Cuba and the Conditions. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 The Rev. W. H. McGEE^ Missionary, 
 
 IN HAVANA, CUBA, 
 
 BEFORE 
 
 THE MISSIONARY COUNCIL, 
 
 LOUISVILLE, KY. 
 
 October 23d, 1900. 
 
 AMERICAN CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONS HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY. 
 
Digitized by the Internet-Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/cubaconditionsadOOmcge 
 
The Work in Cuba. 
 
 REV. W. H McGKE’s ADDRESS AT THE MISSIONARY COUNCIL. 
 
 In obeying the call of the Church, as conveyed to him 
 by your x\ssociate Secretary, to “make statement concern¬ 
 ing the work in Cuba,” it is natural to believe that a two¬ 
 fold duty was imposed upon the speaker. He must give 
 brief account of the “acts” in this most “neighborly” of 
 our foreign fields -the things done there since last the 
 whole Church met “for to consider” her Missionary work. 
 And he must strive as of the ability God giveth to lay be¬ 
 fore the Church’s representatives the things undone to¬ 
 day—the opportunities that may not wait our tardy leisure 
 to embrace, but yet shall one day work our corporate re¬ 
 sponsibility in God’s own sight to the peoples that sit in 
 darkness, being ignorant of His word. 
 
 Tlie changes that mark the year since this Council last 
 met, on the Church’s part, have been few and nothing rad¬ 
 ical, though the changed and changing conditions in the 
 state have affected the work in some respects to no incon¬ 
 siderable degree 
 
 No new points have been reached during the twelve 
 months past, but it is expected that work will be begun at 
 Santiago de Cuba within the current year under an admir¬ 
 able leader already in the island. 
 
 At Bolondron, which was occupied by the Church a few 
 months before the meeting of the last Missionary Council, 
 most encouraging results have followed. A confirmation 
 class of forty four (44) was presented to Bishop Whitaker 
 on his visitation in January last—remarkable, not so much 
 for this goodly number who responded to six months of 
 faithful labor, as for the material which made up the 
 class ; practically all adults, and of such character as gives 
 promise both of future classes equally good and of speedy 
 self-support. The local Orphanage, a private institution, 
 was wisely abandoned this past spring, and some fourteen 
 
4 
 
 (14) homeless and friendless g-irls were transferred to the 
 Orphanao^e maintained by the Society at Matanzas, while 
 the transfer of a like number from tlie “ Bandera de Jesus ” 
 at Havana marks the discontinuance of that signally suc¬ 
 cessful work, and the loss to the Church of a golden op¬ 
 portunity. But best of all things to be reported of the 
 Cuban Mission, the present inadequate and unsuitable 
 quarters for the chapel will soon give place to a building 
 consecrated to the “honor and worship ” of God. Appro¬ 
 priation has already been made, and the title to the land 
 conveyed to the Church ; and surely we must rejoice with 
 the Missionary at Bolondron and with his faithful flock 
 that the front room in his own hired house, too small for 
 the congregations already gathered there, while cramping 
 his family and destroying his privacy, will give place to a 
 building that is adapted to the service of Almighty God. 
 
 At Matanzas, the work so long and ably conducted 
 amidst bitter opposition goes on apace. And still it wit¬ 
 nesses to the good it does by the enemies it makes. While 
 impelled by the example of our Mission there to make at 
 least a perfunctory attempt at religious education, as else¬ 
 where, Rome negatives the abstract teaching by the evil of 
 her concrete action. That “persecution” which Christ 
 promised to His servants here on earth, endured through 
 sixteen years of Spanish domination with a steadfastness 
 that brought the recognition of our Missionary’s worth 
 and wisdom, still dogs his steps and strives to thwart his 
 good intent. But entrenched in the love and respect of 
 his townsmen, no permanent harm can befall tlie work ; 
 and the Missionarv’s trouble is referred to here only as 
 evidence of what Rome would do were the power to harm 
 in her hands. Both Sunday-school and day-school have 
 suffered somewhat on this account, but perhaps even more 
 from the impetus given to education by the opening of the 
 many public schools. Even the effort to meet the free dis¬ 
 tribution of books and other school supplies has been but 
 partially successful. Nor will this surprise one acquainted 
 with the present spirit of the Cuban people. The public 
 school system, under native management, is a tangible evi¬ 
 dence of that freedom and independence for which the 
 island has longed these many years, and for the purchase of 
 which brave Cuban men and women have been offering up 
 their life’s blood. 
 
 No wonder, then, that it makes strong appeal to Cuban 
 
0 
 
 patriotism. No need for surprise that Matanzas shall 
 feel the effect when schools most admirably conducted, 
 offering free tuition to Havana’s children, as Duarte to 
 Matanzas, have been practically forced to close their 
 doors. Is it an element in the evangelizing of Cuba that 
 confronts Christian bodies of whatever name? It hints at 
 the solution of the question concerning the educational 
 side of Mission work for which Havana waits - the confin¬ 
 ing of effort to the higher education^ which it may be the 
 public schools will never be able to give. But hundreds 
 to whom our scliool at Mantanzas has opened up a new 
 world in the thirteen (13) years of its existence still live 
 to bless those efforts ; and children’s children for years to 
 come will testify to the wisdom which conceived the idea 
 of that school, and to the faith and love and untiring de¬ 
 votion which brought it into being and sustained its life. 
 That same spirit of consecration has blessed the Orphanage 
 at Matanzas—the one permanent result of war’s devasta¬ 
 tion, and the one monument that will bear witness to the 
 sympathy of the Episcopal Church for Cuba’s orphaned 
 thousands, as well as to the wisdom that marked the ex¬ 
 penditure of the Church’s alms. From the feeble begin¬ 
 ning that was indicated a year ago, the Palmira Duarte 
 Orphanage has grown to the present limit of its capacity. 
 About fifty children enjoy the blessed protection of that 
 haven for God’s little one’s. It stands to-day acknowl¬ 
 edged first of all the homes that Christianity has opened 
 to those whom barbarous warfare had made homeless. 
 Physical care that beams in every happy face ; mental care 
 that shines forth from every eye ; parental love, such as 
 few of that band could have had from those who brought 
 them into the world ; these things illustrate God’s care 
 for those who are his own, and show to the people among 
 whom they live the Church’s interpretation of the “nurture 
 and admonition of the Lord.’’ Surely a twofold blessing 
 must result from this labor of love—a blessing on those 
 who give and those who take, the blessing promised by 
 the incarnate Son of God, when he said: “Inasmuch as 
 ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have 
 done it unto me.’’ But even in Matanzas, the first field 
 of the Church’s effort, and the only one where the Church 
 has even remotely attempted an adequate presentation of 
 her claims, sectarian pride, if such it be, has had a fall. Is 
 it the irony of fate that the man who for sixteen years has 
 
(j 
 
 held aloft in his natal city the banner of evangelical 
 Christianity, the man through whom came the edict of re¬ 
 ligions toleration in Cuba and Porto Rico, the right, so 
 far as law can give it, to preach Jesus Christ to a people 
 who knew Him not, is it the irony of fate or because some¬ 
 body blundered that Pedro Duarte should see another lay 
 in Matanzas as the fruit of eighteen 7 nonths’ labor the cor¬ 
 ner stone of the first Protestant Church building in Cuba ? 
 
 A CUBAN AVENUE-THE ROYAL PALMS. 
 
 Through no fault or failure of his is it due that his chapel 
 and his school room are under the roof that shelters his 
 head. 
 
 Right glad he was to get that much, and proud that his 
 material equipment was such a great advance over that 
 which he had known before. But the “ outward and visi¬ 
 ble sign” so helpful there was wanting, and men might 
 pass that door time and again, nor ever dream that a Chris¬ 
 tian congregation called it home. Little does it brook to 
 
have the praise of man, if down in our heart of hearts we 
 feel the lack of that which God approves. And yet it 
 seems liardly just and ric^ht that faithful labor throngh 
 many years should be robbed of the satisfaction that all 
 here must have felt had the credit been ours that will 
 henceforth belong to our Methodist brethren of putting 
 up the first Protestant Churcli building on the island. 
 May God help them tcj use this great advantage thev have 
 wisely won to the honor and praise of Ilis name. 
 
 At Havana the chapel in the noisy billiard room has 
 given place to the “ Protestant Cathedral ’’ of Cuba’s capi¬ 
 tal. Such it was dubbed in an attack upon the American 
 Governor-General for allowing us the use of the building. 
 You will note the aptness of the title when you recall the 
 cuts of the soldiers’ barracks which filled the periodicals a 
 little while ago. Great as is the improvement over the 
 former quarters, rejoiced as our congregation was to make 
 the change, and thankful to “the powers that be” for 
 making it a possibility, yet facts are stubborn things ; and 
 it is a fact that a discontent which we feel is godly still ex¬ 
 ists there. 
 
 Conditions are not ideal yet. The building is a typi¬ 
 cal government structure, frame, with a corrugated iron 
 roof, wainscoted as to the chapel proper, but the vestry 
 and school room in the rough. A coat of paint and the 
 deft hands of loving women have given it the appearance 
 of a cheap “ Mission chapel ” of the olden kind — of the 
 time when the Church was making no great impression on 
 “ the other half,’ because the very buildings emphasized 
 the difference in status and the advantages of Church and 
 chapel attendance. And the improvement in the location 
 and material equipment has borne legitimate fruit He 
 who has ears to hear can now hear in truth, as he could 
 not where we were before ; and a two hundred per cent, 
 increase in congregations has followed the change from 
 the quarters whence the yellow fever drove us, and this, 
 through the removal of all the soldiers from the city, has 
 practically eliminated that element of attendance, and 
 there are less civilians in Havana now than in the year 
 last past. Surely God has brought good out of seeming 
 evil, and blessed our feeble efforts in His behalf. But, I 
 repeat, the ideal is not yet actualized. A building too 
 warm for the storage of bacon is no inviting place in 
 which to worship God. Even the Churchman with the 
 
8 
 
 big “C” will not always leave the breezy shelter of his 
 thick-walled home to join us, and what shall we expect of 
 his weaker brother in the faith ? Drying out in the sun be¬ 
 tween service and Sunday-school, when the breeze has 
 eluded our diminutive chancel, is certainly not without its 
 drawbacks ! But the physical discomfort is quite the 
 least of our troubles—would that we might reckon on 
 them indefinitely ! It is the precarious tenure on the 
 chapel that oppresses us, the ever present realization that 
 the time will come when this shelter must be lost to us. 
 Indeed, so must it have been months ago, did we not share 
 the building with the Department of Public Instruction, 
 which uses a goodly part of it as a depot for school sup- 
 pi ie§^ 
 
 "’■^t was accepted in the three weeks when we were 
 homeless, with the distinct understanding that it must be 
 given up on demand, with a well meant suggestion that 
 our occupation w'ould probably be brief. Earnest attempts 
 to get a lease on the property, some standing room that 
 would give us time to look around when the order comes 
 to vacate, proved futile. The very best that we can hope 
 under ordinary circumstances is twenty-four hours’ notice. 
 The personal promise of General Wood to advise us in ad¬ 
 vance, if possible to do so, keeps the uncertainty of our 
 situation from being really oppressive. When we recall 
 the unavailing search through ten months of last year for 
 a better location than that wretched one we had—when we 
 note the exceeding difficulty that other bodies have had to 
 get even tolerable quarters for their work in Havana—it 
 will need no great statesmanship to realize that a serious 
 problem confronts us there, and one for which the methods 
 followed heretofore can offer no adequate solution. And 
 a suit at law to eject our soon to-be-ordained deacon and 
 present lay reader at Jesus del Monte from his home and 
 chapel—the culmination of petty schemes to hinder his 
 faitliful and effective labors during many years—seems to 
 suggest that the time has come for more stable effort than 
 is possible in rented halls and houses. Will the duty of 
 the United States have been fulfilled when she gives a 
 civil government to the island ? Shall American Chris¬ 
 tianity be content to leave the islanders to the tender iwer- 
 cies of their former religious guides? Can we stand 
 acquitted in the sight of God if we fail to make the honest 
 effort to stem the tide of materialism and infidelity that 
 
9 
 
 tlireatens to engulf her ignorant masses ? Are we or are 
 we not our Cuban brother’s keeper? And may we salve 
 our consciences by c )mmitting his care to the multitudi¬ 
 nous sects that are now pouring in to bewilder his already 
 puzzled brain as to the meaning of “ Christianity ” ? Shall 
 we, the pioneers in Cuba, sit idly by and see the land pre¬ 
 empted by bodies that put forth no effort to “ save ” till 
 the American occxipation was an accomplished fact? Sim¬ 
 ple justice to those who bore the burden and heat of the 
 day forbids such abandonment of the fruits of that toil¬ 
 some sowing. And again : Our fitness to give these sheep 
 of God a true Catholicism but adds to our responsibility 
 to do what we can. Our Apostolic order ; our prayer 
 book that breathes in every line that faith once for all de¬ 
 livered to the saints ; our insistence on those elements of 
 Christian doctrine and worship that we hold in trust from 
 the undivided Churcli ; our negation of modern accretions 
 that have proved antagonistic to Christian morals and 
 been used as potent weapons of clerical oppression ; these 
 things make strong appeal to the godly Cuban, and give 
 to the Episcopal Church a coigne of vantage that the bald 
 extemporaneous form can never secure. The work to be 
 done will require the expenditure of no mean effort. If 
 that work is worth doing at all, it is worth doing well ; 
 and men of position in other Christian bodies frankly con¬ 
 fess that none can do in Cuba what the Episcopal Church 
 is fitted to accomplisli. It is an honest confession of an 
 actual condition in view of a crying need. But each day 
 of delay in meeting that need increases the difficulty of 
 the work and postpones the consummation of our hopes 
 and prayers. 
 
 If we compare our four Presbyters in Cuba with the 
 magnitude of the work among its million and a half of 
 I)eople, is it doubt of God’s part in what we do that sug¬ 
 gests the cry “ What are they among so many?” The five 
 barley loaves and two small fishes were all that humanity 
 had to give ; but who shall say that the Churcli has ex¬ 
 hausted her resources when she provides the maintenance 
 of this small band? And even were she to double the 
 number, if the work is to be carried on as it is to-day, the 
 conversion of Cuba to righteousness must still remain, 
 from our human point of view, an “iridescent dream.” 
 Do we rely on “ miracles” for our parish work at home? 
 And if not, are we wise to depend on God’s signal inter- 
 
10 
 
 vention to accomplish abroad what our own intelligent 
 efforts should bring forth ? It was not Moses’ rod that 
 brought relief to famislnng Israel, though Go 1 demanded 
 that their leader strike the rock before its waters should 
 gush forth. And so to day he demands our consecrated 
 means to garner the harvests that still are His very 
 own. 
 
 For many months appeal has been made to the Church 
 as opportunity offered to accomplish a plan that promises 
 the best and most permanent and most immediate ‘‘re¬ 
 sults.” It was the purchase of a good site and the erection 
 of a distinctivelv Church building in Havana. Let no one 
 believe for an instant that local pride suggested the idea, 
 nor the desire to afford to expatriated American Church¬ 
 men the accustomed worship of home. It was the belief 
 that so the whole island would benefit that the inconceiva¬ 
 ble ignorance as to “Protestantism ” would be dissipated ; 
 that Cubans who refuse to come to rented rooms might be 
 led to investigate this body that worshipped in a Church, 
 and the increasing numbers who longed to know the truth 
 might find with us their spiritual home. Is it, indeed, a 
 dream ? Or do we speak the “words of truth and sober¬ 
 ness” when we say that no step to be taken for the evan¬ 
 gelization of the island can transcend in importance this 
 one—a step, I repeat, not for Havana alone, but to make 
 Protestantism in the whole island of Cuba 7 -espcctabIe. And 
 such a work is not one of supererogation may not be 
 doubted when a common question asked of the Missionary 
 is. Do Protestants believe in God and Christ ? Will the 
 Church believe our report ? Will she recognize the need 
 and do this thing? We ask it with less hesitation than we 
 did a year ago. We are backed now by the statesmanship 
 of the Bishop of New York ; by the consecrated wisdom 
 of the Bishop of Minnesota ; by the practical experience 
 which years in the field has given to the Presbyter in 
 charge of the Mexican work. May we hope for what men 
 call “success” in these Latin-American Missions without 
 those Church buildings for which the people look ? And 
 all three answer. Nay. 
 
 We neither ask nor want a great cathedral. That will 
 come, we believe, in time and in the ordinary course, 
 whatever the political fate of Cuba may be. We want a 
 chapel that will attract the Cuban of the better sort, on 
 whom the future self-support of the work depends, just as 
 
11 
 
 the shining cross at every service in that wooden ware¬ 
 house now draws his unlettered brother and makes him 
 bare the head. None who sees that mute witness to our 
 claim to be a “ Church ” can doubt what the result will be 
 when there, as at home, we “ worship the Lord in the 
 beauty of holiness.” 
 
 A chapel such as becometh Him we serve to grow by 
 and by into the larger Church ! And a site where our 
 light can never be hid ; where the “ open Church ” will in¬ 
 vite inspection, and it may be that even they who come to 
 mock will remain to pray ! And room for growth on all 
 sides, for the schools that will give to the Cuban child at 
 home the education he now must seek abroad, for the 
 parish house that will train to Christian work and be the 
 centre of manifold activities, our “ beacon that is set on a 
 hill,” and it may be for the rectory or the future Episcopal 
 residence ! Why should it not be so in a city that even 
 now gives shelter to nearly 250,000 persons ? As we sow 
 we shall reap. And whether we, who are best fitted to do 
 it, or whether we leave the privilege of doing to another 
 body, the faith and the zeal that will lay hold on the op¬ 
 portunity now given in Havana, spending not lavishly, 
 but with intelligent discernment of the need, shall in no¬ 
 wise lose their reward. Sure it is that God sees the crying 
 need of light in Cuba as no mere man can see, and wills 
 that the gospel of His crucified Son shall dissipate its 
 spiritual gloom. Is it less sure that, it we obey His call, 
 the promised blessing will be ours? “Prove me now 
 herewith, said the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the 
 windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there 
 shall not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:10.) 
 

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