Bishops launch conference in Havana

The Miami Herald February 16, 1999 Bishops launch conference in Havana Evangelization focus of discussion

By ANITA SNOW
Associated Press

             HAVANA -- Cuba's top church official criticized ideologies on both sides of the
             political spectrum as prelates from across the Americas gathered here to discuss the
             church's role in the Western Hemisphere.

             The death penalty, abortion, human rights and the U.S. embargo against Cuba all
             impoverish the people of the Americas, Cardinal Jaime Ortega declared during a
             Sunday evening homily in the Havana cathedral.

Christian love cannot be replaced by political ideologies, the Cuban prelate said.

             Five cardinals, 25 bishops and one priest traveled to the Cuban capital for the Latin
             American Bishops Conference, which will study how to implement Pope John Paul
             II's call during his visit to Mexico last month for more vigorous evangelization in the
             hemisphere.

Although the group includes 15 bishops from the United States and Canada, the
focus appears to be more on the poorer nations to the south.

             ``Preserving the richness of our diverse traditions and cultures, the new
             evangelization should encourage an encounter with the living Jesus Christ,'' Ortega
             said after the prelates, in their white cassocks and miters, marched solemnly into
             Havana's cathedral.

             The conference, the first of its kind in Cuba, comes shortly after the first anniversary
             of John Paul's historic visit to the island in January 1998. The meeting was
             announced last month in Mexico, during the pontiff's visit there.

             In addition to the papal document on the Americas in the third millennium, the
             bishops will analyze the Cuban church one year after the pontiff's trip to the
             communist island.

             Church-state relations in Cuba remain warm. Although church gains have been
             modest, church leaders consider them important in the once-atheist country, which
             had expelled foreign priests and closed church schools.

The bishops were meeting behind closed doors and the results of their discussions
will not be made public until today.