Cursillo

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Dr_Paul

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Are there any cursillistas out there?

For those who have not heard of Cursillo, it is a short 3-day retreat that can change your life forever. I was raised Catholic and never really turned away from my faith. But I never knew or truly understood my faith until I attended this retreat nearly 4 years ago.
I was amazed that while Cursillo has been around longer than I and my parents have, I had never heard of it until shortly before I attended the retreat.

For those of you that have made a Cursillo, how has this changed your life?

Des Colores!
 
Hi Dr. Paul,

My name is Thom, I attended Cursillo #61 and I sat in St. Marks Group.

I recieved a telephone call Tuesday requesting me to perform a wittness talk at the monthly Ultreya on June 24. It will be my first wittness talk and my first Ultrea. I group every Saturday morning and I have been to a CEW workshop, but since making my Cursillo in Feburary, I have yet to participate in a Ultreya.

I am excited, and nervous. So if you don’t mind Dr. Paul, once I compose my talk, I would like to post an excerpt or two of it as my response to your question.

De Colores!
 
I lived my cursillo (number 69 in my diocesis) 22 years ago this month.

De Colores to all cursillistas on this forum.

John
 
My pastor is trying to get me to a Cursillo.

But I know the spiritual director of Cursillo for our diocese. He is a priest who refuses to visit the prisoners in the prison assigned to his parish. He won’t even answer the letters they send him asking for Mass. I have gone to him and asked him to visit the men. He refuses.

So tell me, how has the Cursillo movement helped this priest?
 
A few thoughts on your question Carl,

I have no idea what this priest’s reasons are for not attending to this ministry. I would guess that he does have some definite reason (whether or not it is a good one, I don’t know). But even if this priest is not setting a good example or has other flaws, it does not mean that Cursillo does not work.

No one person (or priest) makes the Church. If one used this as a litmus test one might conclude that there is nothing valuable in many other apostolates in the Catholic church since there are priests involved in them who commit terrible sins.

Cursillo opens the door to a very effective “method” to grow in holiness. While it does not replace the time and effort that needs to be done to continue spiritual growth, it provides a roadmap for how and where to expend the energy.

Following the retreat, one remains free to integrate the retreat into one’s “fourth day” in many different ways.

God bless!
 
I have known quite a few people who have been involved in Cursillo and they all seem to have benefited. In some cases the spiritual transformation has been astonishing.

Yet, it is disturbing that Cursillo is so secretive. The Cursillo communities become exclusive, elitist cliques. The secret code words, handshakes and so forth become tedious. I think this prevents a lot of people who might be interested from taking Cursillo.
 
Can I ask what Cursillo is all about? I have heard about it before, but I don’t really know what the buzz is all about. One of my coworkers attended one last year and he came back all fired up about his faith. I really saw a huge change in him, so it must be a great retreat. However, when I asked him what the weekend was all about, he was reluctant to share because he felt that he would be giving away “the big surprise.” I’d like to know more about what the Cursillo is. :confused:
 
Cursillio benefited me in that I had never before practice devotion to our Blessed Mother.

I am sure glad I have now. I am hoping to encourage our local cluster of parishes to perform daily Rosaries and to revive the devotion to the Virgin.

Cursillo has a national website. It does seem secretive, but basically its not for you to learn about, but rather for you to experience. I hope everyone will make a weekend. To me it was probably the first time in my life that I truly “Let go and let God”…it was super.

Yours in Christ Jesus
 
The difficulty in having people who have been on a Cursillo describe the retreat is that is hard to put into words. I have heard of an analogy that seems to work well. If a person who had never tasted an ice cream cone before asked you to describe the experience, you could try all you want, but the person would never be able to fully comprehend until they ate the cone themself.

I am amazed at how few people know about Cursillo given how long it has been in place and how profound an experience it is. I don’t think that it is an attempt to be a secret group with secret handshakes etc. Cursillo is not meant to be an end in itself. It is a means to move beyond the weekend and incorporate the experience into your daily life. If you want more information, take a look at the National Cursillo Website and read the page describing what Cursillo is. While it is a good place to start, the only way to fully appreciate what it does is to attend a weekend.
 
I made a Cursillo in the late 70’s. It definitely got me on track; I liked the prior comment “let go and let God”.

Sadly, I have lost contact with anyone involved in the movement.

As an aside, has anyone made an Emmaeus retreat? There are a few similarities, although I thought the Cursillo had more impact.
 
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