Conditions in Cuba and the effects of U.S. sanctions on the island nation were highlighted during a panel discussion moderated by Catherine Gordon of the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness as part of Ecumenical Advocacy Days.
A united call was issued on November 4 for the humanitarian release of the Cuban 5 and the American Alan Gross. The call was issued by the Cuban Council of Churches, the Reverend John McCullough of Church World Service, Rabbi Sunny Schnitzer of the Jewish Renewal Movement and the Reverend Gradye Parsons of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Interested in sharing experiences from different perspectives and life experiences, a group of persons who use wheelchairs, collaborators, and special guests, gathered together in the National Activities Center of the Presbyterian Church (CANIP), to share an ágape moment and look for inclusive strategies from the standpoint of faith.
Twenty-one U.S. religious leaders ― including Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons ― today (Oct. 21) sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging “concrete action to pursue a path toward improved relations with Cuba.”
In addition to beginning joint global actions for peace, social justice, and the empowering of the ecumenical community, an agreement signed last week by the Cuban Council of Churches (CIC) and the U.S. Rainbow Coalition PUSH will seek to have Cuba removed from the list of “countries that support terrorism,” as categorized by the U.S. government.
Members of a delegation of the Cuban Council of Churches (CIC) who recently visited the U.S. affirmed in a press conference upon their return that they perceived a more accepting attitude from that country toward the Caribbean islands and they see this as a hopeful signal that new channels of relationship may be opened between the countries.