This is the week we light the candle for Love and remember the family in the stable in Bethlehem. Then, as now, their homeland was occupied. Then, as now, their children were threatened. And yet I imagine that when Joseph and Mary held their baby, they felt their hearts filled with more love then they could ever have imagined being possible. Spirit holds each of us, rocks each of us, loves each of us with more love than we can possibly imagine. “For unto all of us a child is born, unto all of us …”
With love and great gratitude to share this season with the Iglesia de los Amigos en Velasco.
Esta es la semana en la que encendemos la vela por el Amor y recordamos a la familia en el establo de Belén. Entonces, como ahora, su patria estaba ocupada. Entonces, como ahora, sus hijos fueron amenazados. Y, sin embargo, me imagino que cuando José y María cargaron a su bebé, sintieron que sus corazones se llenaban de más amor del que jamás hubieran imaginado posible. El Espíritu nos sostiene a cada uno de nosotros, nos mece a cada uno de nosotros, nos ama a cada uno de nosotros con más amor del que podamos imaginar. “Porque a todos nosotros nos es nacido un niño, a todos nosotros…”
Con mucho amor y mucha gratitud de compartir esta temporada con la Iglesia de los Amigos en Velasco.
Our prayers and love to you this third week of Advent. Tomorrow we would light the candle of Joy and remember the joy felt by the shepherds when the angels came to them with the amazing news. One of the last poems published by Wendell Berry (a favorite poet of mine) has these lines:
“He sees the shepherds on their cold hill by night, / the sky flying suddenly open over their heads,/the light of very heaven falling upon them, / the angels descending, slowly as snow, their singing / filling far and wide the dark. “On Earth / peace, good will.” … He thinks of the distance, the hard hungry / journey of a pilgrim … / … towards the almost forgotten / light beyond the polluted river, the blasted mountain, / the killed children, the bombed village,/ beyond and beyond is the shepherd-startling, ever staying light. .. / he sets out”. May we, in these challenging times in Cuba and in Maine remember the shepherd’s joy and journey together towards that light.
With Love
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Queridas hermanas y hermanos de Velasco,
Nuestras oraciones y amor para ustedes en esta tercera semana de Adviento. Mañana estaremos encendiendo la vela de la Alegría y recordando el gozo que sintieron los pastores cuando los ángeles vinieron a ellos con la sorprendente noticia. Uno de los últimos poemas publicados por Wendell Berry (uno de mis poetas favoritos) tiene estas líneas:
“Ve a los pastores en su fría colina por la noche, / el cielo volando repentinamente abierto sobre sus cabezas, / la luz del mismo cielo cayendo sobre ellos, / los ángeles descendiendo, lentamente como la nieve, su canto / llenando a lo largo y ancho la oscuridad. . “En la Tierra / paz, buena voluntad”. … Piensa en la distancia, el duro y hambriento / viaje de un peregrino… / … hacia la casi olvidada / luz más allá del río contaminado, la montaña devastada, / los niños asesinados, la aldea bombardeada,/ más allá y más allá está el pastor- sorprendente, siempre luz. .. / se pone en marcha”. Que nosotros, en estos tiempos difíciles en Cuba y Maine, recordemos la alegría del pastor y caminemos juntos hacia esa luz.
Tomorrow we will light the second candle of Advent – the Candle of Peace. In Maine this is a season of darkness and cold. We will have only 9 hours of sunlight today; there is a little snow on the ground. I imagine Joseph and Mary travelling to Bethlehem through the dark. Today on that road they would be travelling through a war zone. Peace seems to be more of a dream then a promise. And I am reminded that God often speaks to us through our dreams. May we know that we are all travelling on that long road in the same direction with peace in our hearts with the certainty that Spirit is with us and the kingdom is before us.
With Love
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Queridas hermanas y hermanos de Velasco,
Mañana encenderemos la segunda vela de Adviento: la Vela de la Paz. En Maine ésta es una estación de oscuridad y frío. Hoy tendremos sólo 9 horas de luz solar; hay un poco de nieve en el suelo. Me imagino a José y María viajando a Belén en la oscuridad. Hoy por ese camino estarían transitando por una zona de guerra. La paz parece ser más un sueño que una promesa. Y recuerdo que Dios a menudo nos habla a través de nuestros sueños. Que sepamos que todos estamos recorriendo ese largo camino en la misma dirección con paz en el corazón desde la certeza de que el Espíritu está con nosotros y el reino delante de nosotros.
From Falmouth Quarter NEYM to Velasco Friends, Cuba Yerarly Meeting
We sent this Greeting to Velasco Friends today, our hope is to send one each week of Advent.
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Velasco,
Our prayers and love to you this first weekend of Advent. Tomorrow we will light the candle of Hope – remembering Mary’s song where she says that the new life she is bringing into the world will ”lift up the lowly and fill the hungry with good things.” Today our community is witnessing to this hope in two ways. During the day, there is a peace vigil in a store that sells assault rifles proclaiming the vision of our country free of these weapons and the fear that they represent. This evening Portland Meeting will gather for the annual advent celebration in which the children walk a spiral path carrying a candle and lighting their candle in the center, walk back and choose where to place their candle along the path.
In this advent season, as we hope for the light that is already here and wait for the miracle that has already happened, may we each carry our candle of hope and place it where it will illuminate the path.
In Love
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Queridas hermanas y hermanos de Velasco
Nuestras oraciones y amor para ustedes este primer fin de semana de Adviento. Mañana encenderemos la vela de la Esperanza, recordando el canto de María donde dice que la nueva vida que ella trae al mundo “levantará a los humildes y colmará de bienes a los hambrientos”. Hoy nuestra comunidad es testigo de esta esperanza de dos maneras. Durante el día se realiza una vigilia de paz en una tienda que vende rifles de asalto proclamando la visión de nuestro país libre de estas armas y el miedo que representan. Esta tarde, la reunión de Portland se reunirá para la celebración anual de Adviento en la que los niños caminan por un sendero en espiral llevando una vela y encendiendo su vela en el centro, regresan y eligen dónde colocar su vela a lo largo del sendero.
En esta temporada de Adviento, mientras esperamos la luz que ya está aquí y esperamos el milagro que ya sucedió, que cada uno de nosotros lleve nuestra vela de esperanza y la coloque donde ilumine el camino.
Are you interested in traveling to Cuba to visit our sister meeting in Velasco? Or are you interested in supporting those who go? We’re excited to share that Durham and Portland Meetings will be sending a delegation to visit Velasco Cuba in early Spring 2025 as a part of the Puente de Amor between New England Friends and Cuban Friends.
If you are interested in going or helping those who go, or just want to find out more, please contact Fritz Weiss (rossvall.weiss@gmail.com, 802-299-7660) by January 1.
The Portland/Durham/Velasco Sister Meetings committee will organize an informational session in January to talk about details. Members of the delegation we sent in February 2023 will be with us.
News from our sister meeting in Velasco from the sister meeting committee, August 2023
Yadira Cruz Pena, the pastor of Velasco Meeting was one of the representatives from Cuba Yearly Meeting (CYM) to New England Yearly Meeting (NEYM) last week. She shared this photo of Velasco Friends meeting outside this week in a service blessing a member’s home. I sent her a photo of Portland Friends meeting outside at the Friends School. We agreed that in nature, God’s presence can be easily felt.
She also shared this photo of her oldest daughter holding the “Church’s baby”.
We have begun planning how Velasco, Durham and Portland can have a joint or concurrent event on World Quaker Day on the first Sunday in October. We cannot be in person and probably cannot be on zoom together, but with creativity, we can feel each other’s presence.
We are sending some spices and the photo album we shared with Durham and Portland to Yadira with a delegation traveling from New England to Cuba in September.
CYM and NEYM are beginning to explore ways that the two yearly meetings can be more closely connected even in these difficult times.
The delegation consisted of Kim Bolshaw from Durham MM, and Hannah Colbert, Sue Calhoun and Fritz Weiss from Portland MM. Here’s a photo of the four with the mission church in Calderon
Our activities
We arrived in Cuba on Thursday 2/16. After settling in and dinner we attended the evening Worship service.
During the annual meeting (Thursday – Sunday) we attended a lesson each morning, and then a business session in the morning and afternoon, and in the evening a worship service.
We gave the message on Friday evening worship. Our service ended with the song “Espiritu de Dios”. In most of the subsequent services, this song was song because our hosts knew that we knew the words.
On Sunday visited Pueblo Nuevo, attended the beginning of their Sunday worship & returned for the closing worship of the annual sessions.
Sunday afternoon we visited Banes mtg, and arrived in Velasco.
Monday we spent in Puerto Padre, visiting the Wilmington Center, the church, and touring the city. Jorge Luis showed us his apartment and introduced us to his family.
We were in Velasco for the rest of our time in Cuba. We stayed in the parsonage with Yadira and her family.
On Tuesday we traveled via horse cart to, visited and worshiped with the mission in Calderon, and in the evening attended a prayer service.
On Wednesday there was a morning women’s prayer services and we then traveled to beach with many from the church for a picnic with an incredible cake, that evening we had dinner at a Friend’s house.
Thursday Kim and Hannah left – Sue and I attended a house worship in the evening. We gave the message at this service.
Friday was a day of rest. Sue accompanied the Women’s group bringing food, companionship and prayer to a older women.
We went to local carnival in the evening.
On Saturday there was a graduation celebration in the Velasco Church for the third cohort to complete the Peace Institute’s course in Quaker Studies.
The graduation was followed by a feast with a roasted pig with guests from Puerto Padre.
On Sunday, we gave the lesson during worship. We had another feast with a rich Cuban stew (Caldosa).
During our 12 days in Cuba we attended 13 separate worship services.
We brought an unrestricted donation of 5280 euros to Cuba – a little more than $6,000. We also carried a donation from Wilmington Meeting for the Wilmington center project.
We bought seven big suitcases of supplies including a lot of medical supplies, five computers, tools for the Wilmington center project, solar lamps, and more. We carried donations sent from Oregon, Ohio, North Carolina and New England.
On Monday Sue and I flew to Miami, returning to Maine on Tuesday
Report from CYM sessions
The theme of the annual gathering was “The Quakers that the world needs: becoming sowers of hope” and the text was Timothy 1 4:10 and the paragraph from George Foxes journal: “sing and rejoice ye children of the day and of the light because the lord is at work in this dark night…”.
The lessons were from Hebrews 11 (“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”) and Romans 5, 3b-5 (“wealso glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope”)
While the theme and the lessons focused on hope, throughout the sessions there were reminders that “es un momento tan duro”.
Each meeting was invited to send 4 representatives (pastor, clerk of ministry commission, clerk of the meeting and treasurer) because of expense of hosting the sessions, not because of COVID.
The report on the finances of the YM recognized that the inflation during the past year and the endemic shortages of everything had impacted the YM severely and that the generosity of FUM and NEYM had been hugely significant.
There was significant concern about the needed repairs in most of the church buildings, and passionate discussion about what the priorities of the YM were and how they were determined.
The YM commission for young adults had been laid down, in part because so many young adults had left Cuba for the United States.
There were deep concerns about developing leadership for the church. Gibara is without a pastor. Soon Puerto Padre will be without pastors
News from CYM
A new mission is being established in Santiago. Yerandi and Zuul will be moving to Santiago and establishing this mission.
Pastors now have permission from both CYM and Cuban Government to have a secular job in addition to pastoring. The YM is paying Pastors 3000 pesos/month and the local churches are encouraged to pay an additional 2000 pesos/month although most local churches are unable to do so. 5000 pesos is roughly equivalent to $34 dollars.
The Peace Institute continued to work with the cohort of students who graduated through the pandemic, and is planning on launching a 4th cohort.
The upcoming visit by Benigo in June and the AVP training in Havana in September were mentioned repeatedly during sessions.
Requests from CYM
Cuba wants NEYM to understand the real conditions in Cuba. Much of this will be in a verbal summary.
The Cubans wonder if Puente and FUM work more closely together together to support Cuba Quakers. Specifically, Colin Saxton is wondering if we might work together to replace the church van which needs to be replaced.
A strong sister meeting relationship is very important. Would it be possible for the NEYM sister meetings to use WhatsApp and Facebook to communicate more regularly with their sister meeting.
Other Notes
Pastors and others have been following NEYM Facebook page. They were excited to see pictures from the delegation being posted on NEYM’s Facebook while we were still in Cuba. I shared this with Kathleen Wooten.
Specifically Banes, Gibara, Holguin, Retrete and Puerto Padre asked for more contact with their sister meetings. I sent a card with contact information from Banes to Burlington with this request.
Because we were visiting, Velasco received funds to host us. With these funds Yadera was able to prepare huge meals and, in so doing, feed the larger community.
At this moment, Visas through the US embassy are only available for family reunion. Cuban’s believe it is impossible to get a Visa to attend NEYM sessions. I wonder if Puente and NEYM could lobby to get a request to the embassy in Havana to make an exception to this policy.
T-Mobile cellular plans allow free texting with others on the same plan which could make communication with NE easier for future delegations.
We were not required to have a COVID test to enter Cuba or to leave. Reportedly there is 100% vaccination in Cuba and very low incidence of Covid.
We were required to purchase medical insurance outside of Cuba as the Cuban health system is unable to provide care.
There were power outages every days, usually for several hours.
In conversations, especially with the young adults we were told over and over that “todos quieren inmigrar”.
Unlike previous trips that I have been on, there were few Cubans who spoke English at the annual sessions – only Richard and Kenya. In Velasco, there was one young man who was studying English because he is planning to immigrate.
The pastors in Cuba are providing care, support and essential services to the communities – clean water in Gibara and Holguin, the outreach and food to isolated senors in Puerto Padre and Velasco, pastoral houses in Havana and Puerto Padre. Every day in Velasco, people would come to Yadira’s door and receive food, water, money, conversation, prayer.
The contrast between the abundance of community and love, the beauty and potential of the island with the very hard financial times is hard to describe.
Left to right: Hannah Colbert, Sue Nelson, Fritz Weiss, and Kim Bolshaw are traveling to the NEYM “Puente de Amor” (“Bridge of Friends”) from February 15 through February 27. May we join with them spiritually, through prayer with light and love. They will visit our sister Meeting, Velasco Friends Meeting.
The dates of our trip to Cuba to visit our sister meeting, Velasco, have had to be changed. The trip will now be in February 2023 and include visiting Cuba Yearly Meeting, which is from February 16 to 20.
There are three Friends from Portland planning to go. Two of our Durham Friends who hoped to travel no longer can, so we are looking for two or three more who want to. Let Nancy Marstaller know if so. Thanks!
Rebecca Leuchak, Mary Hopkins and Chris Jorgenson, who travelled to Cuba for the annual sessions of Cuba Yearly Meeting in February, will be speaking at Durham’s meeting for worship on Sunday, May 15. They will be available for a short time to answer questions at the rise of meeting.
These Friends will then go to Portland Friends Meeting for an informational and organizational meeting starting at 1:00 to start planning the fall trip to Velasco, Cuba. Rebecca, Mary, and Chris will answer questions; then we will organize folks to work on various aspects for the trip including funding, logistics, coordination with Puente and CYM, clearness for travelers, communication, spiritual support, and any other needs.The meeting will be in-person only and may last about 2 hours.
Interested in visiting Friends in Cuba? Or supporting those who go?
We’re so excited that Durham and Portland Meetings will be sending a delegation to Cuba in early November. If you are interested in going or helping those who go, or just want to find out more, please contact Nancy Marstaller by March 31.
The Portland/Durham/Velasco Sister Meetings committee will organize an informational session in April, to talk about details, and hope to have one of the recent travelers to Cuba join us. I hope to hear from many of you by March 31. Thanks!
From Yadira, pastor of Velasco Friends, via Facebook 2-19-22
Buenas noches. Dios les bendiga. Les saludo desde gibara dónde se celebra nuestra junta anual. Damos gracias al señor por la presencia de las hermana del puente que comparten este tiempo con nosotros. Muchas gracias por el presente que mandaron para nuestra junta de Velasco. Gracias . Voy a enviarles fotos de nuestra asamblea.
Good evening. God bless you. I greet you from Gibara where our annual meeting is held. We thank the Lord for the presence of the sisters of the bridge who share this time with us. Thank you very much for the present you sent for our Velasco meeting. Thank you. I will send you photos of our assembly.
In December, Jade and Tom Rockwell, under the care of Camas Friends Church/Sierra-Cascades Yearly Meeting of Friends, followed a personal leading to visit Friends in Cuba. They called the ministry ¡Viva Amistad! — Living Friendship. Since Covid has created such difficulty in traveling to Cuba, we thought Friends would be interested in Jade’s report.
We were able to visit two Friends churches during our trip to Cuba in December, Velasco and Puerto Padre. We wanted to visit Havana as well, but, unfortunately, they were closed because of the holiday during the portion of our trip when we were in Havana. (The Friends in Havana Meeting are all from Oriente and return home to spend the holidays with family in the Eastern part of the island.)
The Velasco church only recently reopened after two years of closure for Covid. They are keeping their services short in duration in consideration of Covid risks. Cuban people were under a mandatory lockdown for Covid, which was only lifted in November. People were not permitted to leave their homes during this time, so it was much stricter than what we have had in the United States. Although this is now lifted, masks are still required both indoors and on public streets and this rule is enforced by a fine. The good news is that upwards of 85% of Cubans are reported to be fully vaccinated at this time. In Velasco and Puerto Padre, many restaurants and businesses were still closed. In Havana, most had reopened.
There are widespread shortages of supplies that are affecting every sector of society. This has led to situations of civil unrest this past year, though we did not encounter any protests or confrontations while we were visiting.
Included in the shortages are almost every medicine, medical supply, or household item. Even tropical fruits that fall from the trees are scarce in these times. We’re told people take what there is and sell them in Havana where they can make a better profit. It is recommended that visitors bring absolutely every personal item they may need for their trip because if you forget a small item, you likely will not be able to buy it anywhere. For our trip we brought donations of needed items and gave these to the Puerto Padre and Velasco churches for distribution. We also donated some supplies to some Quaker medical students to distribute in their clinical work in the wider communities. Trail mix was a nice luxury treat to share and we were grateful for it when transportation difficulties delayed us and we were left without meals.
Donations we brought: latex gloves, soaps, toothbrushes, toothpaste, laundry soap, sanitizer, deodorant, menstrual supplies, first aid supplies, condoms, batteries, over the counter pain/allergy/diarrhea relief, vitamins, school supplies, instant read thermometer for Velasco church (other churches could still use these), and some very small gifts for kids in Sunday schools. I can say that absolutely every item we brought was much needed and appreciated. We were told that people are being turned away from needed surgeries if they cannot furnish their own latex gloves, suturing thread, etc. Donations that carry much monetary value are difficult to manage well. Useful-but-not-valuable are the best things to bring. Think what you use most frequently at home. The churches keep a stash of these supplies to respond to needs, but in these times, if the public knows that there are resources, people take them to hoard or sell, so our leading was to let the pastors or healthcare professionals that we know handle them with discretion according to needs they encounter.
We also brought some videos from my Yearly Meeting of songs and greetings and these were very much appreciated. In Puerto Padre, we were able to share them in a worship service. This really encouraged and inspired people to be able to connect and share worship. Puerto Padre and Velasco have both gone through changes in the past few years of embracing more Cuban-style music and expression in worship, and this is bringing a lot of spiritual vitality to their Meetings. In the past, Cuban style instrumentation and music, as well as expression such as movement and clapping, was seen as not appropriate in a Quaker Meeting, but now these communities have a different leading. Friends described this change as liberating their worship, as expressing their authentic selves in worship (rather than imitating a foreign culture), and as expressing the joy of their faith that some described as a spiritual gift of Cuban culture. It is part of a formal music ministry in Puerto Padre, and their praise band sometimes visits other Friends churches to share (not only Cuban music—they enjoy many styles).
We greatly enjoyed participating in this joyful worship and praise in both Velasco and Puerto Padre.
In Velasco, because they did not have a projector, we were not able to share our videos in worship, but we shared with our host family and church leaders who appreciated them. We also captured video greetings from Cuban Friends to bring home.
In Puerto Padre, the church has been able to persist in their construction projects, completing more of them during Covid. They pause the projects when they are short on supplies. Right now they are not able to get cement at an affordable rate, and this is the main material used in the construction projects. However, they are pleased to have completed a cafeteria which is used for a ministry feeding elderly people, and also overnight for up to seventy visitors. They also have a carpentry shop where they build wooden furniture to raise funds for the church.
There have been some very devastating Covid losses in Quaker communities that folks are still grieving. We remain in prayer for our Friends there, and give thanks that the vaccination campaign has hopefully brought these tragedies to an end in Cuba.
DECLARATION OF THE YEARLY MEETING OF THE FRIENDS CHURCH (QUAKERS) IN CUBA Peace is a desire and a necessity for all human beings. It is an essential condition for our personal and communal well-being. For the current moment in Cuba, marked by a crisis situation that affects the most sensitive areas of citizens’ lives, it is becoming something urgent. Quakers, inspired by the teachings of Jesus, also seek to live and promote peace, through alternative ways, based on the principle of non-violence, to carry out civil justice and work within society to repair wrongs or errors. Quakers believe in the Peace of Jesus. This Peace is not like what the world gives (John 14:27), from positions of power that exclude the voice of the least in the Kingdom. From this perspective, we Quakers know a Virtue that takes away the occasion of all war, and consequently, we do not support any way to solve conflicts that involves the use of force. We therefore advocate for dialogue and for our authorities to recognize the tension and overwhelm of a people that feel vulnerable due to the precariousness of their economy, their health and their public services. Likewise, we consider that the government must promote alternatives to violence in the face of other sectors of the people that, for various reasons, are fueled by positions of hatred that are encouraged from abroad and that in the current context of the crisis that we are experiencing, become breeding grounds for the emergence of violent demonstrations with unpredictable consequences. This is the time to open spaces for dialogue in the search for an answer to dissatisfaction and a solution to our problems. Let us all seek a common path that leads us to well-being and peaceful coexistence. Conflicts, if we address them with non-violent alternatives, are opportunities to find a peace that shelters all Cubans.
From a recent newsletter from Friends United Meeting: During last week’s FUM International Prayer Gathering, we heard a distressing report from Friends in Cuba. Jorge Luis, Clerk of Cuba Yearly Meeting, sent a message to the global community requesting prayer as Covid rates are doubling there, food is scarce, and the medical and economic systems in the country are on the verge of collapsing. This week, demonstrators are taking to the streets demanding change. While churches in the country cannot gather for worship, Jorge reminded us that the church is not closed, and their members and pastors are doing their best to care for each other and their communities during these difficult times. Since the US State Department designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, many of the channels Friends United Meeting has previously used to send support for Cuban Friends are now closed to us. This designation also prevents the US from sending humanitarian or medical assistance amidst this crisis. On Tuesday, July 13, representatives of New England Yearly Meeting, Friends World Committee for Consultation–Section of the Americas, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and FUM met to discern how the global community of Friends can best support Cuban Friends. We ask Friends to pray for Cuban Friends. Pray that Cuban Friends will experience God’s strengthening love and courage during this time of trial. Friends United Meeting is preparing to send support to Cuban Friends through our Covid-19 Solidarity Fund. We are investigating several legal avenues for distribution. Contributions to this fund will go to support the ministries of Cuba Yearly Meeting. Friends can mail checks to the FUM office or give online at https://donorbox.org/covid-19-solidarity-fund. We encourage [U.S.] Friends to reach out to their members of Congress, urging them to lift restrictions against humanitarian and medical support for Cuba.
Velasco, Durham and Portland Sister Meeting Committee February 2021 Report
In the fall of 2020 Portland Friends Meeting and Durham Friends Meeting approved Portland joining in the sister relationship with Velasco Friends Meeting in Cuba and the formation of a joint committee to care for and nurture the relationship. The new committee meets monthly. Nancy Marstaller and Fritz Weiss are co-clerks.
Durham has noted and appreciated that there is new energy in the relationship with Velasco. Our two meetings in Maine are building a stronger relationship. Committee members are now receiving newsletters from both meetings and recognize that the first experience of intervisitation may well be Durham and Portland visiting each other.
An invitation to Friends in Portland and Durham is to hold Velasco in Prayer as they gather. Velasco meets
on Sunday at 9:00 AM and
on Tuesdays at 7:30 pm for a service of prayer and preaching,
on Thursdays at 8:00 pm for house worship,
on Fridays at 7:30 pm the ladies meet,
on Saturdays at 8:30 pm the youth.
They are in the same time zone as we are. We can hold them in prayer at those times.
Communication with Velasco Meeting is via facebook messenger with Yadira Cruz Pena (Pastor) and email with Zoe Lazara (Clerk). Nancy Marstaller and Wendy Schlotterback from Durham and Hannah Colbert and Sydney McDowell from Portland are able to send messages; if you have messages you might like to send, please share with them.
Our meetings are open, if you are interested in being involved, please contact one of the co-clerks.
Con amor, Nancy Marstaller, Wendy Schlotterback, Hannah Colbert, Doug Malcom, Ann Dodd-Collins, Sydney MacDowell, Fritz Weiss
News about Our Sister Meeting in Velasco, Cuba, and all Cuban Friends Meetings – from Nancy Marstaller
The Puente des Amigos Committee of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends recently sent this information regarding Velasco and all Cuban Friends Churches:
Cuba Yearly Meeting (CYM) has asked for our prayers and support as they struggle to find funds to pay their pastors and church workers a government mandated five fold salary increase. CYM supports 12 pastoral workers and 3 retired pastors. We cannot corporately send funds to Cuba or funds which support salary costs without violating US treasury regulations, but individuals can make donations.
The Cuban Quakers also have a long history of sharing resources, medical supplies, filtered water and other necessities with their neighbors. During the pandemic, the need has been greater and the Meetings are struggling to continue to support their communities.
Marcos Longoria, clerk of Miami Friends Church and son of Ramon Longoria – long time secretary and clerk of CYM who died this past summer- is collecting funds from individuals to support pastors and to help pay for personal hygiene supplies for CYM. Donations may be sent to:
From Cuban Friends, shared by NEYMF Puene des Amigos Committee
The Gibara Friends Center is set to provide hospitality to large groups — but groups have not been able to travel to the Friends Center since the Covid pandemic began
The economic crisis that Cuba is experiencing at present is the most acute since the 1990s, when the collapse of the socialist bloc in Europe occurred. Although Cuban experts say the country is more prepared now than then to meet the crisis, there are circumstances that make the road to recovery more difficult, such as the pandemic context that aggravates the world’s economies. Internal and external factors create uncertainty that is difficult to unravel.
In addition to the six-decade embargo on the island, recent US policies create difficulties with tourism—which constitutes the country’s main income—by prohibiting the entry of cruise ships and the arrival of travelers through the different provinces of the country. Another US-created difficulty is the recent restriction on the remittances that normally flowed between families on one side and the other of the waters. In addition, conflict between the US and Venezuela has led to a decrease in oil supplies in Cuba and an appreciable decrease in the availability of transportation.
Nonetheless, Cuba has continued to maintain free education and health care even as it is forced to regulate the internal economy in ways that have led to the increase of wages and prices in a year of epidemiological complexity that has unleashed a crisis of food, medicine, supplies, fertilizers, animal feed, etc.
How this crisis affects the Cuban church
Everything that affects society also affects the church. Communities of faith need an economic base that sustains both community members and their institutional and administrative order. Cuban churches have been supported by the contribution of their membership and additional support from counterpart churches abroad—which now encounter obstacles in sending their contributions. In general, the Cuban churches do not have financial support beyond these options.
Ministries continue even as the economy suffers. Churches that have ministries to assist the elderly persist even when the cost of food has risen by up to five times. Car maintenance, fuel, and various services that have always been paid for in US dollars continue to be needed, even though they have become more expensive on account of inflation, and because of the difficulty in acquiring US dollars in the interior of the country. (On the black market, one US dollar is now equivalent to forty-eight or fifty Cuban pesos.) Just as the state has increased the salary of its workers, the church has also increased the salary of its workers, lay or pastoral, because everyday life has become more and more expensive. All churches have ministries that need funds to function, in commissions, departments, councils, etc. Electricity rates have risen up to ten times their value, so the monthly rate is close to or exceeds one thousand pesos.
Churches that have buildings and are accustomed to renting out space have seen their income possibilities reduced as travel has ceased, both internally and internationally. Similarly, the pandemic has limited the ability of churches to gain income by providing transportation services.
How it affects Cuba Yearly Meeting
Cuba Yearly Meeting has been supported by a budget equivalent to twenty thousand US dollars a year (five hundred thousand Cuban pesos). In addition to the annual contribution from each of the Monthly Meetings, main economic inputs have come from use of the Gibara building, the Friends Center bus, and donations from groups that visited us during specific events or with special interests. This budget has supported twelve pastoral workers from ten Monthly Meetings, and three retired workers. Income generated by the Gibara building also supported those who worked there.
The Yearly Meeting suggested that the necessary salary increase for pastoral workers should correspond to 3,000 pesos. Since there are no other means of support, the duty for raising funds for the salary increase was given to the Monthly Meetings. The Meetings located in cities, and therefore on more solid financial footing, were able to raise the suggested figure. Holguín, Gibara and Puerto Padre achieved the increase, while Velasco did it with more difficulty. The Meetings of Banes, Retrete, Bocas, Pueblo Nuevo, Vista Alegre, and Floro Pérez were able to raise only approximately fifty percent of the requested increase for their workers. The missions of Delicias, Calabazas, and Asiento de Calderón are supported by the Monthly Meetings to which they belong and the Yearly Meeting, although Delicias does contribute to its worker. The Yearly Meeting encourages ventures that can generate internal income to pay not only salaries, but also ministries and administrative expenses. Our church buildings and parsonages, many of which are approximately 100 years old, require restorative interventions that are impossible to carry out in this complex period. That is why, during this pandemic, we are focused on the support of the church structure and prioritize the payment of our pastoral workers.
The Gibara Friends Center is set up to provide hospitality to large groups—but groups have not been able to travel to the Friends Center since the Covid pandemic began.
The economic crisis that Cuba is experiencing at present is the most acute since the 1990s, when the collapse of the socialist bloc in Europe occurred. Although Cuban experts say the country is more prepared now than then to meet the crisis, there are circumstances that make the road to recovery more difficult, such as the pandemic context that aggravates the world’s economies. Internal and external factors create uncertainty that is difficult to unravel.
In addition to the six-decade embargo on the island, recent US policies create difficulties with tourism—which constitutes the country’s main income—by prohibiting the entry of cruise ships and the arrival of travelers through the different provinces of the country. Another US-created difficulty is the recent restriction on the remittances that normally flowed between families on one side and the other of the waters. In addition, conflict between the US and Venezuela has led to a decrease in oil supplies in Cuba and an appreciable decrease in the availability of transportation.
Nonetheless, Cuba has continued to maintain free education and health care even as it is forced to regulate the internal economy in ways that have led to the increase of wages and prices in a year of epidemiological complexity that has unleashed a crisis of food, medicine, supplies, fertilizers, animal feed, etc.
How this crisis affects the Cuban church Everything that affects society also affects the church. Communities of faith need an economic base that sustains both community members and their institutional and administrative order. Cuban churches have been supported by the contribution of their membership and additional support from counterpart churches abroad—which now encounter obstacles in sending their contributions. In general, the Cuban churches do not have financial support beyond these options.
Ministries continue even as the economy suffers. Churches that have ministries to assist the elderly persist even when the cost of food has risen by up to five times. Car maintenance, fuel, and various services that have always been paid for in US dollars continue to be needed, even though they have become more expensive on account of inflation, and because of the difficulty in acquiring US dollars in the interior of the country. (On the black market, one US dollar is now equivalent to forty-eight or fifty Cuban pesos.) Just as the state has increased the salary of its workers, the church has also increased the salary of its workers, lay or pastoral, because everyday life has become more and more expensive. All churches have ministries that need funds to function, in commissions, departments, councils, etc. Electricity rates have risen up to ten times their value, so the monthly rate is close to or exceeds one thousand pesos.
Churches that have buildings and are accustomed to renting out space have seen their income possibilities reduced as travel has ceased, both internally and internationally. Similarly, the pandemic has limited the ability of churches to gain income by providing transportation services.
How it affects Cuba Yearly Meeting Cuba Yearly Meeting has been supported by a budget equivalent to twenty thousand US dollars a year (five hundred thousand Cuban pesos). In addition to the annual contribution from each of the Monthly Meetings, main economic inputs have come from use of the Gibara building, the Friends Center bus, and donations from groups that visited us during specific events or with special interests. This budget has supported twelve pastoral workers from ten Monthly Meetings, and three retired workers. Income generated by the Gibara building also supported those who worked there.
The Yearly Meeting suggested that the necessary salary increase for pastoral workers should correspond to 3,000 pesos. Since there are no other means of support, the duty for raising funds for the salary increase was given to the Monthly Meetings. The Meetings located in cities, and therefore on more solid financial footing, were able to raise the suggested figure. Holguín, Gibara and Puerto Padre achieved the increase, while Velasco did it with more difficulty. The Meetings of Banes, Retrete, Bocas, Pueblo Nuevo, Vista Alegre, and Floro Pérez were able to raise only approximately fifty percent of the requested increase for their workers. The missions of Delicias, Calabazas, and Asiento de Calderón are supported by the Monthly Meetings to which they belong and the Yearly Meeting, although Delicias does contribute to its worker. The Yearly Meeting encourages ventures that can generate internal income to pay not only salaries, but also ministries and administrative expenses. Our church buildings and parsonages, many of which are approximately 100 years old, require restorative interventions that are impossible to carry out in this complex period. That is why, during this pandemic, we are focused on the support of the church structure and prioritize the payment of our pastoral workers.
Ministries continue even as the economy suffers. Churches that have ministries to assist the elderly persist even when the cost of food has risen by up to five times. Car maintenance, fuel, and various services that have always been paid for in US dollars continue to be needed, even though they have become more expensive on account of inflation, and because of the difficulty in acquiring US dollars in the interior of the country. (On the black market, one US dollar is now equivalent to forty-eight or fifty Cuban pesos.) Just as the state has increased the salary of its workers, the church has also increased the salary of its workers, lay or pastoral, because everyday life has become more and more expensive. All churches have ministries that need funds to function, in commissions, departments, councils, etc. Electricity rates have risen up to ten times their value, so the monthly rate is close to or exceeds one thousand pesos.
