Cuba and the Pope
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Prof. Walter Petry, assistant professor of history at Fairfield University who specializes in Latin America and Cuba in particular, has been in Cuba for the last two summers with the Center for Cuban Studies, based in New York City.
From his own experience of attending Mass in Cuba, he observed the Churches were fairly well attended, by both actively practicing Catholics as well as those who came out of curiosity.
He spoke with a Jesuit priest who teaches at a seminary in Santiago who said there are a large number of vocations in Cuba. The seminary is careful to take mature candidates who are required to complete at least three years of social work, thus preventing an influx of young men looking for an escape from the hardships of life.
A historian, Prof. Petry feels that priests were expelled in the early 1960s because they were anti-revolutionary and aligned with the wealthier class. As a result, Catholics in general were discriminated against and bypassed for promotions in the 60s and 70s. Restrictions lessened in the 80s and in 1992, all restrictions were removed.
Now Cuba has its own clergy, including an Archbishop who is Cuban. Professor Petry says there is a strong devotion to a brown-skinned Virgin Mary who appeared to a black child in 1610. A statue of her is in the Basilica outside of Santiago that the Pope will be visiting.
Professor Petry is a graduate of Manhattan College and Columbia University where he earned a master's degree in history and did work for a doctorate. He is a member of the NAACP, the American Association of University Professors, ACLU, and the American Historical Association.
To arrange an interview, please call Nancy Habetz. 203-254-4000, ext. 2647.
## Vol. 30, #196 January 20, 1998
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