Every Monday, hundreds of Cuban Christians meet in a different church in Havana to pray for peace. They offer prayer in solidarity with the victims of September 11 in the United States and of the war in Afghanistan. So far ten churches from five denominations have hosted the service.

Cuba

What does this day of prayer mean to Christians in Cuba?

Dr Reinerio Arce is president of the Council of Churches of Cuba, which is sponsoring the day of prayer. He says it has helped the churches to link themselves in prayer with the peoples of the USA and Afghanistan, and of other countries - in Latin America or Africa, for example - that are not affected directly by the violence of war, but suffer from economic injustice.

It also expresses the commitment of the Cuban churches to the decade to overcome violence, launched by the World Council of Churches in Berlin last February.

In 1959, a guerrilla army led by Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista, Cuba's corrupt military dictator, and began a programme of social and economic reform. In 1961, the US severed diplomatic relations with Cuba and sponsored the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion. Two years later, Washington imposed an economic embargo on the island.

US churches oppose this policy of isolation. They work closely with their sister churches in Cuba.

The Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba was quick to respond to September 11. On the day of the terror attacks, the Presbytery of Havana sent a message of "fraternity and compassion" to the people of North America. "We are accompanying you as the Bible says - weeping with those who weep."

Héctor Méndez of the First Presbyterian-Reformed Church of Havana wrote to the churches and the people of the United States "in this moment of sorrow, sadness, pain and tears, with the hope that one day the biblical teachings will be fulfilled and 'they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid'. (Mic 4.4)"

The day of prayer will continue into the Christmas season, ending with a huge service on Monday December 10 as well as a cantata sung by an ecumenical choir in a Havana theatre, where Cuban Christians will celebrate together the coming of the Prince of Peace.

The Council of Churches of Cuba embraces twenty-two churches and eleven ecumenical organizations. Two more churches have observer status.