ENS: In Cuba, Presiding Bishop affirms 'sea of possibilities' for ending oppression
Council names new suffragan bishops; one is first woman to hold office
By Bob Williams
Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Episcopal News Service] Vast as an ocean deep with common good is the dream to be realized by God's people, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said while visiting the Episcopal Church of Cuba's Synod meeting February 2-4 in Cardenas.

Highlights of the 98th annual gathering included the appointment of two new suffragan bishops -- Nerva Cot Aguilera and Ulises Aguero Prendes -- to assist Interim Bishop Miguel Tamayo in local oversight of some 40 congregations serving Cuba's estimated 10,000 Episcopalians. In a June 10 liturgy at Havana's Holy Trinity Cathedral, Cot will become the Anglican Communion's first woman bishop in Latin America.

Metaphors of fishing and abundance were central as Jefferts Schori -- preaching at St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church, now in its 100th year -- addressed the Sunday gospel reading in which Jesus calls his disciples to cast nets that yield new followers in the faith.

The dream of God is "a better life for all the world, and not only for one country," Jefferts Schori said in Spanish during her homily for the Synod's closing Eucharist. "What is the dream of the Episcopal Church in Cuba?"

She spoke of "a sea of possibilities" for ending human suffering -- from the local sharing of nutritious vegetables to caring for the elderly and infirm -- outlining how the "abundant life that God dreams for all creation" overcomes the death inherent in "oppressive and cruel systems."
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Sermon at the opening Eucharist of the Synod of the Episcopal Church of Cuba
The Most Rev. Andrew S. Hutchison,
Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada
February 7, 2007

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Episcopal church names first female bishop in Cuba
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