VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2 NUMBER 74. Fully Alive THE NATIONAL RESOURCE DOCUMENT OF THE CANADIAN CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC CURSILLOS

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1 Fully Alive THE NATIONAL RESOURCE DOCUMENT OF THE CANADIAN CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC CURSILLOS IV CONVERSATIONS OF CALA FIGUERA May 5 th 8 th, 2016 Cala Millor, Mallorca, Spain THE PARTICIPANTS AT THE IV CONVERSATIONS OF CALA FIGUERA. OUR FATHER PANELISTS AT THE PLENARY CONTENTS Officers Corner 3 Matters Spiritual 8 Essay 20 IV Conversations 5 Around the Country 12 You Asked Us 23 Funding Your Movement 6 Witness 18 Eduardo Bonnin 24 1

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3 OFFICERS CORNER Arlene van Diepen, Chair of CCCC. I offer greetings to you from the CCCC Officer`s group. We have reached the end of the Easter Season which I believe to be most beautiful season in our Church calendar. I pray that the joy of the risen Christ and the peace of the Holy Spirit remains with you throughout the year. The CCCC Officers continue to be very busy as we study the Charism, prepare resource documents for the Cursillistas in Canada and prepare for the annual conference in Moncton, New Brunswick. We find this work to be extremely rewarding and our study continues to leave us with our hearts on fire and our heads full of ideas. In this article I will provide you with information on our current activities and a look at what is to come. At our Annual Conference in 2015, we announced the completion of the draft Step by Step Weekend Manual. Movements from across Canada had been asking us for a standard weekend manual. As we always do, CCCC went to the source for guidance. We contacted Mallorca and that contact led to Sheelagh and me working together with Mallorca to prepare an English Manual that would be made available to all English speaking movements in the world. We then drafted the Canadian manual which includes all the content from Mallorca but include additional Appendices and notes in order to provide context or explanation of the contents of the manual. At the 2015 Conference, we offered to provide workshops for this manual to obtain feedback and would then be finalizing the manual based on feedback. On October 31, Sheelagh and Diane held a workshop in Toronto with approximately 30 Cursillistas from the Toronto, Hamilton, Peterborough and the Chinese movements. These movements continued their study of the manual and Toronto have implemented it at their Cursillo weekends in May and Hamilton will use it for their June weekends. We look forward to hearing their feedback. Sheelagh travelled to Thunder Bay to provide a workshop for 15 Cursillistas. We encourage all movements to implement this Step by Step Weekend Manual and we are available to provide workshops in your area. Related to the manual, Mallorca has been updating the language in the 3-day Weekend Rollos. Layperson in the Church has been replaced by Layperson: A Christian in the World. This revised Rollo has been shared with the Canadian movement so that they can incorporate it into their weekends. The change is one that Eduardo long desired as the new Rollo accurately reflects the mentality of Cursillo. We are also working on a revision of the Total Security Rollo. The revision is a simple one and not the entire Rollo. In line with this revision, the Order of the Reunion sheet and the Pilgrim s Guide will also be updated. In response to requests from movements, we have developed a `Guide to Ultreyas`. Bernie Reilander, past CCCC chair, prepared a compilation of articles that had been prepared by CCCC over the years. The final document was a collective effort from George Henry, another past chair and Fr Syd Mifflen. Past Spiritual Advisor as well as Sheelagh and myself. Many hands make light work and we truly appreciate the assistance we received in the completion of the Guide to Ultreyas which will be available for sale at our annual conference in June. Sheelagh Winston, the Resource Person for the CCCC, is the Canadian representative to FEBA (Fundación Eduardo Bonin Aguiló) in Mallorca. Much of her work for FEBA is related to translation of books by Eduardo Bonin into English. She works very closely with the leaders in Mallorca to ensure the authenticity of the English translation. We offer a number of FEBA books for sale at our Resource Centre: Cursillo History and Memory, I Conversations of Cala Figuera, Eduardo Bonin: An Apprentice Christian, My Spiritual Testament, the Manifesto as well as several booklets based on 3

4 presentations and articles by Eduardo. We are pleased to advise that we will have Reflections II for sale at our Annual Conference in June. Reflections II is a compilation of Eduardo`s ideas and thoughts that his friends found in his office on random cards and papers after his death. What a joy it will be to read and ponder his words. We have several more items on the to do list and these include: Days with Eduardo, Forgotten Evidence and the II, III and IV Conversations. The officers want to encourage local movements to continue to offer prayers and sacrifices as Palanca for Cursillo 3 day weekends in Canada and in the world. To facilitate this action, we plan to provide you with a list of weekends being held within Canada. We will be in touch with Lay Directors to obtain this list and we will continue to work with them to keep the list current. We appreciate your efforts in keeping the information up-to-date and for the Palanca you will offer. Fourteen Cursillistas from across Canada attended the IV Conversations of Cala Figuera in Mallorca, Spain from May 4-8 th, I attended the III Conversations and my mind was opened up to the depth and wonder of the Charism of Cursillo. The IV Conversations did not disappoint. We marvelled at the appropriateness of the topics for the presentations, the wisdom of the speakers and the depth of the dialogue at the tables. It was quite evident that the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit continue to be evident in the Cursillo movement. Sheelagh Winston again worked with Mallorca on the translations so that those giving the simultaneous translation would have a script to follow making it much easier for the English speaking participants to follow. Some of these presentations will be available in future issues of our resource document Fully Alive before the IV Conversations book is available. Of special note, we wish to advise you that the beatification process for Eduardo Bonin has been commenced by the Bishop of Mallorca. Please read the article in this issue of Fully Alive for more information. Our 2016 Annual Conference will be hosted by the Cursillistas from Miramichi and will be held at the University of Moncton from June 23 to 26. Come join us as we enjoy Down East hospitality and vitality in this beautiful part of our great Country! Our theme this Year `Rediscovering the Vision The Journey Continues speaks to our ongoing quest for knowledge and understanding of our Charism and the acknowledgement that this gift is everliving as truths continue to be revealed to us through our study. What an unbelievable journey it has been and our hearts rejoice! In closing, may the good Lord continue to bless you as you spread the good news of God`s love to those in your environments who so desperately need to hear it. I pray that your Group Reunions will provide you with the much needed personal support to assist you in your apostolic actions and I pray that your attendance at Ultreyas will give you encouragement in your 4 th day journey. De Colores and Ultreya. IV CONVERSATIONS OF CALA FIGUERA Two hundred and twenty people from Mallorca and seventeen other countries were present for three days of friendship, celebration, excellent rollos, meditations, laughter and joy at Cala Millor, Mallorca. Sheelagh Winston shares Canada was Canada s journey in well represented by 14 rediscovering the Charism of Cursillo. attendees, all but one of your Officers among 4

5 them. The Officers will be sharing what they learned in the coming weeks and months. was then presented with a beautiful book to commemorate 70 years of Cursillo. The celebrations began on May 4 th, on what would have been Eduardo s 99 th birthday, with a mass in the Capuchin chapel in Palma. This is the chapel that was attached to the prison that Eduardo visited for years and where he prayed for and ministered to the two young men as they awaited execution. (see the prison story) Prior to the beginning of the Conversations,, the participants were treated to a tour of the beautiful island of Mallorca with visits to San Honorato and Cala Figuera before being bussed to Cala Millor where the event was to be held. The format followed the familiar Cursillo style with each day beginning with Morning Prayer, meditation and mass. We then joined our country groups to listen to rollos from representatives from around the world, followed by table discussions and then a plenary where all had the opportunity to interject if they wished. As part of the celebration we were introduced to Onofre Arbona an elderly man who was a candidate on the first Cursillo in Cala Figuera in He addressed the gathered Cursillistas and spoke briefly about that first Cursillo. He Onofre Arbona with Bishop Javier Salinas Viñals The Eucharist was celebrated each day with Bishop Salinas as celebrant or a participant bishop from Ireland, Bishop Donal McKeown. The topics presented in the rollos included, Search, The Good News, Hope, Fulfillment, Encounter, Gratitude and Signs. 5

6 There were also several witnesses by Cursillistas from various countries. Saturday evening included a Fiesta where our own Fr. Pat entertained with two beautiful songs. We will be presenting these topics in various ways for your information, in the future. With grateful thanks to the Mallorcan Secretariat for all their work in organizing and facilitating this wonderful experience in the birthplace of our movement. Thank you Lord for this wonderful experience, thank you Eduardo for sharing the Charism with us and thank you Mallorca for making this all possible. Sheelagh Winston, editor. 6 Loren Marian, president of the Mallorcan Cursillo Movement Funding Your Movement The Officers of CCCC are well aware of the ongoing struggle that the local movements have in finding sufficient funds to keep their movements thriving and able to offer the gift of Cursillo to as many as possible. This subject is discussed frequently as part of our Officers meetings, both in person and by Skype conferencing. The following is how the Toronto movement faced what had become a critical situation for them and the very positive results they have experienced. We felt it was well worth sharing with you all. As Treasurer for the Cursillo Movement of the Archdiocese of Toronto, I have been asked to share on the growth of our financial situation over the past two years. At the beginning of 2014, our account balance was very low and would not have covered our upcoming preweekend expenses. Since that time our bank balance has more than doubled. We are now consistently in a more secure position to help those who cannot afford to pay the full cost of the Cursillo weekend and our operating costs. Our account balance has grown because of the guidance we have received from the Holy Spirit. In listening to His guidance, we have implemented the following communication changes and donation suggestions: 1) We believed it necessary to inform the community of our financial situation and appealed for donations that would permit us to continue Christ s work of bringing souls back to Him. There was an immediate very generous response from many. 2) Donations are acknowledged as gifts of love, a wonderful expression of personal palanca, especially during these tough economic times. As palanca is the foundation of the Cursillo mentality, making a donation offers Cursillistas a way to express their love and gratitude to Christ for the blessings they have received through the movement and support His desire of bringing the far-away to enter into relationship with Him. 3) We emphasize that no donation is too small and the most important thing is that it is

7 given with a loving heart, as Luke 21 (1:4) reminds us: As he looked up he saw rich people putting their offerings into the treasury; then he happened to notice a poverty-stricken widow putting in two small coins, and he said I tell you truly, this poor widow has put in more money than any of them; for these have contributed money they had over, but she from the little she has put in all she had to live on. 4) When issuing annual tax receipts, we enclose a thank you letter as well as a detailed annual income statement with an explanation of all expenses. Many Cursillistas have expressed their appreciation for this transparency. 5) We communicate upfront to potential candidates that the weekend cost is $250 but that no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Weekend rectors, when giving the money talk on the weekend, suggest that those who may be financially able, to consider making an extra contribution for those less able to afford the cost of the weekend. Most of the time, at least one person offers an extra donation. 6) We suggested to the Cursillistas that there are many ways of making donations, which prior to this information being passed on, most were not aware of: a) by way of Employer payroll Deductions b) Online Transfers c) Some Cursillistas even participated in Employer Programs which offer matching donations. d) It is also suggested that the may choose to donate smaller amounts over a period of time instead of lump sums, such as monthly $20 cheques These communication and donation suggestions have inspired many Cursillistas and have been embraced by them, who now donate on a regular basis by these means, thereby sustaining our movement s financial needs, so that we can focus on the important work of leading all souls to Christ. Without these concrete suggestions, most would not have been aware of the financial needs of the movement nor thought of the various ways they could contribute. In our most recent thank-you letter to Cursillistas for their 2015 donations, we acknowledged that their donations have been given with a cheerful heart as the patron saint of Cursillo, St. Paul, tells us in 2 Cor. (7:10): Everyone must give according to what he has inwardly decided; not sadly, not grudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver. God can multiply his favors among you so that you may always have enough of everything and even a surplus for good works, as it is written: He scattered abroad and gave to the poor, his justice endures for ever (Ps. 112:9) As a Cursillista, I have learned how we are all called to be stewards of this gift from the Holy Spirit which is Cursillo. As Treasurer, witnessing the generosity of my brothers and sisters in Christ from the Archdiocese of Toronto, has been both inspirational and humbling. Trusting in Christ that He would continue caring for his movement, the Holy Spirit inspired the means by which financial viability has been restored. Praise be to God. If anyone would like to discuss with me our communication changes or donation suggestions, please contact me at cursillo.toronto.treasurer@gmail.com. DE COLORES! Steve Tallo Treasurer Cursillo Movement of the Archdiocese of Toronto 7

8 The following is a rollo given by Fr. Tony Vadell at the recent IV Conversations held in Mallorca. Fr. Tony works with the team of Cursillo Spiritual Advisors in the Mallorcan Cursillo Movement. First of all I want to give thanks for the opportunity given to me to participate and make a contribution to these Fourth Conversations of Cala Figuera. It is certainly a privilege to be here and discover and thank God for the beauty of the Charism of Cursillo for the Church. My name is Antoni Vadell Ferrer, I have been a diocesan priest in the diocese of Mallorca for the last 18 years. Commissioned by the Episcopal Vicariate for Evangelization and also by the Pastoral Unit of the Mother of God I -along with two other (brethren) priests and a deacon- am currently serving the Church in eight parishes located at the centre of the island The last service our Bishop offered me is to collaborate as vicecounsellor. with the Counsellors of Cursillo team. The Good NEWS of a presence... But I'm here to give the Rollo "News"... I am here to announce a piece of NEWS, a piece of good news... I feel I am a messenger, I feel I have been sent as a missionary of mercy. In this jubilee year, the Lord - through the Holy Father, Francis, has had the nice touch to appoint me missionary of mercy. So let me tell you this: "The Lord loves you, the Lord misses you," t'enyora "as we say in Mallorca... and He wants to give you His embrace of mercy... MATTERS SPIRITUAL This news is the announcement of a presence, a companion, the closeness of God, the God with us... To receive this piece of news you are not asked to produce a master s degree, nor a certificate of good behaviour or a letter of recommendation. There is no need for you to enter an open-access competition to be able to get this news, you don t even need a password that allows you to get online... and it s not granted to you purely on your merit (s), neither will you have to sit or pass a competitive examination. This news is not sent to perfect people... And you know what? It's free... It's a free piece of news. There is only one condition: the search... This is news addressed to those who are looking for it, those with their heart and the pores of their life open, for those who get up every morning with a question, those who every day to look out of their window, waiting for a star to appear in the sky to tell them about the News as did those three Wise Men (the Magi) coming from the East, who every day peeked out of their windows. 8

9 This news is for those who have a window in their life... do you have a window? And, is it open?... Or are you one of those who always keep their doors closed, and better if they are armoured doors, for the sake of security, as Pope Francis says?... There is a human experience that occurs to all of us and shields our lives and the doors to our hearts and it prevents us from hearing the great news: this is fear. Fear paralyzes us and prevents us from searching... And then the spirit of evil takes it upon itself to "illustrate the fear" with a litany of diabolical justifications, leading the person to the closed circle of loneliness. The big news is for those who dare to trust, for those who are open to surprise, and they set off... Those who are seeking are those who have not yet found, but they keep seeking with the hope of finding; because surely they have already fore-tasted what they are looking for. Cristina Kauffman, a contemplative Carmelite nun in Mataró (Spain) (+ 2006), says that (we) human persons seek what we have already found... We seek to be loved because we have tasted love, we seek God because first we came from Him... The Magi from the East are an example for those who seek, for those who dare to set out and live their life following a star, the star of the News (Mt 2: 1-12). Also the shepherds in Bethlehem, are bearers of this news, which is announced to them through the Angel: "I proclaim the Good News that will be of great joy for all people: today in the city of David, your Saviour has been born, the Messiah, the Lord "(Lk 2: 10-11). The News is current News. It s an issue of today s journalism, and it is addressed to the entire city and it will fill with the whole area with joy, although only a few shepherds who live on the periphery will notice it... But the news is not for a privileged and chosen few, it is addressed to everyone, it is there for everyone who wants to receive it, everyone who is out in the open, seeking in the night of our lives, as were the shepherds... The contents of this News is "Emmanuel" i.e. God-with-us : the closeness, the presence of God in your life that fills you with joy... the Lord wants to be your close friend, He wants to share your fate, your life... There is nothing, absolutely nothing in your life that is indifferent to Him... To communicate this news God needs simple emissaries... He needs Mary and Joseph. They belong to the " remnant of Israel", a movement of people who lived in Israel waiting, seeking, trusting in God's promise. They were very simple people who lived deeply the faith of their parents. They lived in Nazareth, in the Galilee region. Jesus lived there for thirty years. The Galilee of the Gentiles was a pagan area away from Jerusalem s religious centre. It was a periphery. But a small community of "the remnant of Israel" lived there. It is worth distinguishing a remnant from a waste product. The remnant is the seed the farmer reserves for the next season, in order to be able to sow it in the ground and bear fruit. But, have you ever wondered why the wheat gathered by ants and buried in their anthill does not germinate? Because the ants will remove the gluten from the grains they collect, and thus make them into waste. The remnant, no matter how small and poor it may be, is always open to bear fruit. The waste is sterile. They are apparently equal, but beware not to lose or let anyone steal the gluten of our: life, faith, people, community, group reunion, Cursillo movement, Church. Our temptation is often to preserve the seed, and this is precisely what ants do... We could keep the seed of faith locked, behind armoured doors, hermetically sealed... Good intentions, but they could turn out to be completely sterile. 9

10 Mary and Joseph are open to God, they seek Him... and they also trust Him, a God Who does not make it easy for them, Who does not give them all the cards, Who does not explain His strategic plan to them which, otherwise, they could manage to control... The Angel Gabriel does not announce to Mary that the fact of being the mother of the Most High will take her to the foot of the cross. The Angel only tells her not to be afraid, to trust God... he tells the same thing to Joseph: he asks him to trust God and Mary... The News is for those who seek confidently, who are on their way in a searching attitude and trusting God... They trust without seeing, without having all the cards, without having everything under control. I once heard Sebastian Mora, the Secretary General of Spanish Caritas, saying "when we lose the charts (Navigation Charts), we must again look at the stars". What are you looking for? What are you looking for? This is the question Jesus asks Andrew and the other apostle when He realizes they are following Him... (Jn 1: 35-39) Note that they respond with a question: Where do you live? What they are seeking is to be with Him, to live with Him and share His life. And, is this not the deepest content of our searches and our desires? We are looking for a company, a friendly presence that fills us with affection... Because we flee from loneliness. But to feel love and to love, you have to take risks and trust... And often we just armour plate our doors for fear, because our search has (sometimes) met with rejection. The response of Jesus to the apostles is, "Come and see"... And they take the risk and go and live with Jesus. This is the great news: to dwell with Him The news is not a set of ideas, an ideology, morality, a lifestyle, it is not announcing what is right and what is wrong, it is not proposing a lifestyle: The News is a person. The good News is Jesus Christ who loves you and saves you... News for disappointed people There are many ways of searching. Sometimes those who are searching- that is, you and me, and many others-... we search moaning about something, disappointed at..., with frazzled tempers... This is the experience of those two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35). They are escaping from Jerusalem. Fleeing from the place where the Lord has given up His life. They escape because they are disappointed, and are heading to a place that does not exist: Emmaus (the archeologists have not agreed on where to place this city). They are constantly complaining and moaning, they live in anxiety and despair... Is not this the condition of many people who breathe through their wounds? The Lord, Who is the great News, joins their conversation, He takes an interest and makes the first move, primerea, as the Pope says. They do not initially recognize Him, but His company warms their hearts. It is the News that precedes the Encounter, the recognition that it is the Lord. It is not an obvious presence, but the kindness of that stranger, His Word warms their hearts, empathizing and connecting with those who are seeking, and all this prompts a request from the apostles that makes the Encounter possible: "Stay with us"... Cursillo is mostly a great piece of News, an Announcement, a first announcement; first, not for being the first chronologically, but for being the main announcement. And it is the warm and friendly announcement of a Presence that saves... that prepares an initial decision, an initial conversion, that makes them ask the Lord: "Where do you live?" Or "stay with us"... which expresses the desire to live their life with Him. And it is a piece of News that frees the person who receives it... Jesus Himself in Emmaus, makes a move to go ahead. He does not impose

11 Himself, He doesn t try to persuade them to invite Him... He just hopes that the disciples, making use of heir freedom, will invite Him into their life. The news comes from outside... Today, many times you will find doctors, psychologists, educators, philosophers and analysts who will tell you that the reality of your life is within you. It even sounds poetic, and it keeps being true. But let me tell you something: the Big News always comes from outside, it is not inside you... A few weeks ago a friend of mine had to undergo a cancer surgery. After the operation the doctors went to see her children and told them that everything had gone well, and that they were amazed because this woman had entered the operating room with a smile on her face and when she woke up she had also smiled. The nurse said: "What a woman! How strong she is! So much strength inside her! "... No, no, no... my friend is fragile, like you and me, and she is well aware of her weakness, but she knows very well who supports her. Now go and tell her that faith is a projection!! An invention born of suggestion, or of the need of the man or woman of faith, to believe in something...!! We do not discover the big News through Socratic philosophical exercises and concepts... someone comes and tells me the Good News... I have to listen... And it is always an invitation to shake my confidence. It is not enough (for me) to rely on my strength, on myself, on my will, on what there is within me, but on the strength of Someone who loves me... And mind you, this news does not tell you the things you quite often would like to hear, it does not promise you a perfect world, without failures and disappointments... this News is simply a promise, a promise of: relationship, companionship, love... To all our questions that emerge from our existence, Jesus has only one answer: Good News: "T'estimony"... I love you, and this is sufficient for you... ("God alone suffices" says Saint Teresa). Trust and go and see my brothers... "Woman, why are you crying"... What is the reason for your tears. They have taken my Lord away... (Jn 20: 11ff) "Mary!" The News tells you who you are, He recognizes you through loving you... When she feels she is being recognized the encounter takes place... and the sending too: "Go to my brothers and tell them..." Mary Magdalene went to the disciples, and announced "I have seen the Lord and He said this..." The person who has received the news becomes a town crier... "Go and announce the Gospel" You may be now crying next to the sepulchres in your life, your death experiences, next to your obscurities... But to welcome the news you have to take risks and trust, and open your heart to God, to abandon yourself to His presence... There is no place here for the attitude of suspicion, no place for the let s wait and see how it goes"... because then the meeting will not be possible. Reacting during the plenary session at the Conversations 11

12 NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY A ATLANTIC, Antigonish (Tri-Counties, Cape Breton East, Cape Breton West) Halifax, St. John s, Charlottetown, Yarmouth, Yarmouth Valley. St. John QUEBEC, Montreal English, Spanish, Hungarian, Korean ONTARIO, Sarnia, London, Kent County/Chatham, Peterborough, Toronto, Hamilton, Timmins, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Korean, Latin American WESTERN, Victoria, Vancouver, Nelson, Prince George, Calgary, Edmonton, Grouard- McLennan, Kamloops, Native Cursillo, Winnipeg. ATLANTIC Valley Cursillo, Halifax/Yarmouth Lay Director: June Turcot, I will be completing my 3 year term in Since we changed our Cursillo Weekends to September-October we have decided as a secretariat to extend our terms until these weekends have taken place. Secretariat: Lay Director, Spiritual Director, Pre Cursillo Men, Pre Cursillo Women, Post Cursillo, Secretary, Treasurer, Palanca Director, Communications Director, Supplies Director, On Site Director and School of Leaders Director Our Spiritual Director is chosen by the Bishop and his term is indeterminate. Our other members are usually a 3 year term. Beginning in the fall of 2015 we plan to reduce the secretariat to 8 members who will attend the meetings. Cursillo Community: The Valley Cursillo is an area which begins in Weymouth and extends to Wolfville at present. We are currently considering including the towns of Hantsport and Windsor by the recommendation of the priest in these areas who would like to have the Cursillo active in these communities. Our area is very large approx km in length. Because of this we have two monthly ultreyas one in Digby and one in Berwick as it is difficult for our cursillistas to travel especially in the winter months. We do however have special ultreyas periodically where we gather at the central point of Middleton. These are usually well attended (maybe 80 people) as it gives us a chance to meet with friends away from our own areas and it keeps us connected as a Valley Community. A retreat day was held in April of 2015 and was very successful, we had about 35 people. We talked a lot about the charism of the Cursillo and about where we have come in the past 40 years From this group of people we hope to form the teams for the upcoming Cursillos in the Fall. 12

13 building bridges from coast to coast This year (2015) is the 40 th Anniversary of Cursillo in the Maritime Provinces. In April of 1975 Father Beni d Entremont helped to organize a team from Ottawa to come to Nova Scotia and so began our Valley Cursillo Movement. We have a planned celebration which will begin on July 17 with an evening ultreya and then July 18 we will have an all day event with mass and a Fiesta. The theme for our celebration is Reach out Like Christ. We have invited all the Lay Directors in the Maritimes to promote this event in their area as well as the Ottawa Movement who helped to initiate Cursillo in our area. They were good enough to fly down and be team and be present to us and we are very grateful for this. Besides organizing this Anniversary we are also currently preparing for the Cursillos which are planned for Sept Oct of 2015 and will be held at St. Joseph s in Kentville. Our Pre-Cursillo Directors are currently organizing with the local priests, short presentations to be done at all of the churches in our area explaining the Cursillo and its Charism. These will be done by a lay person with the support of the priest and we hope to promote interest in the Movement. These presentations are planned for June We now have a Facebook Group with over 100 members who regularly communicate prayer intentions and who are also updated with our activities. Our website is also a source of information. School of Leaders: We do not presently have a School of Leaders other than our Secretariat who are currently reading books ordered from CCCC about the charism. Ultreyas : Our Ultreyas are now held every month in two locations: the 2 nd Thursday of every month at St. Anthony's in Berwick and the 3 rd Friday of every month at St. Patrick's in Digby. Because of the locations more people are able to attend in our large area of 173 km from Weymouth and beyond to Wolfville. We generally have 30 to 40 attending each ultreya whereas formerly we had approx 40 attend in the central location of Middleton. The format is that of the Mallorcan model. We have Group Reunion and a Witness Rollo. We pray together as a group for our intercessions but we do not visit the Blessed Sacrament and have a social afterwards. We try very hard to keep this from 7:30 to 9:00 so people who have to travel far are not discouraged by the timing. Group Reunions: Since we have not done any study or polls as to how many are in group reunions we can only guess based on general conversation that about 60% are involved in Group Reunion of the Cursillistas who attend ultreyas and are actively involved. Weekends: We have dates set and are actively preparing for two Cursillo Weekends. The men s is Sept 24 to 27 and the women s is Oct 1 to 4. They will be held at St. Joseph s in Kentville this time. We pray that the upcoming Anniversary Celebration will spark some more sponsorship as well as our presentations at the churches in our Movement. Workshops: I attended the Cursillo of Cursillos that took take place in Ottawa in June. We have passed on the information for the conference to all of our members and they know they are welcome to attend. Regional Conference: There are at least 6 that I know of who are planning to attend the ACCC Conference in St. John in September. We are looking forward to it. Special Events: We will be planning a special ultreya in November in our two areas where we 13

14 will feature our small group reunions as witnesses. They will share the joys and the support of being in a group reunion. The timing of this is very important as it takes place the month after our Thanksgiving Ultreya and encourages our new Cursillistas to form group reunion. Liaison with diocesan bishop: Our Bishop receives a copy of the monthly Newsletter sent out by the Lay Director which informs him of all of our activities. Also, he will receive the Annual report to CCCC. Respectfully submitted by: June Turcot, Lay Director CAPE BRETON EAST/RICHMOND COUNTY My name is Rick Alexander and I am currently completing my first year of a two year term as Lay Director of the Cape Breton/ East Richmond Cursillo Movement. We are in the Diocese of Antigonish in the Province of Nova Scotia. Our Secretariat meets monthly and the positions on our Secretariat include < Pre Cursillo(men & women), Spiritual Director and Assistant Spiritual Director, Post Cursillo, Secretary, Treasurer, Bulletin Co-ordinator, Renewal Leaders <2-Husband & Wife>, One Member at Large (Richmond CO.), Fourth Day Co-ordinator, as well as the sitting Lay Director. We also have a website co-ordinator who receives a copy of our monthly minutes but doesn t actively sit on the Secretariat. Our Cursillo area covers all of industrial Cape Breton (Sydney, Glace Bay, New Waterford, North Sydney, as well as surrounding areas and also the Richmond County Community, which is approximately a one and one-half drive from Sydney. 14 Over the past year we, as a Cursillo Community, have tried to turn the focus away from mainly having weekends to putting more emphasis on our Ultreya and Our Group Reunion. While this has been a struggle, as it s difficult to get past the mentality of putting on weekends, we believe that this is the right way to try to rebuild our movement here in Cape Breton. We were operating from a position of having no candidate base, having reached the saturation point, to putting on a weekend with no candidates and filling up at the last minute, which we found wasn t doing any good for our Post Cursillo, our Fourth Day. We are still willing to schedule weekends but have advised our community that we would like to see a base list of candidates on file before this happens. Our school of leaders is virtually inactive at this time. We are trying to come up with ideas that will re-invigorate our community and bring them back to Cursillo and we will continue to work on this over the next year. We do put a small piece in our monthly bulletin with regards to passing on info. pertinent to Cursillo and this is being well received. Our Ultreyas are held monthly and generally we average between thirty to forty Cursillistas each month. We begin with Mass, after which we move into the Ultreya which consists of music, witness sharing, announcements, discussion on activities pertinent to Cursillo and then we finish off with a cup of tea and a small lunch, all the while catching up on old friendships and making new ones. While our numbers are small, the Cursillistas who come are very faithful to attend and, for the most part, make up the foundation of our Ultreya group. We do have a number of groups active in our area and while it is, difficult to estimate I would put the figure at five to ten percent of our community Our weekend model has changed somewhat over the past year as we have gone through the closure of the Diocese Retreat House where we held our weekends. We do have a camp that is suitable but we are trying to get them to commit to upgrading as there were some problems initially, which have been taken care of, but, as our Cursillo population is an older group, we would like to see the Camp continue to upgrade

15 to make it as easy as possible for all Cursillistas to be there. We have had some positive signs of Cursillo action over the past year. In November of 2014, we held our first ever Fifth Day Celebration with a large number in attendance (approximately 75), in December, we once again held our Christmas Carol Sing-a-long at our mall with about seventy Cursillistas and family menbers attending. Richmond County, while a part of our Cursillo community, have acted as a satellite community, holding their own ultreyas while also participating in the Industrial Cape Breton Ultreya. They were able to have their own Secretariat to look after their area and also provide strength and support to our whole community. Because of many factors, their Secretariat disbanded about three years ago, resulting in them becoming inactive with no ultreyas in their community. In May of this year,we held the first ultreya in three years in Richmond County. The number of Cursillistas who attended was approximately 100. This included the seventeen who travelled from the Sydney Region and also some who weren t Cursillistas but who are interested in making a weekend. Out of this, a new Secretariat is going to be formed in Richmond County and they are presently planning to start small, with holding three ultreyas a year. I would be remiss if I didn t mention the great support that comes from our core group of Cursillistas who continue to give their all in support of this movement because they really believe that it has the ability to change lives and that it truly is a gift worth giving. DeColores. Rick Alexander Lay Director CENTRAL.LONDON The Lay-Director s position is a normally a two year term. I am currently serving my third year as Lay-Director. Spiritual Advisor, Past Lay-Director, Lay-Director, Co Lay-Director, Pre-Cursillo Director, Post Cursillo Director, School of Leaders Coordinator (Currently vacant) Music Coordinator, Women s Cursillo Weekend Coordinator, Men s Cursillo Weekend Coordinator, Secretary, Treasurer and Coordinator The positions are normally two year terms but many positions are held by the same Cursillistas for more than two years. We meet monthly except for the months of July and August. The name by which CCCC communicates with us is London Cursillo, but our official name is: London Area Catholic Cursillo Movement. We had to clarify our name as a result of requiring a constitution because we became a registered charity about two years ago and to better convey that we are a Catholic Cursillo Movement. Our area covers three deaneries in the Diocese of London. The London deanery, Ingersoll deanery and the Huron-Perth deanery. Some of the communities that are in our area are: London, Strathroy, Aylmer, St. Thomas, Ingersoll, Tillsonburg, Stratford, St. Marys, Goderich, Wingham, Listowel, Mitchell, Seaforth, Sebringville, Seaforth, Exeter, Lucan, Zurich, Clinton, Forest, Woodstock, and Delaware. We have about 100 active Cursillistas who are part of Group Reunions and attending Ultreyas. Our immediate focus is holding Cursillo Weekends and Ultreyas. Starting in September 2015, we are going to rotate the location of monthly Ultreyas to those who would like to participate in an attempt to stay more in touch with our Cursillistas in the various geographic areas. This year we are holding a Golf Tournament along with cards and a meal as a social event as well as a fundraiser. We have briefly talked about perhaps holding a CCCC workshop but this has not been clarified yet. In the past we have held a School of Leaders bi-monthly, but we currently do not have a coordinator for this and so for the past year we 15

16 have not been holding a School of Leaders. The purpose of a School of Leaders is to delve deeper into the Cursillo movement; to get to understand the Charism of Cursillo better, to hear the Rollos again and to help answer any questions that a new candidate might have about Cursillo so that we gradually can have a more common understanding. We currently do not pick the teams from the school of leaders nor to my knowledge have we ever done so. The Rector/Rectoras table picks the teams, and then the names are submitted to the Secretariat for final approval. Our Ultreyas start with 2 gathering songs, welcome and introductions, prayer, group reunion (3 4 per group)(15 min) mostly on Piety, Study and Action but some local Ultreyas will deviate from this to instead share about a certain aspect of our faith, witness Rollo (10 min), responses from community, announcements, circle of prayer and finally closing songs. Our Ultreyas do not include a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. It is hard to know exactly but I would estimate that about 30 50% of our Cursillistas are participating in small group reunions We hold Cursillo Weekends once per year at the Michaelite House Retreat Centre near London. We charge $200 to both the new candidates and team members. We hold a Welcome Back Ultreya for our new candidates after making a Cursillo Weekend and include them on our communications. At the welcome back ultreya we encourage them to start small group reunions and help them find other Cursillistas with which to group. We also have our own website to keep them informed. In the last few years our movement has not taken advantage of CCCC workshops. We communicate to our Cursillo Community about upcoming CCCC conferences. Usually 2 4 attend CCCC conferences depending on where they are held. Starting in the fall of 2012 we have begun to hold joint-secretariat meetings of all of the Cursillo Movements operating in the London Diocese and these have been very positively 16 received by all the particpants. We are staying more in touch, and we are learning from each other. We currently have about 5 Cursillo Movements operating in the Diocese of London. I do not on a regular basis liason with our Bishop although I have communicated as needed with him in the past. Our movement does not submit an annual report to him. Gerald Kolkman Lay-Director, London Area Catholic Cursillo Movement WESTERN EDMONTON My name is Dave Kornder and I am the Lay Director for the Edmonton Archdiocese Cursillo Movement. We have a Secretariat of seven members, which includes the positions of Lay Director, Post Cursillo Chair, Communications, Secretary, Treasurer and members at large. The Secretariat has been meeting monthly over the past year for about two hours each meeting. We have a very large geographic area that we serve in the Edmonton Archdiocese and that is presenting us with a few challenges. The Cursillo community includes cursillistas in Edmonton, Beaumont, Sherwood Park, Camrose, Wetaskiwin, St. Albert, Stony Plain and as far away as Edson. This means that some of our members must drive for two to three hours to gather for Ultreyas, School of Leaders or for team meetings for weekend planning. While not so bad in the summer months, this is a real challenge in the depths of winter. The real focus for us over the past year has been to continue to develop the School of Leaders. We thank God for the blessings that have experienced as a result of this effort. Previously, in February 2012, we received a strong foundation and lived example of how the School of Leaders is intended to function through a weekend workshop from Sheelagh and John. A year ago we had a focus on the Eduardo Bonin book An Apprentice Christian which provided much food for thought and topic for

17 discussion. This past calendar year, we made the weekend rollos the main focus for the School of Leaders. In order to present both the male and female perspectives on each rollo, we had rollistas of each gender deliver the rollo, one after the other. Then there was an open discussion on the rollos with reference back to the outlines from the weekend manual. This was a very rich and energizing idea that also taught us all about the different ways that men and women live out the topics. We are continuing in September with the same pattern of both male and female presenters on the remaining rollos. The sense of community and the depth of discussion that was evident at these gatherings was a wonderful example of the charism of Cursillo! Our Cursillo community in Edmonton really enjoyed hosting the 2014 CCCC National Conference at King s University College in Edmonton from June 19-22, The total team effort that we experienced was a wonderful bonding force for us all, as we continued to talk about it and reflect on the conference throughout the year. We are still reaping the benefits of hosting the conference as we have had an increase in the overall involvement of many of our Cursillistas. We are very pleased that four of our members are going to be attending the CCCC National Conference this year in Ottawa. The Ultreyas have been a regular monthly gathering of the community in a meeting room at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on the last Wednesday of the month. We have been attempting to follow the Mallorcan model more closely and do begin with the Group Reunion opportunity for all present. The witness talks that we have been blessed to hear have been wonderful testimony to the power of God and the Holy Spirit in the lives of the speakers! There is always a time for fellowship and socializing as well as raising our voices in song together. There are seven or eight different Group Reunions that meet on a regular basis (weekly) throughout the Archdiocese. Each of these is comprised of approximately 5 or 6 cursillistas. The Group Reunion that I am a member of has been meeting faithfully for at least 20 years! The composition of the group has changed over time, and I have had the privilege of being involved for the past 15 years. There are still many cursillistas in the Archdiocese who are not active in a Group Reunion and there is a challenge to invite them and involve them for the future. Our Spiritual Director, Fr. Jim Corrigan, has stepped down due to his very busy schedule. We truly appreciate all that Fr. Jim has done for the Cursillo movement in the Edmonton Archdiocese and will miss his insights, personal touch and great love of Jesus. Archbishop Richard Smith has appointed Fr. Les Kwiatkowski as the new Spiritual Director for the Edmonton Cursillo community and we very much look forward to working with Fr. Les in the future. The Archbishop is very supportive of the Cursillo movement, himself being a cursillista from many years ago in the Halifax area. He will be given a copy of this Lay Director s Report. There have been a few social events as well during the year for all of the cursillo community to come together and enjoy each other s company. These have included a New Year s Eve bonfire and potluck as well as a summer picnic. We have not held any Men s or Women s Weekends in the past year. We are putting our energy and efforts into the School of Leaders and are feeling very blessed with the success of the sessions, as they allow us all to delve much deeper into our understanding of the Cursillo method and the rollos of the weekend. We do hope to be able, with God s graces, to host men s and women s weekends in the spring of We continue to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit and the graces to be able to offer these weekends in the upcoming year. It has been a very busy year, with much friendship and prayer! We thank God for the blessings of the School of Leaders and how it has enriched us in a fuller knowledge and understanding of the weekend rollos. May God bless us as we look to the future and begin the planning for the weekends. De Colores! 17

18 Witness Daily we touch Him WITNESS FROM THE MIRAMICHI Good evening everyone. My name is Margaret. I lived the 55 th Cursillo Weekend, sat at St. Mary Magdalen table, we were called The Tear Drops. I am from a family of 17, I have 8 brothers 8 sisters. I came from a family that Rosary, Prayers and Mass were very important, especially to my Mom. My Mom was the rock of our family. She was the most generous, loving, and caring person. My Dad, who was also loving and caring, was more the strict one. I married my husband, Lorne, and we had three children: 2 daughters, Paula and Jennifer, and one son, Christopher. We had a good marriage. Prayers, Mass, and Rosary were also important to us both. Life was good, so it was very easy to be close to God. But on October 25 th, 1989, my world fell apart. Lorne died of a heart attack at the age of 45 years. It was at that time that I found myself struggling with God and my faith. I was angry. I had a lot of fear and wondered how I was going to handle everything. My heart was broken. I questioned God why this had happened to me. I could not pray. I felt so alone and abandoned by God. But with family and friends praying for us, the children and I got through it. It took some time before I was able to take hold of my life again. Four years later I met and married Ron, my second husband, another great man. Ron was a man of faith. Everything seemed to be back on the right path again. But 5 years later I found myself facing another bump on the road. Ron died of cancer. I really thought and felt that God, for some reason, did not love me and was out to get me. I remember getting on my knees and crying, begging God, to please get off my back and just leave me alone. I told God that if he had in his plan someone for me down the road, he could scrap it now for I will never let it happen again. I struggled again with God. Some time later I received a call from my sister who lives in Oromocto. She said, I would like for you to do a Cursillo weekend. There is going to be one on the Miramichi. I said I would think about it, and by the way does it have anything to do with God? My sister said, Yes, everything in life has to do with God. A couple of days later I called her back and said yes. At that time I told her that I felt that God didn t love me. Thank God that my sister could see that I really needed something or someone in my life to help me. She told me I needed to get an application and told me I needed a sponsor. She said she would sponsor me, if I could not find one and at this time I didn t know Cil. However, after several phone calls, I was put in touch with Cil, who became my sponsor and a dear friend. I made my weekend and by Sunday I knew for sure that God did love me. I came to Ultreya just like they said I should, but through no fault of my sponsor, I felt like a stranger and that I did not belong to their group. But I kept coming for a while still struggling with my feelings of not belonging. I was sad, cried a lot. Some people said that they wanted me in their group, that they would call me. But never did call me, so I stopped coming to Ultreya. Some time later, I received a call from my niece Jean asking me to sponsor her. I did not want to tell her that I was not going anymore, so I said yes. That phone call from my niece Jean has changed my life forever. I made sure that I called her, we would travel to Ultreya together. She would also call me, and we also decided to go to Little Rock Bible Study. I am now grouping with five other ladies and one is my 18

19 sponsor. I love them all dearly, we meet on Tuesdays. Grouping for me helped me to grow and to be more accountable and live out my 4 th day. Now when I think of how differently I react and think about things compared to before I made my weekend! I had two brothers die 6 months apart, and they were younger than I. Before I would be angry and turn away from God. Now I turn to God for help to get me through. And another would be if someone cut me off in traffic, or cut in front of me. Before Cursillo I would be wishing I had a bigger car, or truck, so I could run over them. But now when that happens, I thank God that I didn t have an accident. I also think that God sometimes tests us with our family, work, and environment, to see if we react in a positive way, or if we will fail the test. For me, because of Cursillo, I try to be positive and find God in everyone and every situation. I just don t want to fail the test! Even though I am a better Christian person today, I still know that there will be struggles and bumps in the road. But with God walking with me, I will make it. Out of my sponsoring my niece, she has sponsored her husband, two sisters, and three brothers. I have worked 4 weekends and if any of you are asked to work, please say yes. The rewards and the fellowships are great. Cursillo is one of the biggest parts of my life. It has brought me so close to God and made my faith stronger. I am thankful to God everyday for the people that helped me to be here. And it scares me to think of what I almost lost. My advice to anyone is to be active, keep coming to Ultreya, even if it doesn t feel right for a while. The rewards and blessings are worth it all. By the way, I did fall in love again! This time I fell in love with Jesus. And I know that my heart will never be broken again. De Colores CONFERENCE 2016 HOSTED BY THE CURSILLISTAS OF THE MIRAMICHI University of New Brunswick Moncton, NB June th REDISCOVERING THE VISION THE JOURNEY CONTINUES Information and registration available on the website 19

20 ESSAY ESSAY is a column, that provides a vehicle in which the talks and reflections from Cursillo leaders around the country (and abroad) can be shared with the larger audience. Hopefully these essays will provide the basis for further discussion. The following is a rollo given at the IV Conversations by Leila Graciela Hamuy, Argentina HOPE I regard every event in my life as a call from the Lord and then I reflect on the many calls I received from Him... a call to life, a call to create a family, to develop a career, to live a Cursillo weekend... and I am thankful to Him because each of those calls was extremely important to my life. Through friends of mine in Mallorca the Lord calls me now to reflect on Hope and this call has brought to mind what I experienced in December 2005 when Eduardo was sitting in the front row listening to me giving the Rollo Ultreya at a Cursillo de Cursillos; he was listening as if it were the first time he was hearing it. Now I thought: well, but this time Eduardo will not be there listening to me, but then, right away I corrected myself and said yes! He will be present in each of his friends! So today I come here trusting in the Lord and convinced of the presence of our friend in each of us, especially in our Mallorcan friends! I Hope it may be so and I expect it will be so! The expression "I hope it may be so " has two meanings, one refers to the optimism I have that it will be that way, and the other is my trust in the Lord that through the communion of saints, Eduardo is present among us. II. - WHAT IS HOPE? From a general point of view we can say that Hope is a state of mind... what I believe or wish it is possible; but regarded from Faith, Hope is believing, loving and resting on the Lord who loves us! Hope is a gift from God to all of us, it is the ultimate meaning of our life, and I want to make that gift present to you now, and I can do it thanks to faith and to the confidence that gives me the fact of knowing that He is with me, guiding me and giving me strength even in difficult times. Hope is a supernatural gift, it is God Himself! The centre and foundation of Hope is always Jesus Christ, because hope is based on the divine promises made by Jesus, which involve mercy, faithfulness and God's help. If we stop to think about the world in which we live, we see that this world presents a range of positive and negative human realities, and we could say that some of those negative realities are really frightening and terrifying: the violence of terrorism, war and persecution. Pope Francis in his Easter greeting this year made reference to conflicts we experience today; he offered his "closeness to the victims of terrorism, that blind and brutal form of violence that continues to shed innocent blood in different parts of the world", and he spoke of Christians persecuted because of their faith and their fidelity to Christ. In these situations, confronted with evil that sometimes seems to prevail, we know that the Lord is with us and keeps telling us: "Courage, I have overcome the world!" Sometimes, before situations that cause us distress and anxiety, we say "Lord, I trust (in) You, I hope in You, with Your help I can do anything" You comfort me Lord in illness, you guide and accompany me in every moment of my life, I hope in You and I go to You when for some reason or other I feel upset, worried, anxious... We have problems you can bet we do!-, but the important thing is not to lock ourselves in the problem, but to find the right solution, we need 20

21 to illuminate the problems in the light of our hope that stems from believing in the Living, Normal and Close Christ. Having Hope is not tantamount to pretending that there are no problems; having hope is the most accurate way to find solutions. Sometimes we stay focused on the problem, we lock ourselves in the problem and we don t see the solution because our approach is not the right one. As Christians we cannot remain in doubt, in fear, in repentance and even gossip, before the announcement that Christ had risen. At the Easter vigil Pope Frances said: Peter did not believe, but did not stay with doubt, he did not shut himself in his house and he chose the path to encounter and in confidence ran to the tomb and marvelled at what happened. Like Peter, do not let darkness and fear take over our hearts, let s Hope in the Lord, He is our joy, He is on our side. If Eduardo were here now he would most probably say: He is the Hope that never despairs! In his book An Apprentice Christian Eduardo asks himself: what do people want? Do they want to be sure or to be happy? If we promise them safety we deceive them, because we cannot evade the uncertainty of death, but if we tell them that they can and should be happy because God is at the end of the road, because there is a good eternal life awaiting us, they may or may not believe what we say; that s why Eduardo, in his book, speaks of two options: we can open ourselves to the astonishment of believing, or close our minds and enter the anguish of not believing. III. HOPE, A THEOLOGICAL VIRTUE Hope is a theological virtue, it ranks second among the theological virtues: FAITH, HOPE and CHARITY. It is said to be the most humble of virtues, because it s hidden in life. We can see Faith, we can sense it and know what it is. Charity is done, we can raise money for charity, and we know what charity is. But what about hope? Can we see it? Can we do hope? In one of his homilies in Santa Marta (October 2013) Pope Frances asks himself and asks us: What is an attitude of hope? And then he goes on and tells us that the first thing we can say is that hope is a risk, Hope is a risky virtue. Then, quoting St. Paul, he said "Hope is a virtue of a burning expectation toward the revelation of the Son of God." Eduardo says that "if faith is based on a certainty it ceases to be faith, and something similar happens with Hope, hope cannot rely on guarantees for support. We cannot shut hope within our own limitations because hope is not logical, hope is theological. So, you have to hope against hope. So, you have to hope in spite of knowing that your hope is not logical. That seemingly contradictory expression refers to the faith of the person who, even when everything seems impossible, they keep hoping. To hope against hope was the attitude of Abraham, the father of believers (Rom 4:18), who believed in God s promise; ": 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky Abraham waited and became the father of many nations. Abraham managed to wait because he believed! The relationship between believing and hoping is very close, they are not two separate attitudes, but only one, it s a faith that hopes and a hope that believes. Faith is lived as hope and hope is unlimited confidence. As a theological virtue Hope remains latent in us until we gradually develop it. And how do we manage to develop it? Through faith -which is a foretaste of Hope- and through Love. Hope implies an active waiting, not sitting idly by. St. Paul -when speaking of Hope (Romans 8: 18-25) gives the image of a woman in labour, "we are waiting... hope is in the dynamics of giving life" and Pope Frances referring to that image says "The Spirit works in us, like a grain of mustard, small, but inside it is full of life, of strength, going forward until it becomes a tree". Hope comes to us from the Lord who, amazingly enough, trusts us. He is who best knows us, we and our capabilities. He knows what we can do and how far we can go. Faced 21

22 with these situations that seem difficult and obscure to us, we can overcome them putting all our trust in God, standing firm and feeling proud of participating in His glory (Rom 5, 2) Being a Christian is feeling proud of the hope that comes from our faith in Christ, and being able and willing to live the experience of an obstacle or a difficult situation, not like something that destroys and makes us unhappy, but as an opportunity to live intensely the love and strength of God in Christ! Hope will facilitate: That we stay in the attitude of opening ourselves to (the) wonder every day because we know in whom we trust That we may live our faith without closing ourselves into anguish and anxiety That we get to understand that both we and our life, can gradually become better and happier Hope is not illusory; only through hope can (the) realities be renewed towards good. Hope is not a delusion, because delusion is a desire ofthe imagination, and hope is not in our imagination, it is in ourselves infused by God. According to psychology illusion is a hope that has no basis, and the hope that we talk about here has its foundation in Jesus Christ! He, as I said above, is the centre and foundation of our hope! "Hope - perhaps less known than faith and charity -, can never be mistaken for human optimism, which is an attitude related rather to mood. For a Christian person hope is Jesus himself, it is His strength that releases, re-makes and renews every life (Pope Frances) Hope is not optimism, it is not a positive outlook on things. It's okay to have that attitude, but that's an optimistic attitude, not the hope of which we speak here that comes from God and leads us to trust, to hope and believe in Him! "Hope and freedom go together, where there is no hope there can be no freedom," said Pope Francisco, and referring to the healing of the hand of a man on the Sabbath, the Pope added: 22 "Jesus healed the paralyzed hand of that man and He freed him also from the rigour of the Law; He remade their life, He made it anew." It is Christ who makes all things new, more beautifully than in Creation, the miracle of making everything new: what He makes in me, in you, in us. Christ is the reason for our hope. Hopelessness occurs when we do not distinguish between the circumstances that the Lord has linked to our action and those that currently are only available to our prayer. Nothing human is alien to us. We need to be glimmers of hope and we will only manage to do it if we have a positive view of the reality in which we live. Hope is normally portrayed by an anchor. Some people say that this is a good representation that comes from Hebrews Other people say that the anchor keeps the boat from going forward, but I'm staying with what emerges from the biblical quotation. And precisely, referring to it, Pope Francis recalls that early Christians painted hope as an anchor fixed on the shore of "The Beyond", and he says that our life is a journey toward this anchor and wonders, and asks each of us: Where are we anchored? Are we anchored there, on the shore of that so distant ocean or are we anchored in an artificial lagoon that we have created ourselves, with our rules, our behaviour, our schedules, our clericalisms, our ecclesiastical behaviours? Are we anchored there? Comfortable? Secure? This is no hope. One thing is to live in hope and another is to live as good Christians... are we anchored on the shore of beyond or are we parked in the artificial lagoon? Coming to the end of this Rollo I want to remember something of Eduardo. He says that Faith is not only to believe what we cannot see, but to be able to give a Christian interpretation to what we see. Hope is the expansion of faith in time. Charity is the expression and incarnation of faith in life, in the place and time in which we live, that is, always. Believe, love, wait. Whoever believes creates, whoever loves is a reasonable person, whoever hopes never despairs, says Eduardo.

23 Believe - wait love Herein is the essence of Being Christian I believe in God, but HE ALSO BELIEVES IN ME! I hope in God, but HE also HOPES IN ME! I love God, but I am convinced that GOD LOVES ME TOO! This is the turn mentality needs to undergo when people have understood the Cursillo Movement. Christian life is the culmination of what is possible. We need to have the pleasure and good taste to enable (hope) the maximum possibilities: mine, yours and the peoplearound-the-world. De Colores You Asked Us? Q. A question has arisen concerning holding Group Reunion prior to Secretariat meetings. Is this a common practice in our Movements? R. To hold a Group Reunion prior to beginning the Secretariat meeting is an excellent idea and in fact, the Officers begin all their meetings with a time of sharing what they have lived since the last meeting. All Cursillo meetings are intended to be held in the spirit of Group Reunion and the practice of actually grouping prior to the start of the business side of the meeting creates a totally different atmosphere; where two or three are gathered in my name. When we have each shared our moment closest to Christ, the relationship between us transcends the ordinary and becomes more Christ centred, focussing our minds and hearts towards God and our mission of sharing His love by the method and mentality that we strive to promote through our work. Q. Can we accept candidates from outside our Diocese? Can you give some quidance on this matter? R. In answering this question we would have to ask why you are accepting candidates from outside your own diocese. Is there no Cursillo Movement in their own diocese? If the answer to that is that there is, then the proper route to follow would be to put them in touch with Cursillistas in that diocese. If you still decide to accept them and there is a Movement in their own diocese, you should inform the secretariat in that diocese that you are accepting candidates from their area and provide them with the details so that they can assist in supporting the candidates when they return. Too often a candidate goes to a Cursillo in another diocese and the Movement where they live is unaware that they even made a Cursillo. If the prospective candidates are coming from an area where there is no Movement then it would be a matter of accepting candidates with a view to being part of an outreach to the diocese in question. This is more involved than just accepting a group of people as candidates and would need to be discussed at the secretariat level, bearing in mind that the diocesan bishop must give his approval for any Movement to be started in his diocese. Further to this, it sometimes happens that candidates are invited to make the Cursillo in a different diocese to their own because they have a relative or close friend who is on the team. If we understand the mentality and dynamic of the Three Days, we should know enough to avoid this practice. The purpose of the weekend, after that of wanting more people to be in Group Reunion, is to enable the person to make the Three Encounters, with themselves, Christ and Others. Eduardo Bonnin has written on this topic and explains that a person is more himself/herself if those who are close to him/her are not part of the profound work of the Three Day Cursillo. The candidate needs to be free to experience God without the distractions and inhibitions that may be causedcontinued on page 29 23

24 EDUARDO BONNIN A Friend Eduardo Bonnin - what is there to say that has not been already said? I met him in person in 1992 at the 1 st Canadian Encounter. He had been invited, along with several bishops and Fr. David Knight, well known Catholic author, to address the Cursillistas from across Canada. He gave his now highly respected, and brilliant paper, Evangelization Through Conversion. At the time I was too young or too naïve to comprehend how important this document is or the stature of this little man who came to us from half a world away. One thing he said that has echoed down the years and that turned the Canadian Cursillo Movement on its head was, Cursillo has yet to be tried, anywhere in the world. What on earth could he mean? Finding the answer to that question gave a new trajectory to the Canadian Cursillo Movement and has given impetus to my life ever since. I met him again, though briefly, in 1994 at the I Conversations of Cala Figuera. Those Conversations and the person of Eduardo were the beginning of a lifelong journey for me. We came home filled with the knowledge that we had experienced something profoundly important, but a truth we only knew in our hearts; we couldn t comprehend it, couldn t articulate it, but somehow we knew we had been deeply touched by the Holy Spirit. We told the Cursillistas gathered at the 1994 annual Canadian Cursillo conference that in Mallorca we had experienced something profound and we asked them if they would join us on the journey of rediscovering the original vision of Cursillo. We knew that we didn t know and that led us to another trip to Mallorca, this time to meet with Eduardo on a daily basis in his office. With heroic patience he answered our endless questions, things we should have known after a collective experience in Cursillo of many years. We knew nothing of the charism. The mentality was what we had read in books, not what we understood in our hearts or something that we lived. But it is my firm belief 24 that Eduardo saw in us a willingness to listen, we were open and eager to learn, and so he began his journey with us. This was The Canadian Cursillo Movement began the journey and almost twenty years later we are still on it. Eduardo came to Canada several times and on one of these trips I took him on a long road trip to Vancouver. I loved his delight at seeing snow as we drove over the high mountain pass on the Coquihalla highway when only a couple of hours before he had been standing beside a large bed of tulips, coloured red and yellow; he was delighted because as he said, they are the colours of Spain. Or his interest as we stood on the deck of the ferry to Vancouver Island where he had been fascinated by the colour of the sea; your sea is green, ours is blue. On many other trips to Mallorca he took us to places like San Honorat, Santa Lucia, Felanitx, Manacor, lunch beside the sea with Jaime Rado and of course, Cala Figuera. Everywhere we went there were stories of the Cursillo in Mallorca; he could use a dish of paella to explain a Gospel story in a new and deeper way. He ordered what he called blind paella for me because I didn t like seeing the shrimp with eyes still in place. Every trip was filled with his humour as he shared jokes with whoever was driving him, chuckling and giggling as he delighted in the company of his friends. After one morning of meeting in his office he told us to take a siesta while he went across the roof to his own apartment. We were awakened to the sound of De Colores being played on a tape machine and a giggling Eduardo urging us to wake up, it was time to work! As I learned I was ever more astounded at the simplicity of the method of Cursillo, the simplicity of the man. And I learned what it is to be a disciple of Jesus by watching and listening to Eduardo. I met him once in Denver, Colorado at the US Encounter. As I had travelled there alone and I was not familiar with any of the US

25 Cursillistas at that time, moments when I crossed paths with Eduardo were precious. One day I sat alone in the dining room. Suddenly Juan Ruiz was by my side, taking my tray and telling me that Eduardo wanted me to join him. Astounded I followed Juan to where Eduardo was seated. His greeting was, Sheelagh, we need you to sit with us, we need to have you talk with us. Everyone in the dining hall would have wanted to sit with Eduardo! What a lesson in friendship, one that I have never forgotten. He didn t make me feel that he felt sorry that I was alone, not one word to make me feel pitiful. Instead, by his actions he showed me that a simple gesture of kindness is the meaning of friendship. And that is my lasting memory of Eduardo, the Gospel incarnate. As my involvement in Cursillo led me into leadership in the Canadian Movement and eventually to becoming Chairperson of the CCCC, sometimes things got very difficult as we tried to bring Canada into line with the Foundational Charism, whilst not making it mandatory for any of the Canadian Movements to comply. There were many times when I felt discouraged, confused. I was in frequent contact with Eduardo by fax and then later by and he was always encouraging whilst not being patronizing. I was very aware of the difficulties that he had faced from many quarters since the time of the first Cursillo in Cala Figuera in Always there were those who opposed him, sometimes in a less than Christian way. This knowledge helped me to keep going and to stay on the path. One day he said to me, Sheelagh, God will tell you when it is time to quit. And always, You must be happy, life is so good. He began to greet me with that beautiful smile and the laughing words, Sheelagh, you are the first lady of Canada. I told him, not to say that when anybody could hear; I was already in enough trouble! I saw first-hand, and was appalled, at how badly he could be treated, when I was involved in a meeting with the OMCC in Palma. I saw and heard him fight and stand firm on what he knew to be true, yet without becoming hostile or personal in his remarks. I also saw him ignored and overlooked, because Eduardo would never interject or give an opinion until he was asked to do so. I shared this many times with Canadian Cursillistas but I also told them, If you ask Eduardo a question, you had better be prepared for the answer. He always told the truth but would never say only what one wanted to hear, he said what he meant, and meant what he said. All this has caused me to marvel at how he stayed faithful to the path that God had called him to follow, simply because he knew, he knew, he knew, that Jesus was his friend and that we are called to pick up our crosses and follow in the footsteps of the Master. This movement began with a pilgrimage but as Eduardo said, All of life is a pilgrimage back to the Father. Life isn t easy but it is beautiful and always he witnessed to his belief in people, sharing his warmth, his kindness, his ability to make one feel as if they were important to him, his wisdom and his sheer joy in meeting people, simply because he saw everyone as Christ sees them. I watched Eduardo suffer the excruciating pain of shingles but I never heard him complain, but I did see him wince with the terrible pain. I know that it continued for many years for on each visit to Mallorca, I saw he still suffered. I used to wonder in my heart, God, he has spent his whole life serving you, why must he now suffer this way? - a question that Eduardo would never ask! And I wondered in my heart how he remained so convinced of God s love and friendship, but then I am not Eduardo! Some of the Mallorcan leaders shared with me how through the witness of Cursillistas from outside Mallorca they began to realize the measure of the man who shared with them at the Ultreya every Monday night, went to Group Reunion with them in the chapel of the Capuchins every Wednesday morning and whose office door was open to anyone who wanted to share with him or seek his advice. It was seeing how those from outside the island sought him out, listened to him and held him in such esteem that helped those who lived with him every day begin to see how important his work as Founder of the Cursillo movement is. I saw how he mentored the young ones and took the time to stay in touch with them by phone when they went off to University on the 25

26 mainland. To Eduardo a person was a person, irrespective of age, social class, rich or poor, male or female. That is probably the most important thing I learned from him, the dignity of each and every person. To him, love one another as I have loved you was the pivot on which his life turned. At one of the Conversations someone questioned him about the fact that in Mallorca young people, some in their teens, are accepted into the movement. She asked how Mallorca handled the young ones on weekends because in their own movement they had found them to be disruptive. Eduardo s response was that they shouldn t be expected to act as if they were forty years old when they are only seventeen and that in Mallorca, the leaders stay up to make sure the young ones don t break anything! I am sure it was the irony that he was famous for but his point was that as I said, a person is a person, they should never be defined or expected to be something other than what they are. I am always amazed when in Mallorca, to see the young ones, perfectly at home and engaged, not just with their peers but with friends of all ages, whether at the Conversations, celebrations or at the Ultreya. As I grew in my understanding of Cursillo I began to work with the Mallorcan leaders to bring the words of Eduardo to English speaking Cursillistas, first in Canada and then, through FEBA, to Cursillistas in other English speaking countries. I quickly realized how far off the track Cursillo had strayed in the English speaking world, simply because we had not understood the writings, due to poor translations. For me this work has been a gift, an honour. As I sometimes struggle to understand Eduardo s wisdom and unique way of using words, I have had to delve deeply into the ideas, because it is when words and not ideas are translated, that a translator can be a traitor. This work takes much time, constantly going back to those who knew Eduardo intimately enough to know his thinking. As one leader from El Salvador said, Eduardo speaks for three minutes, we think for three weeks. Ironically, once one has thought long enough for the idea to become clear, it also becomes very simple and very obvious. Through this work, I feel as if I have been 26 uniquely blessed, I feel as if I know Eduardo in a far deeper way than would have ever been possible without this opportunity. I have been referred to as an Eduardo groupie.' I take this as a compliment (not at all the way it was intended), because I am so totally convinced that Eduardo walked in the footsteps of Jesus, loved as He loved, died to Himself and was a profound witness to what it means to be a disciple. I follow Jesus because I learned how to do so from Eduardo. Each time I said goodbye to Eduardo to travel back to Canada I wondered if this would be the last goodbye. Of course, one day it was. I always knew the call would come telling me that Eduardo had gone home to the Father. Such a profound sense of loss, apprehension as to what would happen now to Cursillo, a sense of feeling as if we would be without the rudder in terms of Cursillo. I immediately left for Mallorca and arrived in time for his funeral mass. As is the custom in Mallorca, he had already been committed to the grave the previous day. The funeral was more magnificent than anything he would have desired but very fitting for this saintly little man who has inspired hundreds of thousands around the world to live as he had done, bringing the Good News of God s love to everyone He sent across their paths. I sat immediately behind his sisters in the Cathedral in Palma and was humbled to see how amazed they appeared to be that all this was for the brother they had loved and cared for so that he could continue his work. A day later I stood beside his grave in the entrance to the church of the Capuchins. It had been dug there by Cursillistas and Cursillistas had laid him to rest. The entrance to the church at that time was dark and cold, the grave was as yet unfinished and there was still dust and some debris from the work of preparing it. A simple bouquet of flowers lay at its head. There was no inscription, nothing, and I was struck and a little saddened by how plain and unadorned this last resting place was for such a giant of a man. And then God spoke in my heart and I knew, Eduardo is not here, it is only his earthly remains, he has run the race, fought the good

27 who is now officially in charge of the cause. He is Rev. Gabriel Ramis. He gave a presentation on the subject but cautioned that it was a long and slow process. On the fifth of February two thousand and fifteen, the persons mentioned below gathered in the courtyard of Capuchins Church in Palma, where Eduardo Bonnin Aguiló, the founder of the Cursillo Movement is buried: With Eduardo in his office. fight, and now he is safe in the loving arms of the God he loved so well. All of us who had the honour and the pleasure of knowing him are convinced without a doubt that we have walked together with a saint. Whether or not he is ever declared one officially, we know that he is. And God granted us the grace to know a saint, to hear his words, to see how he lived, to share and laugh with him, the Gospel incarnate. There are few people who are granted that grace; we must stand in awe and thank our God for having known in person a man who showed us by his life what we are called to be. With grateful thanks to God for the gift of having known and been known by Eduardo. Sheelagh Winston (Written at the request of the Mallorcan Cursillistas to be published in their newsletter,) ******************************* PROCESS FOR BEATIFICATION OF EDUARDO BONNIN In Fully Alive 71 published in November of 2014, we reported on the celebration of the 70 th anniversary of the first Cursillo, held in Mallorca. At that celebration Bishop Javier Salinas Viñals, bishop of Mallorca announced that he had begun the process for declaring Eduardo Bonnin Augiló a saint. At the recent IV Conversations, also celebrated in Mallorca, the bishop introduced the person Mr. Lorenzo Marian Barrientos, the president of the Diocesan Secretariat of the Cursillo Movement. The honorable gentleman Dr. D. Antonio Perez Ramos, Counsellor to the Diocesan Secretariat. Rev. D. Jaime Más Juliá, Vice-counsellor. The following members of the Standing Committee of the Diocesan Secretariat of MCC: Mr. Antonio Oliver Garau, Mr. Bartolome Adrover Capellá, Mr Miguel Sureda Tierno, Mr. Manuel Fernandez Jordá, Ms. Carmen Enseñat Puigdorfila, Mr. Francisco Javier Polo Cañavate, Mr. Ramón Rosselló Forteza, Ms. Francisca Riutort Lozano, Ms. Isabel Cabrera Pérez, and many cursillistas who are present at the event, as well as the Hon. Mr. Josep Adrover Vallbona, Chancellor and Secretary General of the Bishopric of Mallorca, who is acting as a notary to this act. In this solemn ceremony in front of the tomb of Eduardo Bonnin, that has become and is today the pilgrimage point for Cursillistas coming from the five continents. After the celebration of the Eucharist, on the eve of the seventh anniversary of Eduardo Bonnin s meeting with the Father, all members of the Diocesan Secretariat unanimously proceed to the constitution of MCC as a functionary in the process of beatification and canonization of Eduardo Bonnin Aguiló. The beginning of this process has occurred following the requests received from the National Secretariats of the Cursillo Movement in Portugal (the current headquarters of the World Organization of Cursillo, OMCC), Italy and El Salvador. 27

28 And so that this Act may be officially recorded, we - the members of the Standing Committee of the Secretariat- sign this document on the date and at the place indicated above, and so does the Chancellor - Secretary General, who is bearing witness to the authenticity of this document Marian D. Lorenzo Barrientos President of the Diocesan Secret. MCC M. I. Dr. D. Antonio Perez Ramos MCCC Diocesan Chaplain Mn. Jaime Más Juliá Diocesan Vice-Counsellor of MCC s Diocesan Secretariat. Honourable Mr. Josep Adrover Vallbona, Chancellor Secretary General. Taken from the official Act of Constitution, Palma de Mallorca. All those present at the Conversations were given prayer cards with a special prayer that has been composed, to be said when asking Eduardo s intercession for any need. These prayer cards will be made available in the near future through the Resource Centre and at the upcoming conference next month. This prayer had to be scrutinized and approved by the Holy See for authenticity. PRAYER FOR EDUARDO S INTERCESSION Oh God, the dispenser of all graces and charisms. You granted your servant EDUARO BONNÍN AGUILÓ the grace of dedicating his whole life, with humility and generosity, to the work of the Movement of CURSILLOS IN CHRISTIANITY, he travelled the five Continents proclaiming that God in Christ loves us. Grant us through his intercession the favour that we now implore Thee. (Name the favour being requested). Also grant us the grace of his beatification for your glory and the good of your Church that shines out through the lives of its saints. We beg this of You in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (At the end we pray The Lord s prayer) 28