Cuba: Obama and Hope for Change

Iconic Che Guevara mural in Cuba: Photo by Mark Pendleton 2015

My first trip to Cuba was in 1985. I have been hooked ever since. From 1986-1987 I spent one year as a seminarian in Matanzas, taking a train each Friday to Havana to help out at the cathedral. My son Will retraced some of my steps during his Y.A.S.C. year in 2013: he is currently engaged to his Cuba fiancée Naylet.  Needless to say: my family has been into Cuba for a long time. 

With President Obama's trip to the Cuba next week, it is worth pausing and seeing how far we have come to the brink of a new day in U.S.-Cuba relations. Yes, there are still many things to work through: human rights, fair elections, land claims, immigration, and who could forget: Guantanamo? The process of normalization, let alone reconciliation, begins anew. It needs to begin. 

One of the main themes of the Community of the Cross of Nails is "healing the wounds of history." We have many such wounds to heal between Cuba and the U.S. Those wounds will not heal overnight. Stories will need to shared. I hope and pray that life is changed for the average Cuba in the months and years ahead. I believe it is a good thing for Americans to travel freely to Cuba, and I hope for the day that Cubans can travel freely here -- and return home to help rebuild their island from decades of isolation and neglect.  

As Christ Church travels to Cuba April 2, and the Exeter Rotary Club follows on April 9, may we play a small part in making one-time enemies into friends.