Holy Family’s 2017 Lenten Project Rebuilding San Miguel Arcangel Church

For our Lenten project this year, Holy Family has chosen to support the rebuilding of San Miguel Arcangel Church in the

Diocese of Matanzas.In January Father Terry Keehan, Ro

Geisler and Sue Geegan from our par-ish traveled with Catholic Extension to Cuba. One of the places we visited was the Catholic community in San Miguel de los Baños, a town of about 4,100 people 90 miles west of Havana.

The church, built during the town’s more prosperous days in the early 20th century, has been deteriorating for decades without any maintenance or repair.

The funds Holy Family will raise for this Lenten project will be used to rebuild the church and reNEW the spirit of the faith community.

San Miguel Arcangel Church is of great importance to the diocese be-

The Cuban Catholic Church has entered a historic moment today. But as it is expanding its missionary presence and much-needed social services across the island, it is severely hampered by a lack of adequate church buildings and facilities.

Holy Family is partnering with Chicago-based Catholic Extension to help rebuild San Miguel Arcangel Church, a dedicated, vibrant Catholic community in San Miguel de los Baños in the Diocese of Matanzas, Cuba.

This Lent, Holy Family can make a big difference for our Catholic brothers and sisters in this rural Cuban community.

View of the church and the town of San Miguel de los Baños from the surrounding hills

San Miguel Arcangel Church in San Miguel de los Baños A Cuban Lent

cause it is one of only nine churches that serve a vicariate with more than 79 towns and villages.

Currently, Mass can no longer be celebrated in the church, but the community gathers Sundays in a base-ment room.

The Catholic parish community is very dedicated, with laypeople leading most of the ministries. Aveli-to, does religious education, leads the youth group and works hard to keep the teens involved. He combines out-ings to the beach with lessons about faith and preserving God’s creation. But as in all of Cuban life, transporta-tion is always a big challenge.

The parish is also active in prison ministry and provides meals for the elderly.

The construction and especially labor costs are so low in Cuba that it is

RIGHT Father Terry with youth group

leader Avelito out-side the church.

RIGHT Bishop Manuel de

Céspedes of Matanzas (right)

shows our Holy Family group the

interior of San Miguel Arcangel

Church.

possible to fund the entire project. The work required includes the

partial demolition and reconstruc-tion of the bell tower, demolition and replacement of the staircase and the choir’s mezzanine, repair of all church naves, reconstruction and/or repair of vaults and new windows and doors.

Interior and exterior walls of the

church, sacristy and parish office will be plastered, and steel reinforcement will be installed throughout.

Other aspects of the project include a new electrical installation, lightning protection for the church and repair of the sacristy and adjacent parish office, including plumbing.

According to Father Terry, “This is

LEFT Members of San Miguel Arcangel Church, including its pastor (in the striped shirt), join us in front of the church for a group photo.

BELOW A student outside the church.

ABOVE A saint’s statue in the church.

RIGHT The basement room where San Miguel Arcangel currently

celebrates the Eucharist.

an opportunity for all of us at Holy Family to not only reNEW our faith during this Lenten season but to support and assist the people of Cuba, and specifically San Miguel Arcangel, in reNEWing their faith. This will pro-vide them a place to pray, rebuild their community and provide religious edu-cation, as well as support services.”

Holy Family Catholic Community, partnering with Catholic Extension, is committed to raising much needed funding to reNEW and rebuild San Miguel Archangel Church in San Mi-guel de los Baños bringing a reNEWed vitality to this community.

San Miguel de los Baños was once a bustling town where the faith-filled people came from far and wide to experience a pilgrimage to the top of its mountain praying at the Stations of the Cross.

The rebuilding of the church will once again allow the community to gather to worship and offer programs for the poor, the discarded elderly and disabled, catechize their youth and serve those in prison and their families.

San Miguel Arcangel Church is their source of hope and their window into the future to once again worship and serve together as a community.

We are in this together.

TOP St. Michael was not the only archangel we visited in Cuba. Here our

Holy Family group is meeting members of the San Rafael Arcangel “mission

house” community in a housing project in Matanzas.

ABOVE Making a new friend in Havana

RIGHT Cubs T-shirt for a pastor in Cabezas