Date: 13 Dec 96 08:07:12 EST
From: Greg Chamberlain <100074.2675@CompuServe.COM>

Santeros set agenda for sect's future

Associated Press, 12 December 1996

MIAMI, 12 Dec 96 (AP) -- A committee on ethics and the creation of an organized church are next on the agenda for Santeria leaders, after a three-day meeting of priests in the Afro-Caribbean religious sect. "We have defined the ties that bind Santeros, the leaders of our religion, for the work ahead," said Jose Montoya, president of the Lucumi Chango Eyife Association, which organized the meeting.

Montoya addressed more than 30 leaders of Santeria temples in the United States. Santeria is an amalgamation of Roman Catholic and West African beliefs, practiced in Cuba and other Caribbean islands. One of the more controversial topics at the meeting was a proposal to make the Afro-Caribbean religion independent from the Roman Catholic Church, forming the Yoruba-Catholic Church.

"The Catholic Church does not acknowledge us, does not accept us," Montoya said.