Cursillos deepen faith

Held once a year at the Dominican Retreat House in Schenectady, Cursillo weekends begin on Thursday evening and last until Sunday night. Intensely packed with prayer, small-group sharing, spiritual empowerment and discernment, a Cursillo weekend has permanent effects on most who participate, says Nancy Harder.

The lay director of Cursillo in Christian Living in the Albany Diocese, she believes that when she completed her weekend 15 years ago, her life was forever changed.

Life changed

The proper name of this movement is Cursillo de Cristiandad, or "short course of Christianity." It began in the late 1940s with a group of men in Spain. They decided that they wanted to help young men get to know Christ better.

A renewed spirit of brotherhood resulted in the participants setting goals of Catholic action that would lead them towards a life fully dedicated to the love of God and others. The program grew rapidly in popularity, began to spread and soon divided into a men's branch, a women's branch, and two other branches for young men and women.

"Women and men have their own Cursillo experience," explained Mrs. Harder, "simply because they think and tend to interpret differently. Just as young people tend to interpret life very differently from older people."

Spreading

In the U.S., the movement was organized on a national basis in 1965 with a national secretariat and office, now located in Dallas. The American Cursillo movement has the support of the U.S. bishops.

In order to participate in a Cursillo weekend, a person must be invited by someone who has already made the weekend and sees the possibility or need for evangelization in the other.

"Cursillo is not for everyone. A person must be ready to experience the intensity of this journey," Mrs. Harder said, adding that a cursillista knows when a friend or acquaintance is ready to make that journey. "The only requirements to participate in such a weekend are that the person be an active Catholic and willing to participate in the journey."

On-going effort

The reunion is usually held weekly, in homes, at restaurants or wherever the small group has agreed to gather. The group consists of three to five people who have met at the weekend and can include a person's cursillista sponsor.

At the reunions, people are encouraged to share with one another the growth that has taken place within each of them and how their lives are changing with respect to evangelization, holiness and community, the three models that were initially developed by the founders of Cursillo:

* the holiness model is a personal approach to holiness through prayer and striving to grow in virtue;

* the Christian community model challenges the participant to be charismatic, compassionate and visionary; and

* the evangelization model is an action-oriented approach to holiness, empowering the participant to act and to lead others to knowledge of the Holy Trinity.

Keeping the faith

"We open with a prayer and share with each other what has been happening in our lives," explained Mrs. Harder. "We always have a 'witness' speaker, someone who shares their own journey with us. We also have social time together and end with prayer."

Mrs. Harder said that another important part is small discussion groups with those who are not from the fourth-day groups. That affords an opportunity for continued growth and fresh perspectives on spirituality and empowerment.

"That is the nice thing about such a group as this. I have even talked to people on the internet that are cursillistas," Mrs. Harder said. "Once we discovered that both of us had experienced Cursillo, boy, did our online conversation really take off! It is definitely a worldwide bond."

(For information on upcoming Cursillo weekends, call Nancy Harder at 235-2829.)

(08-23-01) [[In-content Ad]]