Archbishop Hiltz reflects on upcoming Cuba trip

When Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, visits Cuba on Feb. 1-8, he will preside over a meeting of the Metropolitan Council of Cuba. The Council is comprised of the Canadian primate, the U.S. presiding bishop and the primate of the West Indies.

In 1967, when relations between Cuba and the U.S. broke down, The Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba ceased to be part of The Episcopal Church in the U.S. Now, said Archbishop Hiltz, leaders at the Cuba meetings are looking for ways to develop a “partnership” with “shared responsibility for the Cuban church.”

Archbishop Hiltz will also be an observer at the annual synod of the Episcopal Diocese of Cuba and will travel with the new bishop of Cuba, Griselda Delgado del Carpio, to visit three parishes. (His ultimate goal, said Archbishop Hiltz in an interview, is to visit all nine parishes across the island, as did Archbishop Michael Peers, who was primate of the Anglican Church of Canada from 1986 to 2004).

Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada, and Andrea Mann, global relations co-ordinator of General Synod, will accompany Archbishop Hiltz on the trip.