Congregation of the Apostoline Sisters leaves Cuba due to lack of vocations

For the second time in their history, the Religious of the Apostolate of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Apostoline Sisters) are forced to leave Cuba, this time due to the lack of new vocations.

The Religious of the Apostolate of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were founded in 1891 in Havana (Cuba), by the Spanish priest Valentín Salinero. They are currently present in Spain, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

In Cuba, the congregation had grown to have homes and schools in seven cities. However, in 1961, the communist regime of Fidel Castro expropriated the schools and forced the nuns to leave the island for the first time.

In 1998, the historic visit of Pope Saint John Paul II took place and the improvement of relations between the regime and the Vatican allowed the return of the Apostoline Sisters to the Matanzas region, from where they spread to the town of Los Arabos and La Havana, in the parish of the Sacred Heart of Vedado.

However, the congregation only has two nuns in the country and this is not enough, so they must leave Cuba again.

“The situation of our congregation at this moment is that we do not have a third sister who can come to accompany us and the mission here is very strong and great,” sisters Isabel and Serapia told EWTN Noticias.

The nuns assured that they would like to stay longer, “but we are daughters of obedience and many times the ways of the Lord are not our ways, and sometimes we do not understand, but we do accept the will of the Lord.”

Despite the departure, both assure that “we remain in Cuba because the seed of love has fallen on good soil and will bear fruit. There are many people who appreciate our presence and our mission here in Cuba and who want us to return, and our hope is to return.”

For his part, one of the lay people associated with the congregation, Pedro Jesús Luque Román, thanked the nuns for their work, who during these years “attended various pastoral care.”

“They attended to the sick, catechesis, help to those in need, spiritual counseling, spiritual accompaniment, also accompaniment in the workshops of the Schools of Forgiveness and Reconciliation. It was really more than 25 years of going out of his way for the Church in Cuba,” he expressed.

It was reported that the two nuns will be assigned to Colombia and the Dominican Republic. “Cuba has a very important place in our hearts and it will always be that way. It is our cradle, it is our origin and we Apostolines will always be there,” they stated.

It was also indicated that the sisters have given the house, attached to the church of the Sacred Heart of Vedado, to the Cuban Conference of Religious Men and Women (CONCUR).