Cursillo

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A quick word of warning about the website: “Questioning Cursillo”. If you look on the contact details you’ll find that this website and it’s series of articles were put out by the Baptists. While I promote ecumenism, I’d be wary about this site, because the Baptists are known (at least, where I come from) to be hostile towards the Catholic Church and its movements. They would be hostile towards anything that isn’t completely biblical, or doesn’t fit in their rigid Biblical Interpretation.

However, I would agree wholeheartedly with their quote from 1 Thessalonians 5:21.
 
Matt241 said:
Ok. Then, we should all have requisite training in psychology if a friend comes to us with a problem, training in medicine if our child comes to us with a cut. Do you see the reasoning here? Sometimes problems can be dealt with with a dose of common sense and using your experience.
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These people aren’t my friends, nor my child. In fact, even if my friends are there, they won’t be at my table. So these people that aren’t trained and don’t know me aren’t much better than simply approaching a stranger on the street. Matt, do you approach random people in your parish parking lot and take advice from them?
But, solving peoples’ mental problems isn’t what Cursillo is about. It is about drawing people closer to Christ, using a variety of methods that are applicable in a persons everyday life. Just because those methods chosen deal with elements of psychology and other things that MAY be offered professionally, but are available to everyone freely doing the course of one’s life (that’s what I mean by life experience being better than training in psychology), doesn’t mean that those methods aren’t available to people outside those professions.
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The way a Cursillo weekend is run: Total silence, without warning, on the first night. In fact, silence until bursting into song after Mass the following morning. Taking away your watch/phone/transportation. The love bombing. Being told what to do, and when. And everything else. Means someone should be there that does have training.

I mean, after what I have read here and online and after the other research, I am shocked there isn’t someone with training isn’t required to be there.
 
Jeremiah1278 said:
I think it was I who said we should reach out to Cursillo. To be fair—I just never followed through with this.

And people back out of conversations that can get uncomfortable. Or when people are attacking something they love or enjoy. So let’s cut everyone some slack and let’s be charitable.
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Jeremiah, thank you for your gentle tone, and thank you for your honest admission. I respect that.

I’ve felt lambasted in these threads, particularly (but not only) by you, and felt discounted because of probably sounding “cray-cray.”

Guess what? Yeah, I’ve been cray-cray. (Along with St. Benedict Joseph Labre, St. Therese of Lisieux at times, etc.) Lots of people are, because of genetic or environmental factors.

If there is anything that desperately cries out to be learned in this thread, it’s this: “Don’t maneuver someone into a weekend if you don’t know them well enough to guarantee they aren’t, in any way, cray-cray.” Because a tragedy could result – or, they may experience something it takes them a long, long time to recover from. And that is just plain cruel.

The current problem is, there is nobody at the switch, to ensure that the cray-cray ones (who are human beings, made in the image and likeness of God) are protected from this type of damaging experience. Perhaps they have the same type of highway hypnosis the New York train engineer had, who steered his train into a hairpin turn at 80 miles per hour.

In fact, I can read the website of the particular Cursillo offshoot group I was taken to, and there is STILL nothing about “why should not go to an X weekend?”. It’s like the people at the top simply cannot fathom this. Highway hypnosis.

But it’s not just the cray-cray among us that need to be spared. There’s a large amount of people who go to a weekend and were either repelled outright or not overly impressed – and if they’d known beforehand what the weekend consisted of, wouldn’t have gone. I count this guy among them:

missionmoment.blogspot.com/2007/09/cursillo-i-have-no-idea-sort-of.html

(and yes, this time I checked to ensure it’s not a dead link!)

In these times of employees being overworked, to have them devote an entire weekend away from their family (a four-day weekend!), in an endeavor that really doesn’t lead them closer to God in the way God is calling them, is not just a waste of their time – it’s stealing from them. Stealing the precious down-time of hard working people. Time-off that should be refreshing, or contributing to family bonding, is instead further depleting their reserves. I mean, who among us employed has weekends to waste?

Someone asked a question earlier in this thread, and I can’t remember the question, but I do remember thinking that the book *Cursillo: Little Courses in Catharsis *answered it. I think it was about how aware the Cursillo originator was, to the brainwashing aspects. He asked for information straight from the founders’ words. I never needed that type of proof, so I may be mis-remembering, but it seemed Brian Janssen covered that pretty well.

I probably won’t contribute to this thread any longer. I’ve said what I needed to say. God has been leading me and my family in new avenues, and it’s … rather thrilling. (My daughter-in-law has decided to join the church, along with my son and grandson, mostly because of taking her to a quiet traditional church where people aren’t swarming all over her!) All sorts of prayers, for years, are finally being answered.

Thank you to those who listened. Kim, the OP – I’m sorry this turned so ugly, and thank you for your kindness and gentleness. You are a good, good person. And to those who twisted it around and put all the fault on us, to the point of blaming us for having been sucked in … it’s not me you will have to answer to, it’s Jesus.

Bye!

Love, Blue Roses
 
Jeremiah1278 said:
Ya know… when you claim things like Cursillo doesn’t allow you to use silverware, you only expose how extremely unreasonable and uncharitable you are being in this entire thread. Can’t think of any alternatives? It’s a mental ploy, is it? A secret plastic ware cabal?

Another heads-up: folks check out of conversations when the other participant is totally unreasonable.
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Never say never. I can’t leave this be. GH4 has been very reasonable, open, and charitable throughout this entire thread. She’s been very willing to clear up miscommunication and expresses herself well.

If the only way for me to get something to eat is by using a certain tool, such as a can opener, a sharp metal knife, etc., and such a tool was available but I was not allowed to use it (which is implied here), I would be pretty irate too.

Her words can be misunderstood. One could accuse her of being a picky eater, etc., if one doesn’t recall she is a diabetic who was experiencing blood sugar surges due to the carb-laden economy food.

The Cursillo leadership confiscated her meds and then didn’t follow through on their promise to give them to her at the correct times. There is no excuse for that. Her including several complaints of different intensity does not detract from the intensity that rightfully belongs to each.
 
Bye Blue Roses.

I won’t argue the merits of cursillo (or lack thereof ) any longer. I’m finally to the point where I don’t think of cursillo very often and no longer have the urge to cry when I do think of it.

I’m no longer a practicing Catholic, in a large part due to the cursillo experience. I have found a new church that is very wonderful and lets me be me and is all about the love of Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit. I feel like I’m finally being fed spiritually and that’s a very good thing. It’s brought me so much closer to Christ and I’m in a very good place.

I hope that everyone will be just a little more careful when they ask people to attend a cursillo weekend. And hope that they will give a little more information than “I can’t tell you, you just have to experience it.” One doesn’t have to be crazy or unbalanced to NOT enjoy cursillo. We are all very different people and what one enjoys, not all enjoy.
Be kind to your fellow humans, love them and pray for them. 🙂 God Bless.
 
Thanks, GH4. I’m sorry you couldn’t stay with the church, but I’m glad you’re doing okay.

Due to posting, I re-read the thread, and one thing sticks out at me – and after this, I think I truly will stop posting, because to me this very thing is at the heart of everything:

Some had good experiences, some had middling experiences, some (many more than at first we expected!) had bad experiences, and some had truly horrific, scarring experiences. (Which probably could be expected when you put people in situations that weaken their adult boundaries and ability to protect themselves. When people “let themselves be tied up,” as my mom warned me against.)

There is a new skywalk hanging over the Grand Canyon. Next time I go to Arizona I want to walk on it, even though admission is pricey.

But what if a small percentage of people who used it said things like, “The plexiglass cracked and I fell through!” Or, “The fence collapsed and I ended up hanging in midair on the rails!” Even if it was just a tiny percentage? Maybe one or two people?

I wouldn’t set foot on it. Because even such a tiny percentage is too big. Furthermore, the old-fashioned way of experiencing the Grand Canyon is plenty fruitful and satisfying.

The Catholic Church is going through turmoil. Vatican II upended everything. In the chaos, a lot of weird, fringe ideas are flourishing. There was an apparitions mania during the 1990s and it seemed people would believe anything and everything. But not everything was, or is, sound.

Some things (like Cursillo) are the skywalk, which leads one way out on a ledge, to (at best) better appreciate gorgeous natural sites.

And some things are the glorious, holy sites themselves.

If the skywalk isn’t safe and sound, why not stay off it and concentrate on other ways to appreciate the site?
 
Hi,

I just discovered this blog and am very interested in the topic. I was fortunate to “make” a very good Cursillo in 1978 in WV. Several years later I moved to Houston, TX and was involved with the team member group there for several years. The Cursillo in TX was far different from that in WV. For a number of reasons, some already discussed in this blog, I left that group after a few years of unsuccessfully trying to change some things. What I had learned from my experience and study of the Cursillo (not from the weekend) have been a very important part of my human life since 1978. I am a Roman Catholic and with my wife have been involved in parish ministry in Infant Baptism Prep and RCIA since the mid 1980’s. The founder of what is known as Cursillo never intended it to be a Catholic thing for Catholic people. His aim was to find a way to help his friends who were far away from Jesus meet Him in person.

About five years ago some curious circumstances brought me back into the team member group (almost none of the folks I had known in the 80’s were still involved). This has been an amazing five years for me. In trying to address some of the “problems” I found it necessary to do a lot of study and to seek answers from Cursillo leaders. In the process I have met some very wonderful and dedicated Christian leaders from around the world. Mary and I just returned from the World Encounter in Australia. I have also published a book as part of my efforts to get the US National Cursillo (Roman Catholic) to change direction.

I have learned a little bit about the Cursllo in the process. Basically I have come to believe that we all received a special gift through a saintly young Mallorcan man, Eduardo Bonnin. Pretty much as soon as Eduardo and his friends began doing their “thing” and having great success others began taking over to “make it better”. Perhaps not unexpectedly they were not very successful, and actually made many awful mistakes. Eduardo was shoved to the side but never silenced. By the late 1980’s leaders around the world began to realize that if this “thing” was truly a gift of God, then Eduardo was the one who best understood it!

The process of changing something like the Cursillo (a name Eduardo never liked) is a slow and tedious one. Ironically the basic problem is power and control. It is the normal human problem when one person or group thinks they have the right or even duty to manipulate others for their own good. This is the problem Eduardo started the Cursillo to address because he saw it as the failed strategy of so many leaders in the institutional Church. The wisdom of Eduardo is amazingly simple, and directly Gospel. It is opposed to all types of manipulation such as the many abuses mentioned in these postings.

While the gift is simple, life is always complex and one can go on for a long time about these things. I for one abhor the incidental atrocities that have been committed in the name of Cursillo. The book and website “Questioning Cursillo” chronicles some in the Prespyterian or Reformed Church iteration of Cursillo. The book and site are the work of Dr. Brian Janssen who is a Presbyterian pastor in Iowa. I do not agree with all his conclusions and he has some facts of history wrong, but more power to him for defending any who are abused by others no matter what name is used.

I do know that the Cursillo has been a wonderful grace in many lives. I am doing all I can to help the movement in this country get back to the simple wisdom of Eduardo. Suffice to say I am not universally loved by all present leaders. But as it does change I feel certain it will become more and more fruitful especially in the New Evangelization and in Ecummeniism.

If anyone is interested in the positive side of things the best source for English Language literature is the Conference of Canadian Catholic Cursillos. They have been working with the FEBA (Eduardo Bonnin Foundation) since the early 1990’s to translate some of Eduardo’s most important works. There is also an excellent new book out by Dr. Kristy Nabhan-Warren “The Cursillo Movement in America”. She is professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

BTW, ny book is “Living the Gospel with Common Sense” I have a website "he-is-love.com if anyone is interested.

As for attending a Cursillo or not, Eduardo’s gift simply is not at all about attending anything. The three days is meant to be an experience someone can bring a friend to in order to experience the reality of Jesus presence. Suffice to say that if someone is inviting you to a secret place and will not tell you what it is all about and will not answer as fully as he can every single question you have, how could it possibly be where Jesus is? At the same time, if Jesus is real and if He is God and if He is present, then you must realize that no person could possibly explain fully what that encounter will be like for you. I have always for 35 years been as open as possible with anyone I invited, and as far as I know all of them still think we are friends. So if you are interested in Cursillo, don’t try to find a place to go to one. Just keep looking for friends and keep trying to be Christian. If you do you are probably a better Cursillista than most, and if you do, Jesus will take you to a Cursillo if and when He thinks it will be good for you and for the others that will be “making” it with you! He really is real and He really is alive. That’s what really matters, and I am so happy that He has led that one lady who was so badly treated to the place she seems so happy now! He has always been very good at doing that. He loves you.
 
This weekend I made my Cursillo… I failed or it failed, I don’t know witch. I went in hoping for something good, expecting nothing, and fearing the worst.
Some how it managed to fall far less than the worst.

After the first 3 rollos I wanted to leave. I could have, no one there would have forced me or anyone to stay. So I asked one of the men at my table that I knew had made other weekends for a moment to talk in private. I told him I was getting nothing and asked if this rollo format was how things were going to be all weekend. I was told that things would build up and things would get better and better with each rollo. OK. I understand that. I’ll keep taking part and be a part our group. I could see that this was shaping up to be great for EVERYONE. Except me.

In talking to another one of the guys that had been to many weekends. I and two other were told “If this fails to light the Spirit in you than there is something wrong with you.”

My sponser told me and the other men he brought that he would buy us dinner if we didn’t have a good time.

Great. Now I know that there is something wrong with me but I get a dinner.

And I can’t say anything. Everyone was having a great time, talking, learning, sharing and I wouldn’t let where I was at bring anyone down.

I think the best way I can describe how I felt was like Christmas day. Watching everyone around me open one of the greatest presents ever, and there wasn’t anything for me. Not only that but no one even saw that there was nothing for me. And then I had to lie. To everyone. Not only to the group, but the team and everyone that came to cellibrate what we had gotten. I couldn’t stand up and tell everyone that I flunked. Everyone was so alive with joy. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, do anything to damage that. So I lied.

This weekend truly left me lower in spirit than anything I have ever been threw before and I fear this will take me weeks to recover from.
 
gravity said:
This weekend I made my Cursillo… I failed or it failed, I don’t know witch. I went in hoping for something good, expecting nothing, and fearing the worst.
Some how it managed to fall far less than the worst.

After the first 3 rollos I wanted to leave. I could have, no one there would have forced me or anyone to stay. So I asked one of the men at my table that I knew had made other weekends for a moment to talk in private. I told him I was getting nothing and asked if this rollo format was how things were going to be all weekend. I was told that things would build up and things would get better and better with each rollo. OK. I understand that. I’ll keep taking part and be a part our group. I could see that this was shaping up to be great for EVERYONE. Except me.

In talking to another one of the guys that had been to many weekends. I and two other were told “If this fails to light the Spirit in you than there is something wrong with you.”

My sponser told me and the other men he brought that he would buy us dinner if we didn’t have a good time.

Great. Now I know that there is something wrong with me but I get a dinner.

And I can’t say anything. Everyone was having a great time, talking, learning, sharing and I wouldn’t let where I was at bring anyone down.

I think the best way I can describe how I felt was like Christmas day. Watching everyone around me open one of the greatest presents ever, and there wasn’t anything for me. Not only that but no one even saw that there was nothing for me. And then I had to lie. To everyone. Not only to the group, but the team and everyone that came to cellibrate what we had gotten. I couldn’t stand up and tell everyone that I flunked. Everyone was so alive with joy. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, do anything to damage that. So I lied.

This weekend truly left me lower in spirit than anything I have ever been threw before and I fear this will take me weeks to recover from.
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First, I’m sorry you had a bad experience. There is nothing wrong with you. Let me say it again: There is nothing wrong with you. Okay, I should add: just because this Cursillo didn’t do it for you.

If this…
“If this fails to light the Spirit in you than there is something wrong with you.”
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is a literal quote then there is definitely something wrong with this man’s witness and approach. I can only go on what one side (you) is telling me.

Second, there is a real possibility that there was something wrong with that particular Cursillo. If they deviated from the manual in any way there is a tendency to insert odd and sometimes childish practices, diluting the experience for someone who was hoping for something deeper.

Third, the most important part of Cursillo is the fourth day, the groupings that follow. Perhaps those will go better.

Fourth, it’s possible that Cursillo is not for you. There are a lot of movements, apostolates within the Catholic church and just because someone has had a profound experience with one doesn’t mean it will be the same for everyone.

Again, I’m sorry that someone said something so thoughtless especially when you felt let down. He may have had a moment of feeling defensive about something he had put his heart and soul into but that should not reflect back on to you. Not something like this.
 
gravity said:
This weekend I made my Cursillo… I failed or it failed, I don’t know witch. I went in hoping for something good, expecting nothing, and fearing the worst.
Some how it managed to fall far less than the worst.

After the first 3 rollos I wanted to leave. I could have, no one there would have forced me or anyone to stay. So I asked one of the men at my table that I knew had made other weekends for a moment to talk in private. I told him I was getting nothing and asked if this rollo format was how things were going to be all weekend. I was told that things would build up and things would get better and better with each rollo. OK. I understand that. I’ll keep taking part and be a part our group. I could see that this was shaping up to be great for EVERYONE. Except me.

In talking to another one of the guys that had been to many weekends. I and two other were told “If this fails to light the Spirit in you than there is something wrong with you.”

My sponser told me and the other men he brought that he would buy us dinner if we didn’t have a good time.

Great. Now I know that there is something wrong with me but I get a dinner.

And I can’t say anything. Everyone was having a great time, talking, learning, sharing and I wouldn’t let where I was at bring anyone down.

I think the best way I can describe how I felt was like Christmas day. Watching everyone around me open one of the greatest presents ever, and there wasn’t anything for me. Not only that but no one even saw that there was nothing for me. And then I had to lie. To everyone. Not only to the group, but the team and everyone that came to cellibrate what we had gotten. I couldn’t stand up and tell everyone that I flunked. Everyone was so alive with joy. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, do anything to damage that. So I lied.

This weekend truly left me lower in spirit than anything I have ever been threw before and I fear this will take me weeks to recover from.
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I am so sorry that you didn’t enjoy the cursillo experience. I know exactly how you feel. And yes, it will take time to get over it, it took me at least a year, and if I dwell on it, I can still feel upset, and it was 2 years ago this month.
Cursillo isn’t for everyone, and there IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU at all.

Those who love cursillo just don’t seem to understand that it’s not for everyone. Just like we aren’t all nuns or priests or we aren’t all teachers or garbage truck drivers… 🙂

I’ll say some prayers for you that you will get by this with as few residual issues as possible. Talking to my priest helped some, so you might want to have a talk with your priest and see if he can give you some good counsel.
 
RE: Gravity’s “bad” Cursillo:

I agree completely with gh4 and Bruised Reed’s comments. They are both very kind and thoughtful and also seem to see your experience from opposite poles. Perhaps there is nothing that I can add except to suggest that there is always a view of anything that is far broader than any one of us can have. I am always a little skeptical about folks who “love Cursillo”. It is a thing. I think loving people is fine, and loving God is divine. Things are probably something else.

I am 67 years old and made the Cursillo weekend 36 years ago. It was a good experience for me, but until the Sunday of that weekend my experience was not unlike Gravity’s although I did see it as a good weekend. When I heard the Total Security rollo, something clicked in my head. “I can do this”. I can go home and get some friends together to talk about our lives and about Jesus. That is what I did (none of them had attended a Cursillo) and my life has been enriched ever since by so many friendships that have grown out of this simple method of staying close to a few friends.

I wish to applaud Gravity for his Christian charity in “not spoiling” things for others. To me this is a perfect example of “laying ones life down for others.” To me Cursillo is much more than the weekend. To me there is a reality of God’s constant presence, often I am unaware of it, but somehow I know He is always there. By dying to self, it seems to me, Gravity made a very conscious and selfless act in struggling with his own lack of the experience of God’s presence by doing what seemed right to him to allow the others to experience it. It reminds me of something my father once said when I was jealous of a sibling’s Christmas present. “You should be happy your brother got such a nice present!” That has stuck with me, and I wish that I had been more like Gravity many times in my life. I do think that Gravity is not quite correct in calling his behavior a “lie”. I am in no position to judge, but I think his actions and words probably expressed something that really was there, but beyond his personal experience of it. Air is there even if we can’t see it or feel it (unless the wind blows). Hang in there, Gravity, the Spirit will blow when the time is right…or perhaps I should say, you will feel Him when He is ready and when He has you ready too.
Charley
 
Thank you. As this is a new forum for me it is truly a wonder to see respect and understanding in a forum.

FIrst I will clarify my quote. I did place everything in quotes about when I talked about the person who talked about Cursillo lighting the spirit. The first words he used are lost to me. He may have just as easily said “if this doesn’t make a great change in you…” Or “if this isn’t great for you…” The last part of the quote is something I remember very well. “… Then there is something wrong with you.” I also want it known that he did say this as an kind of attack. He said this out of his love for this experience and what it meant for him and it wasn’t stated to me as an individual, but to three of us in a spontaneous conversation.

I think some of the root of my disappointment comes from that the people who organize, promote, work on, ect, are the people who have a powerful Spiritual experience, and so they don’t see the possibility of someone not having that kind of weekend. This leads them to build up the expectations of new participants and not entertain the notion that this isn’t going to work for everyone.

As to weather or not I lied. … I used my words with great care. My statements about the weekend were inclusive of everyone and I didn’t make any individual remarks about what it meant for me. So, did I omit some truth, yes. Did I lie… In my heart, yes, I did.

I do want to take time talk with my priest. This did put me in a state where there are things I need to take to him.

What is going to be hard is tomorrow night. We have our Knights meeting and many of the people who organized the Cursillo are active Knights and will be at the meeting. I’m going to have to express to them that this wasn’t good for me with out hurting their ministry.

Out of all of this what I want more than anything is:
If you are involved in Cursillo and sponsor someone, please, with all my heart, tell them that this may not be good for everyone.

Mark
 
Great action plan, Gravity. It is always a great idea to take things to a priest, and nothing beats speaking the truth with love. I am told that Dosteosvky once opined that the worst enemies of any movement are those who promote it without understanding it. Anyone wishing to understand what he loves should be very interested in hearing your story. I think there are at least two Cursillos, one the gift that Eduardo Bonnin received in 1940’s and the current practice. As with any gift from God, it often looses in the translation. When I made the Cursillo there were many folks who advised us not to tell people the “secrets” and so on. I never bought that. I did feel that every person receives something from God, but always in different ways. I never thought it was about emotional things, per se, or about surprizes, or the talks, which are exceedingly basic. So right from the start I would answer any questions as fully as possible and always end by saying something to the effect that you should go with an open heart and mind, and also be prepared that God may have you there for someone else’s benefit.

There are some folks who have had really terrible experiences. SOme of these are chronicled in Dr. Brian Johanssens book and website on Questioning Cursillo. Personally I am trying to get as many folks as I can to go back and look at the original wisdom of Eduardo Bonnin. Amazingly much of it is available in English from the Catholic Cursillo of Canada. I have come to believe that if a few folks began to grasp his vision a far different Cursillo would take hold and some truly amazing things would happen. Suggest that your brother Knights look into the Eduardo Bonnin info, especially a talk “Evangelization Through Conversion.”
.
love,
Charley Green
 
Thank you Mark and Charley for your punctuating something very important. Cursillo is an individual experience and there is no promise of any specific outcome. Your “results” will depend on your preparation, your sponsor’s efforts in preparing you, the faithfulness of the team to respecting the person, prayer, and many other things that are beyond your control.

I have read pages of responses in this posting and, as an active servant in the movement, just wanted to make sure the following is understood to those interested.

The Cursillo communities world-wide have been called to be faithful to the founded movement as it was approved, yes approved, by the Catholic Church. Some communities are in denial that their weekend embellishments have distracted from the purpose of the movement, and they are slowing the work of the Spirit to conform in authenticity. Other communities are working to be truly authentic.

Secrets, coercion, manipulation, are not our friends and are not part of an authentic weekend. Everything about the weekend can and should be discussed prior. Some Cursillistas may be working from a different understanding, but the lay training encourages full sharing about the weekend experience.

If someone is interested in Cursillo, seek out a sponsor in your diocese and discuss it. If they are secretive about any element, please ask to talk to their leadership. Cursillo is not for everyone, but Cursillo respects the whole person from the time you inquire about Cursillo or the when you are befriended by a Cursillista, until you no longer wish to be associated, if that should happen.

If you are interested in Cursillo without being asked, please pursue it because the Spirit works in all kinds of ways. If you are asked by a sponsor, feel blessed that they think of you as a good candidate. If you are not asked, feel blessed all the same, because it is not likely your time. Many times, sponsors will not have answers. That’s ok, because each diocesan movement is blessed with leadership that can answer questions.

Also Cursillo is a Lay-led movement and we have to be permitted to operate within a diocese and require a spiritual advisor to ensure we are true to the Church at all times. Although people make mistakes, the Holy Spirit does not. Prayer is extremely important to us.

I encourage the reference of official sources of Cursillo information, starting with the National Cursillo web site: www.natl-cursillo.org

PS. My apologies about the length of this posting, but this is important information.
 
I attended an Episcopal Cursillo and enjoyed it immensely. From the information here, they seem fairly close – with the exception that our Cursillos aren’t segregated by gender. (That would have made the dancing at the end considerably less fun…) There were quite a few married couples at mine, though they’re always assigned to different decurias. I didn’t know a thing about it going in, and if I had read this thread I might not have – my childhood was spent in a manipulative sect, so I don’t go near them now – but I trusted the people who were encouraging me, and I’m glad I went. I can’t imagine failures to provide for people with special dietary needs is systematic, though – I would hope not. We had a good variety of food, and the table or house leaders knew to let their people on medication know when it was time for their pill-taking. I imagine some people don’t respond well to the overall program – my Cursillo had one fellow who resisted it almost all weekend until Saturday night. My own suspicions were also allayed by the fact that the lay lector and 3 of the staff were from my church. I would have ‘freaked out’ about being dropped off in the middle of the woods surrounded by dozens of strangers, many of whom were grinning like happy idiots and who ALL KNEW MY NAME were it not for the presence of friends.
 
Hello again, after a year.

GH4, I see how you have continually put the truth out during this past year, and I am so proud of you. I had thought my apostolate was to warn people, and I have done so, to the best of my ability, but eventually had to step back. You have taken up the slack. Thank you.

The word is getting out. I recently saw a post stating that “A link on a Cursillo thread at Catholic Answers Forum led me to this site …] Cursillo’s fade has been …] due, I think, to internet postings bypassing the annoying secrecy and letting prospective Cursillo candidates know what really goes on during Cursillo’s Three Days.”

I almost cried when I read that – out of relief that people are finally being clued in and protected; and out of stunned joy that my actions have had a hand in this. What an incredible blessing!

I remembered the passage from George Bernard Shaw that said “This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.” We have served a mighty purpose.

I know it is disappointing to people that the word is getting out, because truth is harmful to the health of Cursillo, and they liked their weekend. I’m frankly disappointed at their disappointment.

It’s like (metaphor alert!) they, themselves, attended a game of “The Lady Or The Tiger?” but what came out of their chosen door was a lady. Or even, like on a game show, *“A New Car!!!” *

So, they are heartily in favor of the game and want it to continue. They know that for others, the door opened to let loose a tiger. But they don’t seem to care; after all, they reason, it wasn’t just their door but the overwhelming majority of hundreds of other doors that had blessings behind them. So that makes it okay … right?

They don’t seem to care that the very nature of the game, no matter what the outcome, strips away people’s defenses and renders them vulnerable to whatever is behind the door. They don’t acknowledge that Original Sin makes it foolishly naive to allow untrained others such power over those entrapped.

Lately we are finding out that there were tigers, or scorpions, or skunks, behind more doors than was first believed. In other words, whether the weekend caused boredom, waste of resources, feelings of distaste, embarrassment, or actual terror, more people have had negative reactions than originally thought. They simply haven’t had the public venue to speak up. Now they do.

However, we may have merely hastened Cursillo’s fading. There has been a lot written lately about men – what fits their God-given nature, and what violates it; what they are attracted to, and turned off by, in churches.

David Murrow’s book, Why Men Hate Going To Church, outlines many of the traits that tend to repulse strong, heterosexual men. Crowding and cuddling is one. Excessive emotional displays, and pressure to engage in them, is another. Cursillo, as it exists today, majors in both of these traits.

Without men, churches tend to die off. This is probably why Jesus chose men as his disciples, and why the first Cursillo demanded husbands attend first. It’s also one of the reasons Eastern Orthodoxy (the “boot camp of Christianity”) is gaining popularity.

Hard truth is honest, congruent, and valiant. Soft cotton candy can hide razor blades.
 
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