Vincentians in Cuba

Cuba, for almost half a century, has been the center of attention of millions of people. Some have seen in this small island a garden of roses, others a modernday battleground between David and Goliath. The figure of Che Guevara has been given a special prominence, and the voice of Comandante Fidel has been heard extensively all over the globe.

            And the Church and the C.M., what have they done in the meantime?
            In Cuba the Church seems like a deforested mountainside. The lumberjacks arrived and indiscriminately cut down all the trees, large and small. The large trees were exported, the small ones burned. Now no more trees remain in the forest… But, suddenly, as a result of the sun and water, the roots that remained, since nature is powerful, opened up a space between the cement and the rocks and new shoots sprouted up. They cut down the trees, but they did not dry out the roots, and at the first opportunity, they bloomed.

Cuba is not an atheistic country. There has been an absence of God, for quite a long time his name was not mentioned, his presence was avoided, but God remained necessary. Then the sunshine of John Paul II arrived. They allowed the plants to be watered. As though they had opened up a spring that had been blocked, water sprung up and the forest turned green again, filling the plazas. Though it was surrounded by thorns, the blossom of hope budded. The Church lives, breathes, moves. She is herself.

            In these 40 years, the C.M. has gone from 52 members to ten, and at one point in time, there were only five; from 12 houses to five; from a well-known missionary activity to the maintenance of 3 parishes, 2 churches and one house removed from the city for our three students and their formation director. In our houses of the C.M. there were four associations of the Vincentian Family but … the only one remaining is the Association of the Miraculous Medal. The others have completely disappeared. But the spirit is alive and in our five houses these four associations have once again burst into bloom: the AIC, the Vincentian Marian Youth, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and the Association of the Miraculous Medal.

For the rest of the article see

http://www.famvin.net/cm/curia/vincentiana/2002/nu2/lusareta.html