Catholics in Cuba no longer shunned, seek new role Once shunned, Catholics in Cuba now openly practice their religion, as the church here and the visiting pope pursue their soft power politics, gently pushing for change. Here at the Jesus de Monte church, lay clergy and volunteers have launched an ambitious community outreach program, providing the kinds of services - like breakfast for the elderly, or a free pharmacy - that were once the sole responsibility of the state. Their evening courses in basic business administration are packed with Cuba's baby entrepreneurs. More than 150 students - most of them not even Catholic - are enrolled in courses that teach basic accounting, inventory management and marketing. In other settings, the church is offering an MBA program, in conjunction with a university from Spain, and recently reopened its seminary to train priests. Its national magazines publish articles that are remarkable in their frank assessments. A recent issue praised the economic reforms of Raul Castro as "positive and well intended," but stated bluntly that "they are not enough ... to meet the economic and social problems that have accumulated under 52 years of socialism." Far removed from the popular images of religious repression, promoted by Cuban exiles and politicians in Miami, parishioners here say they face no discrimination. Instead, it appears that Catholic institutions - especially the national magazines - have been granted a kind of freedom to publicly critique that others have been denied. In interviews at three churches in the capital city, the parishioners complained - openly, and a lot - about the economy and voiced a desire to see change come to the island, but about the treatment of Catholics, they were content. We're in a state of respect now. We are a normal part of life. It no longer matters if you are Catholic," said Susana Sanchez, 46, who recalled that "in the first years of the revolution, my generation, the young, moved away from the church, but they have been coming back. It's a space to grow spiritually, to fill a need. Santiago Martinez, one of three priests serving the San Juan Bosco church nearby, said that even members of the all-powerful Communist Party attend Mass, and so do government bureaucrats, who in a previous generation would be branded as counterrevolutionaries for bowing their heads at the altar. "The life of the Catholic is now the same as every other Cuban, except the Catholic has his faith," Martinez said. The priest said his parish was growing. "We do 25 baptisms a month," Martinez said. The teachers for our catechism classes are busy. An evolving community Still, the Catholic tradition in Cuba is different. The island is famous for its "nominal Catholics," who might attend church a few times in their life - while they carefully maintain shrines in their homes to honor Afro-Caribbean deities. One of the parishioners at Jesus de Monte said he remembered well the 1970s and "80s, when church attendance was not only dissuaded by the government, "but your own neighbors would turn you in," he said.