September 8: Feast Day for Cachita and 27th anniversary of Christian Liberation Movement's founding

"Today, 27 years ago, my parents with a group of friends founded the Christian Liberation Movement congratulations to all." - Rosa María Payá, over twitter on September 8, 2015

Jesús Mustafá Felipe at Solemn Mass for Our Lady of Charity

Today is the Feast Day for Cachita, Our Lady of Charity. In Miami, thousands of Cuban exiles gathered at the University of Miami's Bank United Center in prayer in a Solemn Mass presided over by Archbishop Thomas Wenski and broadcast around the world on EWTN and to Cuba over Radio/TV Marti. In Cuba, 140 Cubans were arrested to stop them celebrating the Feast Day at Mass at the Lady of Caridad del Cobre Church in Eastern Cuba. Other reports of repression and detentions have been reported.

Today also marks the 27th anniversary of the formation of the Christian Liberation Movement that began a new phase of nonviolent civic struggle for national reconciliation in Cuba. The Christian Liberation Movement emerged out of a Catholic lay movement in a Catholic parish in Havana's neighborhood of El Cerro.

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas described how the Christian Liberation Movement, a democratic opposition movement, came into existence and explained how it was related to the birth of his first child, Oswaldo José. It was then that Oswaldo and his wife Ofelia decided:

“When our first child was going to be born, we have three children, we said that our children cannot live in a country without liberty and we are not going to another country to seek freedom. Therefore we have to fight for our children to live free here in Cuba and everyone else's children and their parents too.”    

Oswaldo José was born on February 17, 1988 and the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) was founded that same year on September 8, 1988. It is a movement born out of optimism for the future and it has endured and continues to persevere for Cuba's freedom using nonviolent means.  Today is a day of prayer and celebration.