The faith in Cuba

"The faith in Cuba." This is the title of a course I designed at St. Thomas University. As part of the course, we went on pilgrimage throughout the island of Cuba, encountering young missionaries and college students along the way in Havana, Santa Clara and Camagüey, and ending in Santiago.

In Havana, we visited “el Rincón de San Lázaro” (St. Lazarus’ Corner) and leper colony, which enabled us to see the charitable works of the Church and examples of popular religiosity. We also visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Regla and other important sites and met with the young man who directs the Archdiocese of Havana’s youth ministry. In Santiago, we visited our Claretian Missionary Sisters community and were able to visit El Cobre to honor Our Lady of Charity, without whom it would be impossible to understand not just the faith in Cuba, but also what it means to be Cuban. This year, Cuba celebrates the 400th anniversary of the discovery of this image in the Bay of Nipe.

They were marvelous days of fraternal encounters with so many people who made our journey easy and gave witness to what it means to live the faith in Cuba, remaining strong despite difficulties, and staying there for love of the Church.

For the youth in Cuba, it was an opportunity for exchange and joy in the knowledge that other young people outside the island now support and love them. Our group of students from South Florida was comprised of two Mexicans, three Haitians, one Dominican, two daughters of Cubans and one Honduran-Dominican.

This trip was very significant because 50 years ago, the Augustinian Fathers in Miami founded St. Thomas University. The school has its roots in Havana: when the “Universidad Santo Tomás de Villanueva” was taken over in Havana, the Augustinian Fathers fled to Miami, where Archbishop Coleman Carroll asked them to start a university. St. Thomas University President Msgr. Franklyn Casale accompanied us on the first two days of our trip, and together with St. Thomas students and professors, stepped inside the indoor patios of the original campus in Havana, which today is a vocational school. It was a very emotional moment, and we were able to pray the vespers in front of what once was the chapel and today is almost destroyed.