Episcopal Church of Cuba

The Episcopal Church of Cuba (Spanish: Iglesia Episcopal de

Diocese of Cuba
Cuba) is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States
(ECUSA or TEC). The diocese consists of the entire country of Diœcesis Cubensis
Cuba. From 1966 to 2020, it was an extra-provincial diocese under Diócesis de Cuba
the archbishop of Canterbury.[2] As of 2021, it had nearly 1,600
members and an average worship attendance of more than 600 in
forty-four parishes, including the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in
Havana.[1]

History
The Episcopal Church of Cuba traces its formal origins to 1901,
when the House of Bishops of ECUSA established the Missionary
District of Cuba under the jurisdiction of the Presiding Bishop.

In 1966 ECUSA's House of Bishops withdrew the Cuban diocese

from ECUSA association in the wake of the 1959 Cuban
Revolution, which had strained communication and travel between
the churches.[3] After 1966, as an extra-provincial diocese, the
Cuban church was under the oversight of a Metropolitan Council
of the Primates of the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Church
in the Province of the West Indies, as delegated by Archbishop of Location
Canterbury. The diocese remained in full Anglican Communion
Country Cuba
throughout the period.
Territory Cuba
Ecclesiastical Province 2 of the
province Episcopal
Church
Statistics
Area 109,884 km2
(42,426 sq mi)
Population (as of 2021)
- Total 11,193,470
Congregations 44[1] (2021)
Members 1,850[1] (2021)
Information
First holder Albion W. Knight
Denomination The Episcopal
Church
Established 1901
ECUSA voted at its 2018 General Convention to readmit the Cathedral Cathedral of the
diocese.[4] Holy Trinity
Language Spanish
Bishops of Cuba Calendar Gregorian
calendar
Bishop of
Name Dates Current leadership
Cuba

1st Albion W. Knight 1905–1913 Governance Episcopal polity

Hiram Richard Bishop Griselda

2nd 1915–1938
Hulse Delgado del
Alexander Hugh Carpio
3rd 1939–1961
Blankingship
Website
Romualdo González 1961–1966 (first Cuban Citizen
4th http://www.cuba.anglican.org
Agüeros bishop, Spain)

José Agustin 1967–1982 (first Cuban-born

5th
Gonzalez bishop)
6th Emilio Hernández 1982–1992

Jorge Perera
7th 1994–2003
Hurtado

Julio Cesar Holguin 2004 (Bishop of the Dominican

Khoury Republic; Acting Bishop)
Miguel Tamayo 2005–2010 (Bishop of Uruguay,
Zaldívar Interim Bishop)

Griselda Delgado
8th 2010–
del Carpio

Recent history and future structure

Internal divisions over a range of issues including the possibility of rejoining the Episcopal Church in the
United States (ECUSA) and the election of a successor to Bishop Perera,[5] led to a long period of
instability within the Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba, which found itself unable to elect a bishop for many years.
Bishop Miguel Tamayo Zaldívar, a native Cuban who moved to Uruguay to serve as a missionary and
subsequently became Bishop of Uruguay in the Iglesia Anglicana de Sudamérica (formerly the Iglesia
Anglicana del Cono Sur de las Americas), was appointed Interim Bishop in 2005.

Following a number of attempts at resolution of the problem, the Metropolitan Council, in February 2007,
appointed Canon Nerva Cot Aguilera and Ulises Mario Aguero Prendes as suffragan bishops of the Iglesia
Episcopal de Cuba to carry out pastoral oversight under the direction of Bishop Tamayo. They were
consecrated on June 10, 2007.[6] Cot Aguilera was the first woman to be appointed an Anglican bishop in
Latin America. She expressed openness to ordaining openly gay and lesbian clergy.[7] After a short
retirement, Cot Aguilera died suddenly on July 10, 2010 after a brief battle with severe anemia. She was
71.[8]

Bishop Tamayo worked industriously to heal divisions within the diocese, but repeated attempts to elect his
successor ultimately failed. Following Bishop Tamayo's announcement in 2009 of his wish to resign (to
focus on his ministry in Uruguay, ahead of his anticipated retirement in 2012-2013), and a further
inconclusive election, the responsibility for an appointment fell again to the Metropolitan Council, which in
January 2010 appointed Griselda Delgado Del Carpio as bishop coadjutor (assistant bishop with the right
of succession).[9] She was ordained to the episcopate on February 7, 2010 and following Bishop Tamayo's
resignation was installed as diocesan on November 28, 2010.[10]

At a meeting of the Diocesan Synod in March 2015, following the decision by the ECUSA and Iglesia
Episcopal de Cuba to re-establish diplomatic relations, it was resolved to take steps to formally
reincorporate the Cuban church within the Episcopal Church in the United States. A commission was
formed to consider what processes would be needed to achieve a reunification, and the General Convention
was expected to consider the matter in 2018.[11]

In July 2018, at the 79th Episcopal General Convention, both the House of Bishops and the House of
Deputies voted unanimously to re-admit the Episcopal Church of Cuba to ECUSA[12][13] as a diocese of
province II (also called the Atlantic Province), which includes dioceses from New York and New Jersey in
the United States, Haiti, and the Virgin Islands.

References
1. "Table of Statistics of the Episcopal Church" (https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/file
s/download/32045). Office of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. October
2022. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
2. Petersen, Kirk (February 15, 2020). "¡Cuba Sí! TEC Officially Welcomes Its Newest
Diocese" (https://livingchurch.org/2020/02/15/cuba-si-tec-officially-welcomes-its-newest-dioc
ese/). The Living Church. "La Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba on February 15 officially became
the Diocese of Cuba, rejoining The Episcopal Church after more than half a century of
separation."
3. Townsend, Matthew; Petersen, Kirk (23 July 2018). "Cuba Rejoins the Family" (https://livingc
hurch.org/2018/07/23/cuba-rejoins-the-family/). The Living Church. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
"La Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba will soon be a diocese of the Episcopal Church. On July 11
the House of Deputies unanimously passed Resolution A238"
4. Townsend, Matthew (July 11, 2018). "Deputies: ¡Cuba Sí!" (https://livingchurch.org/2018/07/
11/deputies-cuba-si/). The Living Church.
5. Jane Davidson, Anglican Journal, Mar 1, 2003
6. Cuban Episcopalians welcome new bishops suffragan (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/799
01_86792_ENG_HTM.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070612185135/http://w
ww.episcopalchurch.org/79901_86792_ENG_HTM.htm) 2007-06-12 at the Wayback
Machine
7. Desdin, Manuel (June 2007). "La Iglesia Episcopal ordena en Cuba a la primera mujer
obispo de América Latina" (http://www.cubaencuentro.com/txt/cuba/noticias/la-iglesia-episco
pal-ordena-en-cuba-a-la-primera-mujer-obispo-de-america-latina-37113). Cuba Encuentro
(in Spanish). Retrieved July 2, 2016.
8. Nerva Cot Aguilera, Latin America's first woman bishop, dies at 71 (http://www.episcopalchur
ch.org/79425_123406_ENG_HTM.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20100726220
836/http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_123406_ENG_HTM.htm) 2010-07-26 at the
Wayback Machine
9. Griselda Delgado Del Carpio consecrated as bishop coadjutor, February 09, 2010 (http://arc
hive.episcopalchurch.org/81808_119301_ENG_HTM.htm)
10. Griselda Delgado Del Carpio installed as bishop, November 30, 2010 (http://archive.episcop
alchurch.org/81808_125939_ENG_HTM.htm)
11. Cuban Synod votes to return to Episcopal Church, Anglican News, March 2015 (http://www.
anglicannews.org/news/2015/03/cuban-synod-votes-to-return-to-episcopal-church.aspx)
12. Bishops vote unanimously to admit Cuba as a diocese, Episcopal News Service, July 2018
(https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/07/10/bishops-vote-unanimously-to-admit-cub
a-as-a-diocese/)
13. Deputies concur with bishops in unanimous vote to admit Cuba, Episcopal News Service,
July 2018 (https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/07/11/deputies-concur-with-bishops-
in-unanimous-vote-to-admit-cuba/)

External links
Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba official site (https://web.archive.org/web/20060803054526/http://
www.cuba.anglican.org/)
Anglican Communion site (http://www.anglicancommunion.org/)
Historical resources on Anglicanism in Cuba (http://anglicanhistory.org/wi/cuba/) from
Project Canterbury

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