Church In Cuba Chooses Bishop
Episcopal News Service. December 13, 1979 [79390]
HAVANA -- The Ven. Emilio Hernandez, Archdeacon of the old Havana and Matanzas provinces, was elected bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Church of Cuba at a special synod held here at Holy Trinity Cathedral on December 8th.
The election took place in the 11th ballot, when Archdeacon Hernandez obtained the majority of the clerical and lay votes. The other two candidates were the Very Rev. Prospero Mesa, dean of the Cathedral and the Rev. Juan Ramon de la Paz, rector of St. Paul's Church, Camaguey.
There were 13 clergy and 20 lay people qualified to vote.
In 1951 Archdeacon Hernandez entered Union Theological Seminary at Matanzas after studying medicine briefly at the University of Havana.
He was ordained deacon in 1955 and priest in 1956 by the Rt. Rev. Alexander Hugo Blankingship, then Bishop of Cuba. He is married to the former Edivia Mesa. The couple has three adult children.
Archdeacon Hernandez has accepted his election subject to the consent of the Metropolitan Council, the international Anglican body that relates the Episcopal Church of Cuba with the rest of the Anglican Communion. The council will set the date for his consecration.
The present bishop of Cuba, the Rt. Rev. Jose A. Gonzalez, has expressed his desire to retire for reasons of age, but has not set a date yet.
In a questionnaire previously circulated among the clergy, Archdeacon Hernandez said that he sees the future of the Episcopal Church of Cuba with "confidence and firm hope" if all the members work with dedication and unity. "I am convinced of the contribution that the Church of Jesus Christ can make to any society, and more especially to our nation in our concrete situation," he added.
The Episcopal Church in Cuba became an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion in 1966. Until then, it was a missionary diocese of the Episcopal Church in the USA.