Cuba's Catholic Church tries to fill gaps in social safety net

Havana retiree Maria Antonia confesses that she would be starving without the free lunches doled out by her neighborhood Catholic church.

The 69-year-old widow has a $12-a-month pension that barely covers six to eight days worth of food per month, and she has no relatives abroad who can send her a few extra dollars.

"A free lunch is a life-saver when a pound of pork costs more than $1," says Maria Antonia. "The Church to me is not just a temple or a Mass. It is a way of surviving."

As Cuban ruler Raul Castro cuts government subsidies on the food and health sectors in an attempt to boost the all-but-stalled economy, the Roman Catholic Church is trying to fill the growing gaps in the island's unraveling social welfare net.

With millions in aid from Catholic exiles and groups abroad, parishes are increasingly running soup kitchens and health and education programs, and working with troubled families and HIV-positive Cubans.

"The needs are growing, and the state has limited resources," said Maritza Sanchez, director of Caritas Cubana, the island's branch of the worldwide Catholic relief, development and social service organization.

The good relations between Castro and Cardinal Jaime Ortega also have cleared the way for improved cooperation on issues like humanitarian programs and human rights - like the release of about 125 political prisoners in 2010 and 2011.

Even after Fidel Castro declared the government atheist, seized Church properties and expelled hundreds of priests and nuns in the early 1960s, he allowed some Catholic religious orders to run several hospitals and nursing homes.

Among them are a psychiatric hospital and the Santovenia and Golden Age homes for the elderly in Havana, plus the San Juan de Dios hospital and the Padre Olallo nursing home in eastern Camaguey. Nuns also staff the San Lazaro Hospital for lepers in Havana, although the government owns it.

Church-run nursing homes are so well regarded that they have unofficial waiting lists for admissions, said one parish volunteer. Some elderly seeking quick admission have even offered to turn over their homes to the Church or lay nurses.

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Cuba's Catholic Church tries to fill gaps in social safety net