Calendar
of Events
March 13, 2004
Secretariat Meeting 10:00am, Sacred Heart School, Shelby
Post Three Day Cursillo Weekend Reunion 1:00pm, Sacred Heart, Shelby
April 2-3, 2004
School of Leaders (quarterly reunion) – 7:30pm Fri-4pm Sat, Sacred Heart,
Shelby
April 30 -May 2, 2004 Spring Regional
Encounter, Garden City, KS
June 12, 2004
Secretariat Meeting 10:00am, Location TBA
June 27, 2004
Grand Ultreya Location TBA
July 29 - Aug 1, 2004 Cursillo
National Encounter, Seattle, WA
August 14, 2004
Secretariat Meeting 10:00am, Location TBA
Sept 17-18, 2004
Practice Weekend, Location TBA
Sept 23-26, 2004
Men’s Weekend, Location TBA
Oct 1-3, 2004
Fall Regional Encounter, St. Paul / Minneapolis, MN
Oct 14-17, 2004
Women’s Weekend, Location TBA
Welcome New Fourth Dayers
Sacred Heart, Shelby, February 15, 2004:
Jeff Blowers, Stephen Charles, Leon Eller, Dave Hackler, Fr. Andrew Kurz,
Bruce Peterson, Jeff Willis.
Sacred Heart, Shelby, February 22, 2004:
Mary Ann Augustin, Laura Blowers, Verlene Frey, Deb Hackler, Rene' Laird,
JoAnn Messing, Betty Tutt, Helen Zavodny.
Welcome to the 4th Day! What a great way to
begin Lent ... a Weekend in the desert ...with Him! ... being filled with
His grace, and sent out into the world to live the Gospel. Remember
Christ is counting on you, and you must count on Him!
4th Dayers over the last five years: Over
the last five years, there have been 215 cursillistas who have lived their
Three Days on Weekends in our Diocese.
Late Arrival of Newsletter … We opted to send the March/April Newsletter a little late, as we were waiting to receive the registration forms for the Spring Region VI Encounter to be held in Garden City, KS, April 30 – May 2, 2004. Holding the Newsletter mailing until we could include the registration forms (March 8th) allowed us to avoid a second mailing. You will note that the Registration form is in both English and Spanish (front/back of one of the white inserts) … also on a white insert is a map of Garden City (with directions to St. Mary Catholic Church) with the tentative agenda on the reverse side. For more information about the Encounter, see the separate article in this newsletter …
Region VI Spring Encounter ... Will
be held in Garden City, KS on April 30 - May 2, 2004. Father Pedro
Garcia (the National Spiritual Advisor for Cursillo) will be there.
In addition, five of the ten talks from Cala Figuera (given at the 2003
National Encounter) will be given in both English and Spanish.
In 1994 during the 50th Anniversary celebration
of the first Cursillo Weekend, ten topics were presented at Cala Figuera
(in Mallorca). Eduardo Bonnin, the founder of Cursillo, had been
intensely studying various attributes of humanity. These attributes
/ topics reflected the focus of study as the Cursillo Movement was being
formed by the Holy Spirit. From this study came the 10 topics re-presented
at Cala Figuera in 1994 and also at the 2003 National Encounter in Cincinnati:
(1) Person; (2) Freedom; (3) Love; (4) Friendship; (5) Conviction; (6)
Sincerity; (7) Criterion; (8) Life; (9) Normality; and (10) Joy.
Five of these ten topics will be given at the Region VI Spring Encounter
in Garden City. All are encouraged to participate and learn more
about the roots of Cursillo.
News From Secretariat ...
From the Spiritual Advisor ...
We are journeying through the Lenten Season.
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus said to His disciples: “If anyone wishes to
come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow
me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for
one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?” (Lk 9:22-25)
Bishop Ken Untener in his “Little Black Book” observes
that “Matthew and Mark both have Jesus speak of taking up our cross
and following him. Luke, however, adds ‘daily.’ Luke wants
to stress that the day-by-day following of Jesus often involves ‘the cross.’
... We can’t simply drift through life, because the drift of the world
isn’t always in the right direction. We have to be willing to take
our ‘cross’ – which represents any suffering in our lives, but particularly
those we have to endure in order to do the right thing. Paul said,
‘I die every day.’”
So, as we live each day of the lenten season, we
must daily take up our cross and daily die to ourselves. Our cross
might be the same each day or it might be different each day ... but it
is a cross, and we must carry it daily. And we must see ourselves
as followers of Jesus, who carried His cross on the way to Calvary.
Beginning on Ash Wednesday, this Lent, the movie
“The Passion of the Christ” has been showing in movie theaters across the
country. Many have seen the movie. It is a very fine movie
which provides some visual images of our Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection,
and does a nice job of showing the strong and intimate connection between
the Last Supper and our Lord’s death on Calvary. There are many very
touching scenes in the movie.
One scene that comes to mind, is when Jesus is given
His cross to carry. One of the thieves says to Him: “You fool, why
do You embrace Your cross?” He did it for love of us ... each of
us ... individually. Each of us might ask ourselves: “Do I embrace
my cross?” Or “Do I just reluctantly carry it ... for a time ...?”
Another touching scene shows Simon carrying the
cross with our Lord. He was very reluctant to carry the cross at
first and wanted everyone to know that he was an innocent man being forced
to carry the cross for a criminal. After some time, Jesus and Simon
were carrying the cross together, ... arms crossed ... supporting each
other.
Do you remember the Apostolic Commitment Service
at the conclusion of your Three Day Weekend? ... As the chain holding the
crucifix was placed around your neck, you were reminded: “Christ is counting
on you.” And you responded: “And I am counting on Him.” That
must be more than just a nice phrase. It must be about how we live
our life ... our 4th day ... every day ... daily ... taking up our cross
... Christ is counting on you ... on me ... and we are counting on Him.
But we must embrace the cross, and we must embrace the passion ... the
dying to ourselves, that we might live with and for Him.
Hopefully, “The Passion” was not just a movie that
we watched ... hopefully, we embrace the cross ... we enter into the passion,
death, and resurrection of Jesus daily ... that is what it means to really
live our Baptism and to really live our 4th day ... we must die daily to
ourselves ... lose ourselves ... in order to find ourselves ... in the
cross, beside Christ, with Christ, and through Christ. May it be
so in my life and in yours ... not just during Lent, but all our lives.
De Colores Father Mark Seiker
(Insert #1)
Ultreya … Onward!!
[The italicized portions are from the Cursillo Movement’s
Leaders’
Manual]
“Whereas the Friendship Group Reunion provides for the good of the individual, the Ultreya provides for the good of the community. Both are essential in terms of the [Cursillo] method. Both are important for the realization of the direction of our whole life in the light of the Gospel and the opportunity to share that life with other evangelizers. An isolated Christian is a paralyzed Christian. So too is a group, if it is not tied to other groups.
… “The reunion at the Ultreya is not the same as a Friendship Group Reunion. It is the promotion of sharing amongst those in attendance by use of the reunion method. This reunion does not suffice for a friendship group. It serves as an elementary form of reunion in order to realize a friendship group among new cursillistas or to promote interchange between existing groups. It is necessary for existing friendship groups to split during the Ultreya in order to aid this interchange between cursillistas of other Friendship Group Reunions. This unifies the Movement as well as aiding the incorporation of new cursillistas into the Cursillo community.
… “Each of us has a need for physical nourishment, so we make arrangements in our schedules and lifestyles to allow for regular meals. The Ultreya should be seen in this light and the necessary allowance made for it in our lives. The Ultreya should be a place for us to receive the nourishment we need for our spiritual and evangelical journey. Keep in mind that the Ultreya is a community and community members understand the importance of ensuring that each member is properly fed. For this reason, each participant must see (as his or her responsibility) the need to feed each participant. So, the Ultreya is truly a place to feed and be fed.
“The Ultreya should be kept short and simple to keep it from becoming an event in itself and from taking up the participants’ whole morning, afternoon or evening. Those who plan the Ultreya should take into account the time pressures already on others. For this reason it is important to choose a time, location and format for the Ultreya that does not add to these pressures. … The Ultreya should be habitual but not mechanical; short but intense; simple, but with substance.”
The Ultreya should generally include the following (in order): (1) Opening prayer; (2) Ultreya Group Reunion; (3) Ultreya witness talk (see comments to follow); (4) comments about / response to the witness given (following the witness talk, there should be one-two cursillistas who will each give a 1-2 minute comment about their views of the information contained in the witness talk … this should not be an additional witness talk); (5) Spiritual Advisor’s summation (to be given by a priest, deacon or vowed religious); and (6) whenever possible, a visit to the Blessed Sacrament (it is encouraged that a crucifix be passed to each participant for audible / silent spontaneous prayer, similar to what is done on Saturday evening of the Three Day Weekend); otherwise, Closing Prayer. “The witness talk should reveal what attempts the speaker is making to bring about a transformation of an environment in order for that environment to be more of a Christian environment. This talk should awaken a desire amongst all the participants to renew their own efforts at evangelizing their environments. … A witness talk is delivered as a living experience of what the speaker is or believes. As in all Cursillo talks, a truth is presented and then a living experience from the life of the speaker is witnessed to. … By preparing beforehand through prayer and Palanca for discernment as to what to share, the witness will be natural, sincere and personal. Scripture should be used to relate the truth to life and to the experience itself so the community may penetrate more deeply into the Word of God. The witness should be a personal sharing of one’s (1) growing union with Christ, (2) growing knowledge of Christ, and (3) bringing others to know Christ, or the changing of circumstances so that Christ is better known, loved and served.
“We come to Ultreya to unite with our brothers
and sisters and to share with them rather than to teach or to learn Catholic
doctrine” … let us urge one another Onward … Ultreya!!
(Insert #2)
An Invitation to Ongoing Conversion
[Reprinted from the Winter 2004 FLAME (Office for Evangelization, Diocese of Lincoln) Newsletter]
We cannot limit conversion to one experience ... though conversion does have a starting point, it is ongoing ... conversion is every minute of every day ... Is the Lord calling you to deepen your relationship with Him? ... to ongoing conversion?
Prior issues of the FLAME described what Cursillo is and how to persevere following the Three Day Weekend. This article describes why the Three Day Weekend is an important part of ongoing conversion.
It is no mistake that St. Paul was designated by Pope Paul VI as the patron of the Cursillo Movement. “Everyone knows that as ‘Saul’ was traveling to Damascus he was struck by a bright light and fell to his knees. This was our Lord’s way of calling Saul (soon to become Paul) to discipleship. He was led into Damascus, where he remained blind for three days [the Three Days of the Cursillo Weekend]. While Saul was in Damascus, God sent Ananias to Saul with these instructions: ‘You must go! This man is the instrument I have chosen to bring my message to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.’ (Acts 9:15)” [Italicized sections are from The Cursillo Movement’s Three Day Manual].
“According to Vatican II, each person (through [his/her] baptism with Christ) is an instrument for God’s plan of salvation.” When Catholics come to the Cursillo Weekend, each one comes as a Saul and the Cursillo Weekend provides a structure / opportunity for ongoing conversion ... an opportunity to better understand God’s plan of salvation and your role in it.
One aspect of the Three Days is to provide an opportunity ... to experience a conversion process. Saul underwent a conversion process. If Saul had done nothing else, following that conversion process, then that conversion would still have been successful (just ask those Christians who were no longer persecuted by Saul). If [you] do nothing else, following [the] Three Days, then the conversion process should still be considered successful. However, the reason Paul became a saint is not because of what he did not do – it was because of the things that he did do. While a conversion process is one aspect of the Three Days, [the] primary purpose is to instill in [participants] the willingness and the ability to go back to their world (their environments [... family, neighborhood, work, social, parish, etc.]) and transform those environments for Christ.
Is the Lord calling you, like Saul, to spend Three Days with Him? Remembering that conversion is ongoing, is the Lord calling you to deepen your relationship with Him? ... to ongoing conversion? ... to live a Cursillo Weekend?
The next Cursillo Weekends are scheduled for February 12-15, 2004 (Men), and February 19-22, 2004 (Women), and September 23-26, 2004 (Men), and October 7-10, 2004 (Women). If you want to know more about Cursillo, give our Lord three days! Father Mark Seiker of St. Joseph (Beatrice) is the Spiritual Advisor of the Cursillo Movement in the Lincoln Diocese and Kathy Springer is the Lay Director. If you would like to know more about Cursillo, please contact Kathy at (402) 826-2699.
(Insert #3)
Registration Form
School of Leaders
Quarterly Reunion
April 2-3, 2004
220 S Walnut
Sacred Heart School - Shelby, NE
If you cannot be with us, we request Palanca for the success of
the School.
Name:
Address:
City/State/Zip:
Phone: Email:
Where and when did you make your Cursillo?
Are you able to receive the Sacraments of Confession & Holy Communion? Yes No
To which Organizations do you commit your time?
Are you living the follow-up program of Group Reunion? Yes No
Are you living the follow-up program of Ultreya? Yes No
Do you have any physical/medical/dietary conditions
to be considered?
Please Return this Form WITH PAYMENT
To:
John Springer, 1410 E 15th St, Crete, NE 68333
NO LATER THAN MAR. 31, 2004.
You are invited to the Quarterly Reunion of the
School of Leaders. Come participate in the work of Cursillo ... build
community with other cursillistas ... spend time
in prayer and meditation with the Blessed Sacrament. The School is
for all
cursillistas ... men and women, couples, singles,
priests and religious.
FRIDAY, APRIL 2ND (Retreat Phase)
7:30pm
--- Registration (NO Meal Friday evening)
7:45pm
--- Mass
8:30pm
--- Meditation, confessions, quiet time
SATURDAY, APRIL 3RD (School of Leaders
Agenda)
7:00am
--- Morning prayer and Mass, followed by
breakfast
8:30am
- 4pm Group Reunion, Intro, 1st Session, Lunch, 2nd Session, 3rd Session
4:00pm
--- Clean up and Depart (Supper not provided)
Please bring the following with you to the weekend:
• Pilgrim’s Guide
• If you have the following:
•
Leader’s Manual (please begin praying the Leader’s Prayer on page 57)
•
Lincoln Diocese Pastoral Plan for Cursillo (extra copies will be available)
•
The Fundamental Ideas of the Cursillo Movement
•
His Way
• “Classic” Cursillo accommodations will be
available.
• Advance registrations are requested; it
is fine to attend Saturday only or Friday only
• Suggested donation (if you are able) for
the weekend is $15.00 per person. Please make check payable to “Cursillo
of Lincoln” and mail with the Registration
Form.
• Please keep this half of the flyer for
future reference.
• Please bring a snack to share, if you like.
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