church in the Province of the West Indies, and the
Presiding Bishop of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church. The council has
overseen the church in Cuba since it separated from the Episcopal Church
in 1967.

The Cuban church has not elected its own bishop for more than 20 years
because of internal divisions within the diocese, the Anglican Journal
reported in June when the last special synod ended without an election
following 10 rounds of voting. Guiterrez and Martin were candidates in
the June election. According to Pollesel, Martin "was a clear leader
from the first ballot to the last one" during that election.

Bishop Miguel Tamayo of Anglican Church of Uruguay has served as interim
bishop of Cuba for six years and plans to retire. The Cuban church, with
about 40 congregations and some 10,000 Episcopalians, is also served by
two bishops suffragan, Nerva Cot Aguilera and Ulises Aguero Prendes, who
were selected by the Metropolitan Council in February 2007 and
consecrated in June the same year. Pollesel said it will now fall to the
Metropolitan Council to decide on a bishop coadjutor.

-- Matthew Davies is editor of Episcopal Life Online and international
correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.

Episcopal Life Online - WORLD REPORT (8 September 2009)
http://www.episcopal-life.org/81808_114527_ENG_HTM.htm