Humans of the Heights: A Conversation with Rev. Juan Andres Quevedo-Bosch
For the sixth installment of my series, sharing the stories of the people of the Heights, I spoke with Rev. Juan Andres Quevedo-Bosch. A local pastor who left the Cuban army and pursued a life of spirituality. He offers profound insights into what it is like to live with faith.
This is his story:
Avraham Frohlich: All right, let's start with your background. Where are you from?
Rev. Juan Andres Quevedo-Bosch: I was born in Cuba in 1955, four years before Castro came to power. So, I lived for 30 years under communism. My mother was an educator, a single parent and a member of the Communist Party until she died. My father left when I was four.
My childhood was a happy one. I was kind of on the bookish side, and my house was full of books. I remember reading “A Thousand Years of Solitude” almost when it came out. And as a kid in primary school, I went through the whole encyclopedia in the library.
When I was 11, I joined a very small Episcopalian Anglican church in Havana.
AF: What was life like under Castro?
RJ: For me, that was normal. Because if you grow up in a system, you don't question that. It's simply what life is like. And there was scarcity, but I never felt myself being poor because everybody was the same.
When I was 19, I traveled abroad for the first time to Canada as part of a student Christian movement. That was my first trip outside our country, and it was an eye-opener. I had no idea that the outside world was like that. And listen to how I use the word “outside.” Because for us, if you left the island, you were outside.
AF: Was it very uncommon for people to leave?
RJ: In 1976, yes.
AF: And what was Castro's attitude towards religion?
RJ: It was harsh. But it wasn’t like we were hunted like rabbits every day. That's an exaggeration of American propaganda. It was just difficult. As soon as I became a Christian, my mother decried it and fought with me because she knew I would have fewer chances of upward and social mobility.
If you were a Christian, you could not be a psychologist. You could not be a sociologist. You could not be an economist. You could not teach.
AF: So why did you become religious with all the challenges that brought with it?
RJ: When I was 11, I was coming back from the movies and accidentally walked into an Easter Vigil. And there, I met Hashem, the presence. I have a vivid memory of that day that I have never been able to delete from my memory. I can tell you exactly how the color of everything was, where I was sitting, everything, everything. I felt the presence of God.
AF: What was it like to feel the presence of God?
RJ: Well, time suspends. You are gone. Because I believe that we live, move and be in God, like a fish in the ocean. You don't know you are in it, but you are in it.
And He has been with me for the rest of my life. In every difficult situation, being my companion. The Father I never had.
AF: How did you become a priest?
RJ: Well, first, I flunked seventh grade four times. The classes were enormous, and I loved wasting time with friends. And then my mother says, you know, I don't think school is for you. You need to work. So, I became a statistician. Gathering information, gathering data. Very exciting job — I'm being sarcastic.
Then the army called me. In Cuba, the army is mandatory. And they made my life very, very difficult because I was a Christian.
I was put in the lower ranks of the army. The lowest of the lowest. And I remember the guys always talked about the people who infiltrated inside the army from the CIA. And everybody knew I was religious, so they looked at me. I started fearing for my life because I thought one of those kids is going to think he's a patriot. He's going to take my life.
AF: They thought you were a spy?
RJ: Yeah. Because I was different and not within the monolithic structure of what the government thought I should be.
Then, I went all the way to headquarters to see the generals, and I gave them a piece of my mind. I said, if I am a spy, you shoot me now because I'm not going to live under this anymore.
I was angry like hell. And I said, enough of this. If I hear again that you are harassing me because of this stupid idea that I'm a frogman who infiltrated from Miami, I am going to appeal all the way to the top generals and you will be in trouble.
Things got so bad that my father, who was a captain in the army and went to the mountains to fight the dictatorship of Batista, talked to the general himself. In the end, they gave me an honorable discharge.
AF: What’d you do after you got out?
RJ: For one year, I was doing nothing, being a bum. Eventually, I got a job as a statistician for a company that built dams. After work, I went to night school and did the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th grades.
I was making good money, but I decided to go to seminary, which paid nothing, and my mother was out of her mind. She couldn’t believe it. I said I'm going to seminary. This life is meaningless to me.
AF: How was seminary?
RJ: Oh, seminary. It was the most beautiful place I've ever been. It's in the city of Matanzas, which is about 100 kilometers from Havana. The buildings were in a garden. And it was on a hill looking down on the bay. It also had such a great library that it opened me up to a wider world of knowledge.
I was also working simultaneously as an ordained minister. They had to ordain me in a hurry because there were only 12 Episcopalian priests in the whole country. When I graduated, they shipped me off to a church in Guantanamo City, next to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
Since I left for seminary it was clear to me that I would be a priest.
AF: What was calling you to the priesthood?
RJ: I realized that if I were not a priest, I would never be happy. Often at school, I thought I was not able. But God doesn't call the able; God makes able those he calls.
AF: How did you make your way to the States?
RJ: I got a scholarship to study at the Toronto School of Theology, and graduated with two masters from Trinity College, and pursued a Ph.D.
I actually took a course on Judaism where I learned about Talmud and Aggadah. And it was very fascinating and I use Jewish stories to preach. I love stories about Baal Shem Tov, for instance.
Then, a job showed up in the United States at a Church in Astoria, NY. And I was the priest there for the next 23 years.
AF: How did it feel arriving in the US?
RJ: It felt like betrayal. Because the United States was the great enemy of the Cuban Revolution. So, I felt alienated. It took time to detoxify. Now, I am a citizen of the world.
AF: Was there a moment when your perspective shifted, and you felt more comfortable here?
RJ: 9/11. I was here the day the planes struck. I opened the parking lot of the church and told the hospital they could use the lot and parish hall for triage. That shocked me in a very deep way. And I realized that life is too short to spend it on nonsense.
AF: What do you think the purpose of the church is?
RJ: The purpose of the church is to give people meaning for life. Because otherwise, life could be rather meaningless. To find meaning in a sometimes meaningless world.
AF: What do you most appreciate about the Heights, and what are some of the challenges for the neighborhood?
RJ: The speed of life here is very fast. But there is a lot of friendliness here. Support and affection. I felt really welcomed into the community.
And there are a lot of challenges, like drug use for example. I think the city has a dehumanizing part to it that makes it difficult for people.
AF: What's your experience like with the Jewish community?
RJ: In Toronto, I went to Holocaust Education Week every single year. I always felt like a friend of Jewish people. Judaism is the bedrock of my faith in many ways.
And I'd love to get in touch with Yeshiva University because I like to use libraries and read books, and there must be conferences and lectures I’d love to attend.
AF: What advice can you give to Yeshiva University students?
RJ: Trust in God. Without God, it’s a very empty life.
AF: Thank you very much. It's been a real pleasure.
Photo Caption: Rev. Juan Andres Quevedo-Bosch
Photo Credit: Rev. Juan Andres Quevedo-Bosch
