05495
Sept. 21, 2005

Presbyteries still planning trips to Cuba

Leaders preparing to appeal 
government denials of travel licenses

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE — At least three presbyteries plan to apply for single-trip licenses to travel to Cuba while deciding how to appeal a U.S. Treasury Department decision not to renew the blanket licenses of middle governing bodies, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and several other denominations.

     The PC(USA) and other denominations were denied license renewals in July. Now presbyteries from Long Island to Twin Cities Area to South Louisiana are being denied travel privileges, including some presbyteries with ties of more than 20 years to churches in Cuba.

     The overriding question is how to appeal — by just reapplying for a license and rebutting the Treasury Department’s arguments? Or by more aggressively challenging the government ruling that presbyteries and denominations are not religious organizations? Or through a public-relations campaign challenging the government’s definition of a religious organization?

     While U.S. partners of Cuban churches are riled up, they don’t want to overplay their hands because they fear losing all ability to travel to Cuba or bring Cuban Christians to the United States — or conferences, youth events and other such religious gatherings.

     The Treasury Department enforces a 44-year-old trade embargo of Cuba. The embargo was loosened somewhat during the Clinton administration, but President George W. Bush tightened the sanctions again about six months before the 2004 election, to reduce the flow of money and visitors to Cuba.

     The letters informing denominations and middle governing bodies that their licenses weren’t being renewed seemed to encourage congregations to apply for blanket licenses.

     No congregations in Long Island Presbytery or South Louisiana Presbytery have applied for licenses, but some intend to do so. Government regulations don’t make it clear whether congregations are eligible for blanket licenses — standing licenses for pre-approved lists of travelers.

     “We just see this as a dangerous precedent,” says Martha Porter, chair of Long Island Presbytery’s Cuba Work Group, which is waiting to see how the denomination’s appeal goes.

     That appeal argues that the PC(USA) fits the Treasury Department’s criteria for religious organizations: It is tax-exempt, holds regular worship services, offers religious education, has formal religious doctrines, and is composed of established congregations.

     The denomination has not yet heard from the government. The appeal was filed last month.

     “This isn’t just a church thing,” says Porter. “I see it as a frontal assault on religious freedom.”

     In the past, the Treasury Department has issued blanket licenses to denominations and presbyteries, as well as some churches. Such licenses guarantee travel and forestall delays and denials. Congregations within the boundaries of a presbytery often traveled on the presbytery’s license and determined the fitness of individuals on each trip.

     A trip license is a one-time travel permit.

     Longtime Cuba partners say that the process of obtaining a trip license is cumbersome, and that such licenses often appear at the last minute, which is stressful and makes planning difficult.

     Molly Millerwise, a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department’s Public Affairs Office, says the government is cracking down on religious organizations that have abused their licenses by allowing individuals unaffiliated with congregations to travel to Cuba.

     She said the government does not have a “preference” for licensing local congregations rather than governing bodies or denominations. She said it runs background checks on individuals named in congregational applications to see if they’ve violated the U.S. sanctions.

     A trip license is good for up to 25 travelers.

     Millerwise declined to answer when she was asked whether Treasury is suggesting that all the denominations that have been denied license renewals have abused their licenses.

     The Rev. John Stewart of St. John the Baptist Presbyterian Church in LaPlace, LA, is certain that no one in South Louisiana Presbytery ever abused its travel license — but he doesn’t want to jeopardize the presbytery’s 18-year-ties to Matanzas Presbytery in central Cuba, the site of an ecumenical institution, the Evangelical Theological Seminary.

     The presbytery has cancelled a trip planned for October, but Stewart says she will appeal the decision and get churches to begin applying for trip licenses.

     “We can still go,” he says, “but planning now will be nine to 12 months out, instead of six to eight. It will have a chilling effect, but it is workable … so we will work within the system. The government isn’t saying we can’t go, but it is putting obstacles in our way — as is the Cuban government.”

     Twin Cities Area Presbytery says it recently received a trip license and plans to send 10 people in November.

     One congregation in the presbytery already has a blanket travel license.

     “This has really disrupted our program,” says Porter, adding that the U.S. government is refusing or delaying travel licenses to Cubans who want to come to the United States for church programs. A Cuban woman invited to the Presbyterian Women’s Gathering in July 2003 didn’t get her license in time for the event.

     Porter says a six-parish group intends to apply for a license, but isn’t sure whether it will qualify because the travelers are not from a single congregation. “This group has gone to Cuba for years and years every February,” she says. “They’re determined not to let this ruin their part of the partnership.”

     Presbyterians traveling to Cuba often describe their focus as partnership, not mission. They say they get as much as they give.

     Porter says Setauket Presbyterian Church, her congregation, has a partnership with San Antonio de los Banos, a Cuban church on Havana’s west side that once has only two members show up for worship but now fills its pews. “It’s an inspiring story,” she says.

     Stewart says Cubans have much to teach North Americans about the vitality of tiny churches in a culture that is hostile to faith — a reality for U.S. Christians. “Can you be a church and be small? Yes. That’s what they can teach us,” he says.

     For the Rev. Tom Castlen, the executive of Long Island Presbytery, restricting access to the Cuban church is both a political and pastoral matter. Elders, pastors and lay people have strong personal ties. “There are pastors with which I correspond on a regular basis who know more what’s going on on Long Island than some of my colleagues, and vice versa,” he says. “These are very close personal ties, and that makes it tough for us. For 18 years we’ve been exchanging delegations … for clearly religious and humanitarian reasons. Now, all of a sudden we’re told that we’re not legitimate as a religious organization. … I don’t think the Treasury Department is competent to determine what a religious organization is.”

     Castlen insists that Long Island Presbytery has not abused its license.

     Five other presbyteries still have unexpired blanket licenses for travel to Cuba: Cascades, Chicago, Monmouth, Santa Fe and West Jersey.