What really happened in the Holguín cathedral

HAVANA, 17 March 2012 – Radio Progreso Alternativa & Progreso Weekly – The occupation Tuesday the 13th by opponents of the Cuban government occurred not only at the Church of Our Lady of Charity in Havana but also in other provinces of Cuba. However, as we have mentioned in previous reports, only the sit-in in the capital lasted 48 hours, until the moment the demonstrators were removed because their talks with religious authorities had no effect.

In Holguín, capital of the province of the same name (800 kilometers east of Havana), another opposition group tried to carry out a similar event but gave up after a few hours.

We are reprinting an official note from the Bishop of Holguín, Msgr. Emilio Aranguren, in which he describes the events at that temple and denies allegations made in Miami that he struck one of the demonstrators. The translation into English is by Progreso Weekly.

Press release from the Bishopric of Holguín

AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED IN THE HOLY CATHEDRAL CHURCH ON TUESDAY 13 MARCH 2012

The Most Rev. Emilio Aranguren Echeverría, Bishop of Holguín

From the start, I must say that what has been published on the basis of testimony from several of the people present is totally distorted, even manipulated and, of course, false.

I shall describe what happened. At 5 p.m. on Tuesday 13 March 2012, I received a phone call from the lady who keeps the Holy Cathedral Church open. She told me that a group of men and women had walked in and had sat on the last three pews of the church and said that she felt uneasy because they kept whispering into their cell phones.

That same morning, just before noon, I had received a call from the priest of Tunas, Presbyter José Alberto Grajales Carvajal, who told me that a group of 20 persons had done something similar and that at 12 noon, the time when the temple is usually shut down, they told him they would remain inside. As a result of the conversation that followed, the group withdrew spontaneously. Some of them said that they would return at 4 p.m., once the doors to the temple were opened again.

In view of the information I received, and because Presbyter Jaime González López de Mesa was assisting a religious community outside the city [of Holguín], I asked the layman Eugenio Gómez Arias, an employee of the Bishopric and member of the Christian community of the Cathedral, to accompany me.

We had the impression that the temple was totally closed and knocked at the door of the parish house. Later, we went in through the main door, which was open, and found a group of 17 people sitting on the last three pews in the back of the temple.

When we walked in, I heard one of them say, “He has arrived” (it seems that the cleaning lady had told them she had phoned me because she had to close [the church] at 5:30 p.m.). I stood before them, between the pews, and after a brief greeting I asked them why they didn’t want to leave, when it was time to close the temple. They answered that they had come in to pray for the freedom of Cuba.

Some words were exchanged because the young man who sat in the first pew in front of my took out his cell phone and I told him to put it away because inside the temple cell phones should not be used, neither to talk nor to take pictures. During that exchange, he told me that I wasn’t the pastor. Then I raised my voice and, in a firm manner and pointing with my finger, I told him he was offending me. Several members of the group told him to shut up.

At no time did I slap him or made a gesture that caused the cell phone to fall on the floor. We did not turn out the lights inside the temple.

In my own words, I told them that they were using the temple for a purpose that was not properly religious and it would be good for them to understand that. I remember that I compared the situation with a cinema, where, once the movie is over, the ushers inspect the hall and close the doors. The people leave not because they’re evicted but because the show is over. And that’s what was happening.

I also told them that the cleaning lady had the right to go home, because her workday was over, but she couldn’t because they had remained in the place. Finally, I told them that the temple would not be closed and that it would be kept open and that I would remain inside (as I did) until the end of the 8 o’clock Mass, and that later, without calling the police, I would discuss with the members of the community how we should proceed.

One of the people present then identified himself as a university graduate and said that when he was a child or a teenager he would come to the temple and that, after the doors were closed, they remained as a group. I told him that he was right, but that it was part of the catechism program, the choir rehearsals, etc. During that exchange, some people started talking about Jehovah, taking out their cell phones, and I asked them not to use them, etc. The person who addressed me identified himself as an opponent.

At 7:10 p.m., the sacristan came in to set up the altar to the Virgin of Charity (on a side chapel) for the Mass. At 7:30 p.m., I invited them to come closer and pray the Rosary (the group, initially 17, had been reduced to 8 or 9). They did not move closer. I led the Rosary.

At the end, with the Mass about to start, a woman who had come in from the street walked over to me and identified herself as a member of a group of farm women who opposed the use of the dual currency. She told me that she was not in agreement with [the demonstrators’] behavior and that she would talk to them. I asked her to do so in whispers because the Mass was about to begin.

At the very moment of the consecration, I heard them close the door behind them (I couldn’t see them because of the angle of the side altar.) Shortly thereafter, at 8:25 p.m., the layman indicated to me that they had left the temple.

Therefore, what has been said by those who reported the events does not correspond with the truth.

Holguín, 16 March 2012