New bishop for Cuba to be announced in January

New bishop for Cuba to be announced in January
Marites N. Sison
staff writer
Dec 9, 2009

A new bishop will be appointed for the Episcopal Diocese of Cuba. This,
after two special electoral synods failed to elect a successor to
Bishop Miguel Tamayo Zaldivar, who plans to retire early next year
after serving as interim bishop for six years.

The appointment will be announced in January by the Metropolitan Council
of Cuba . The council is composed of Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of
the Anglican Church of Canada, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts
Schori of The Episcopal Church, and Archbishop Errol Brooks, acting
primate of The Church in the Province of the West Indies. It has
overseen the Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba (Episcopal Diocese of Cuba)
since it separated from The Episcopal Church in 1967 because of
difficult relations between the two countries' governments.

Archbishop Hiltz and Bishop Jefferts Schori met in Toronto today to
discuss the process for appointing the new bishop, who will be
consecrated when the diocesan synod of Cuba meets Feb. 5 to 7.

"It's fallen on the Metropolitan Council to help with the process," said
Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, general secretary of the Anglican Church
of Canada, who attended the electoral synods in June and September to
oversee the elections.

Pollesel said candidates have already been identified and they will be
asked to respond to a set of questions to help the Council arrive at a
decision. He said that an Episcopal appointment was crucial since one
of Cuba's suffragan bishop, Nerva Cot Aguilera has already retired, and
the other, Bishop Ulises Mario Aguero Prendes, is due to retire early in
the new year.

The Cuban diocese has not elected its diocesan bishop for more than 20
years because of internal divisions. Bishop Tamayo, who is also the
bishop of Uruguay, was himself a Council appointee.

"The hope [of the Council] is that the new bishop will be Cuban and …
that the church in Cuba will move to a point where it can elect its own
bishop [in the future] without having to appoint from outside," said
Pollesel.

The diocese of Cuba has also expressed "a desire" to have two dioceses
instead of just one, said Pollesel. "In terms of travel, it's a
challenge to go from one end of the island to the other," he said,
adding that having two dioceses would allow bishops to have a "more
hands-on Episcopal oversight."

There are also plans to reconnect the Cuban church, which currently
operates as an extra-provincial diocese, to a province of the Anglican
Communion. Belonging to a province would provide "solidarity… and more
connectedness to the Communion, as opposed to being an add-on," he said.

Anglican Journal: New bishop for Cuba to be announced in January (9
December 2009)
http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/new-bishop-for-cuba-to-be-announced-in-january/?cHash=3e99488223