Catholic magazine acquired by cultural center
Entrance to the Padre Félix Varela Cultural Center in the old San Carlos and San Ambrosio seminary. Photo: RPA/P Weekly.
From Progreso Semanal staff
HAVANA – The magazine Espacio Laical (Lay Space) has become a project of the Father Felix Varela Cultural Center, which occupies the building that for centuries was the San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary. The move became effective last January.
The Rev. Yosvany Carvajal, the cultural center’s director, is now the publication’s editor in chief. Editors Roberto Veiga and Lenier González were confirmed in their responsibilities and function.
Both the magazine and its editors have been the target of harsh criticism from the media controlled by exiles and by some opponents of the Cuban government, because of its critical support of the process of reforms being carried out by the Cuban government.
The Cultural Center was inaugurated in September 2011. Since then, it has promoted post-graduate studies, conferences and debates about the national reality, conducted by figures with different political viewpoints, such as Alfredo Guevara, a communist with a long trajectory, and exiled entrepreneur Carlos Saladrigas. The meetings are open to the public.
Below is the official press release:
As it is well known, from 16 September 2011, in the Havana Archdiocese, the Padre Félix Varela Cultural Center opened its doors. This new space of the Catholic Church – to be found in the old site of the San Carlos and San Ambrosio seminary, an epicenter for our national conception- will be committed to the conforming of a Catholic laity, the fostering of diverse artistic expressions and the promotion of dialogue and consensus as a methodology towards a Cuban future.
In that sense, we would like to tell our readers that from January 1st of this year 2012, the magazine Espacio Laical has become a project adjunct to that cultural center. After a long process of reflection, which lasted for the whole of the past 2011, and after consultation with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Archbishop of Havana, the magazine stopped being the organ for the Laymen Council and moves towards this new space, more akin to the nature of our publication. Thus it was reflected in the head of the number 1 issue of this year which is already circulating in its printed version.
We have announced that Father Yosvany Carvajal Sureda, Chairman of the Cultural Center, has been appointed as new director of the magazine. Editors Roberto Veiga
González and Lenier González Mederos have been ratified by Cardinal Jaime Ortega as editor and vice-editor, respectively. Likewise, the editorial council is also renovated with the inclusion of new catholic and non catholic members.
In this new stage of Espacio Laical, we ratify the continuity of our path to this day, with a strong commitment with a meeting point of dialogue and consensus between Cubans of diverse trends. We shall go on accompanying, in a critical constructive way, the current process of social and economic reforms initiated in the country, a process we hope goes deeper and to a good end for the sake of all Cubans. Similarly, we shall keep on advocating for a political adjustment which makes possible the channeling of the political plurality of the nation.
Espacio Laical will go on promoting lectures, conferences and events of vital importance for Cuba´s present and future. As it has been common practice, the open doors policy will be maintained in all of our events, always characterized by free expression of Cubans of diverse political trends, from Island and Diaspora alike. Just as affirmed by Cardinal Jaime Ortega on the night of the Cultural Center´s opening, we pray to God so that we can accomplish, in this times, the vital program of the Old Seminary: to plant hope in the way towards the future.
