Calendar of Events
January 5, 2002            Secretariat Meeting at St. Mary School, David City
January 10-13, 2002     Men’s Weekend at St. Mary School, David City
January 13, 2002          Men’s Closing Weekend at St. Mary School, David City
January 17-20, 2002     Women’s Weekend at St. Mary School, David City
January 20, 2002          Women’s Closing Weekend at St. Mary School, David City
April 26-28, 2002          Cursillo Regional Meeting at Fairbault, MN
July 11-14, 2002           12th National Encounter, Bellermine University, Louisville, KY

SECRETARIAT NEWS:
    At the Secretariat meeting, October 21, 2001, it was decided that we would ask for an application fee of $10.00 when a candidate turns in an application for the Three Day Weekend.  There will still be a suggested donation of $45.00 or whatever a person is able to give on the weekend.  The enclosed application form and informational flyer has been updated to reflect these changes.

THE NEXT CURSILLO WEEKENDS: have been set for January 10-13, 2002 (Men’s) and January 17-20, 2002 (Women’s) at St. Mary School in David City.  The Men’s Coordinator is Bobby Joe Spangler, and the Women’s Coordinator is Cathy Sladky.
    Continue to study your environments and invite people you know to prepare to be candidates for these weekends.  We have about two months to study, invite and prepare for the next weekends.  Each Ultreya Center has some small booklets (The Cursillo Movement, What Is It?) available for sale ($1.00) to help you know more about Cursillo and to give or sell to those who are interested in the weekends.  There are also two other little booklets available ... The Cursillo Movement Sponsor’s Booklet and The Post Cursillo, Group Reunion and Ultreya which would be helpful to you.

SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR’S CORNER:
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus,
    While I was participating in the National Encounter at St. Louis in July, one of the small group sessions that I attended was a meeting of the Spiritual Directors.  We were seated in a college classroom, facing the speaker and behind the speaker was a standard classroom blackboard.  After we had been talking for more than half of the session, one of the Priests made a very interesting observation.  He said: “Look at that blackboard.  It has two pieces of blackboards joined in the center by a little strip.  The board on the left is about 3 feet high and 8 - 10 feet wide.  That represents the Pre-Cursillo.  You see the board on the right is about 3 feet high and 8 - 10 feet wide.  That represents the Post-Cursillo.  Now you see the little ½" strip in the center that joins the two boards together.  That represents the Three Day Weekend.  How much time have we spend here and do we spend in other conversations talking about the Three Day Weekend, and how much time do we spend talking about the Pre-Cursillo and the Post-Cursillo!”  I have reflected on that observation many times.  Each of us needs to continue to live the Fourth Day, and we need to study our environments and invite other Christians to help us to Christianize our world!
    De Colores!        Fr. Mark Seiker

From the Lay Director:
    These past few months, the Secretariat has been working on the Cursillo pastoral plan for the Lincoln Diocese.  It’s been an interesting and enlightening process, as well as a time of prayer and reflection – what is working, what needs attention, where does Our Lord want us to direct our efforts.
    The pastoral plan covers ten elements of Cursillo, as follows:  (1) the Precursillo; (2) the Cursillo Weekend; (3) the Postcursillo; (4) the School of Leaders; (5) Ultreyas; (6) Group Reunions; (7) the Secretariat; (8) the Diocesan Pastoral Plan (the diocese’s pastoral plan, not the diocesan Cursillo pastoral plan); (9) our diocese’s relationship to Region VI (our region); and (10) the diocesan relationship to the National Cursillo Center.  We sometimes forget that Cursillo is about much more than the Three Days … in fact, in the scheme of things, the Three Days is important only to the extent that it teaches us how to live the Fourth Day.
    In October at the Region VI meeting in Fargo, ND, the discussion sessions were targeted mainly toward the Postcursillo (i.e., how we live the Fourth Day).  The talks on Sunday of the three-day weekend (study and evangelization of environments; developing Christian community; and living the method of group reunion and ultreya) give us the plan for living that Fourth Day.  In reflecting, we realize that the purpose of the Three Days is to prepare us for the Fourth Day – to give backbone and structure for Christian living.
    Living the Fourth Day involves first, learning to be fully Christian ourselves (i.e., dedicating our lives to living grace and working to bring others to live it); second, finding our place in the mission of the Church (by being a Christian influence in that place Our Lord put us … our families, our work, our neighborhoods); and finally, linking together those who are being formed as Christian leaders so that we might all work together more effectively.  Friendship groups and Ultreya provide the working means (the method) for living the Fourth Day.
    One of the comments made during the Cursillo weekend is something to the effect that “an isolated Christian is a paralyzed Christian.”  In other words, we are all called to live together and share together our Christian lives in an effort to strive each day to become more Christ-like to those around us.  Thus, you were encouraged to join a friendship group that meets weekly to review progress in the areas of holiness, formation and evangelization.  The friendship groups call us to be accountable for the time, talent and treasure Our Lord entrusted to us.
    In like manner, friendship groups should join together periodically with other friendship groups in Ultreya (meaning “onward”!!) or they, too, risk becoming isolated and/or paralyzed in terms of their apostolic effectiveness and/or personal growth.  Just as we learn from each others’ experiences during the Three Days and in our friendship groups, we grow together in Christ through the Ultreya.  After all, we are one body!!  Our Lord asks us to constantly extend outward … outside ourselves to our friendship groups … outside our friendship groups to Ultreya … and outside Ultreya to all of our other varied environments.
    I know that we are all very busy – we all wear many hats.  However, attending our weekly friendship groups and/or Ultreya is not “something extra” that we’re required to do – it’s a way of life … a help toward our persevering in the work Our Lord has given us to do in helping Him build His Kingdom.  There is so much to gain from each others’ day-to-day experiences (the apostolic struggles as well as the successes) -- we need each other to live the Fourth Day as effective (and affective) apostles.  We need to seek Christ in others.  If you’re in a friendship group, may you persevere; if you’re not, may you seek one out.  May we all continue “onward” together!!
    I’ll close by asking you to please pray about who Our Lord might be asking you to invite to the upcoming Cursillo weekends in David City in January -- who might be light, salt and leaven in their environments?   In addition, let us pray for one another … may we always follow Our Lord’s lead.

De Colores!!
Kathy Springer, Lay Director