Lay people

Definition and functions.
Lay Movements
– Christian Family Movement
– Catholic Women’s Movement
– Catholic Workers Movement.
– Frater.
– Pro-Life Cuba
vicarial representatives

The Archdiocesan Council of Laity of Havana (CAL-Havana) is a diocesan-level body of the Archdiocese of Havana at the service of the formation and promotion of the laity, of their coherent and committed insertion in the life and mission of the Church. diocesan, and the coordination and development of the organized lay apostolate.

The headquarters of the Council is the “Julio Morales Gómez” Lay House, in Havana.

The Council has the following specific objectives:

Serve as a forum for dialogue between qualified representatives of the diocesan laity, with a view to evaluating situations, exchanging criteria, ideas and initiatives, and solving problems and challenges that affect the laity or the Church in general.
Promote communication, coordination of efforts and support between lay movements and organizations as well as the development of joint activities.
Support or promote actions of various kinds aimed at the comprehensive formation of the diocesan laity, especially those related to lay identity and spirituality and humanistic formation.
Promote the co-responsibility of the laity in the life and mission of the Church, especially in its social dimension.
Promote the development of the organized laity and its articulation at the different levels and instances of the diocesan Church.
Promote the insertion and participation of lay movements and organizations in overall pastoral care.
Represent the laity before the different bodies of the diocesan Church or other Christian Churches and society.
Promote the ecumenical dimension of the diocesan laity.
Promote spaces for meeting and dialogue between lay movements and organizations and other builders of society.
Develop animation initiatives consistent with the expressed purposes.

In charge of the Council is a President, appointed by the diocesan Pastor.

The Council has an Advisor, who is a priest also appointed by the diocesan Pastor.

The members of the Council are:

The lay movements or organizations that work apostolically in the Archdiocese, whose application for admission has been accepted at a meeting of the Plenary Council, represented by their highest person.
A representative of the laity of each Episcopal Vicariate, appointed by the Vicar, after hearing the opinion of the Council.

The meeting of the President, the Advisor and the members constitutes the Plenary Session of the Council

DIOCESAN MOVEMENTS

–Christian Family Movement
– Catholic Women’s Movement
– Catholic Workers Movement.
– Frater.
– Pro-Live Cuba

They are Movements that emerged in our Archdiocese at the initiative of committed lay people in response to felt needs for organized lay apostolate in specific pastoral areas. They are characterized by their specialization in terms of pastoral fields – family, women, work -, by their own mystique and by their harmony and availability to collaborate with diocesan pastoral care.

There are three Diocesan Movements:

—– Christian Family Movement —- Catholic Women’s Movement —-Catholic Workers Movement.

– Christian Family Movement, (MFC):

Founded on February 23, 1991, 15 years ago, the Movement promotes human and Christian values in the family, especially through processes of experience and formation. The Movement has 21 base groups and is in charge, by express mandate of our Archbishop, of animating family ministry in the Aquidiocese. Due to this, it directly serves groups of marriages in more than 60 communities in terms of formation and ecclesial commitment, and provides various services such as: premarital preparation, Parenting Schools, Annual Family Day, Annual Family Coexistence, materials for the family experience of tough times, and others. The Annual Family Day deserves special mention, with fifteen years of celebration in the Archdiocese and ten in the remaining Dioceses, for its roots and impact in the communities and its extra-ecclesial projection, as well as the Annual Family Coexistence in which the average Participation since its inception has been about 2,000 people.

The MFC integrates the Christian Family Movement worldwide through its participation in the Latin American MFC.

– Catholic Women’s Movement, (MMC):

Established in 1995 as a lay organization formed by adult women from our communities in order to promote the experience of their dignity as daughters of God, sharing their experience and finding in that sharing reasons for their commitment to the family, the Church and society. . The motto of the Movement is: “Women, a sign of Peace, Reconciliation and Hope”. The women members commit to being persevering in the faith, to cultivate Christian values in their home, especially in the education of their children, and to promote these values in the environments in which they operate, radiating them with their word and actions generosity, welcome, self-sacrifice, trying to eradicate everything that destroys love, coexistence and life itself, increasing in themselves and those around them the desire to love and forgive, without losing joy and the hope that comes from the certainty that God is Father of all and is with us.

The Movement has a presence in 27 communities of the Archdiocese and maintains contact with groups of women who work in the dioceses of Pinar del Río, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Ciego de Ávila and Holguín. The Movement sponsors the initiative known as “Taller La Esperanza”, made up of single mothers with whom special training and promotion work is carried out to raise their self-esteem and dignity.

Since 2001, the MMC has been a full member of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO).

– Catholic Workers Movement, (MTC):

It was founded on August 20, 1997, after a four-year journey of prayer and reflection. Its objective: to bring the transformative message and the hope of Christ to work and popular environments through the apostolate of the laity. The Movement has a presence in eight parishes of our Archdiocese, with a proposal to found groups in another four. It also develops a founding process in the Archdiocese of Camagüey with the consent of its Archbishop. The Movement is made up of committed Catholic Christians, active workers. Its mystique is based on the review of life events from the perspective of Jesus.

THE CHRISTIAN FRATERNITY OF THE CHRONICLY SICK AND DISABLED, (FRATER):

Founded in 1945 in Verdun, France, thanks to the initiative of Father Henri Françoise, recognized as an international Catholic organization by the Holy See since 1995, the Fraternity’s objective is the evangelization of the person, specifically the sick and disabled, as well as their development. integral through team life and its contribution to the transformation of the world according to Christ.

The Fraternity seeks the integral development of its members, encouraging the appreciation of their own qualities over their limitations, in order to become protagonists of their own lives, becoming aware of their role in society and in the Church.

The Fraternity is organized into parish or community teams, animated by sick or disabled lay leaders. It has five teams established in the Archdiocese as well as groups of Fraternists in the dioceses of Matanzas, Santa Clara, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba. The group “Los Ignacitos” deserves mention, a beautiful experiment with disabled children in Torrientes, Diocese of Matanzas.

—- Vegas, Quivican, Güines, El Salvador del Mundo (Cerro), Corazón de María.

THE CUBA PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT

Founded in this Archdiocese in July 1995, this Movement aims to transmit the Gospel of Life. For it:

Promotes the culture of life from the principles of Christian ethics and science to achieve respect for human dignity and contribute to the construction of a civilization of justice and love.
It defends human life from conception to death and especially the life of the unborn, introducing ethical, moral, legal, medical, psychological and social criteria and attitudes to promote this defense.
It proposes and encourages in young people a life project with an adequate education for love based on Christian values and virtues, responsible fatherhood and motherhood, chastity and virginity.
It teaches methods of self-knowledge of human fertility, known as natural methods of family planning, and promotes the use of this knowledge.
It provides services to the different pastoral bodies and movements in everything related to the defense of life and its philosophical, moral and religious principles.

Lately, the Movement provides training to Catholic students at the Latin American School of Medicine.

The Movement has a national character and today has 11 groups in other dioceses. Maintains relationships and exchange of experiences with other pro-life organizations in Europe, Australia and America.

Vicarial representatives:

Vicaría Norte – Old Havana Zone

Esperanza Purón

Vicaría Norte – Zona Cerro-Vedado

Migdalia Dopico

Vicaría Este

Rodolfo Romero

Vicaría Oeste

Bernardito Romero
Nahomi Pérez

Vicaría Sur

To be designated.

Lay and Responsible Movements