THE HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT
The Cursillo Movement is a movement of the Catholic Church. The name Cursillo , is Spanish, meaning short course and is often associated with a 3-Day weekend - which is only one aspect of the Cursillo Movement. The proper name is Cursillo de Cristiandad (short course of Christianity). There is much more to the Cursillo Movement than just a 3-Day weekend.
This Movement evolved from Spain, where it got its origin, in the 1940s. The Cursillo Movement did not develop by accident. it began when a group of men dedicated themselves to bringing the young men of their city of Mallorca, Spain, to know Christ better. It developed as they prayed and worked together; it developed as they talked together, sharing their thoughts about the state of the world and the effectiveness of their efforts to bring the light of Christ to it. On the natural level alone the story of the Cursillo Movement is exciting. It's a story filled with the adventure of new discoveries and works of outstanding dedication, tragic misunderstandings and setbacks, as well as impressive patience. These young men and the clergy who supported them endured many unpromising situations in the faith that God would work.
But it is even more an exciting story on the spiritual level. It is the story of how God taught a group of men how to work for Him in an effective way, a way that bears fruit. In the late 1940s the first Cursillo was given and the Cursillo Movement began. Those who make Cursillo s today would find much of the first Cursillo familiar. The Cursillo has been refined and changed somewhat, but today's Cursillo weekend remains basically the same as those first Cursillo s.
It was, however, no accident that the first Cursillo was so fully formed that a movement could begin from that date. The first Cursillo was neither a lucky accident nor a blueprint which came directly from heaven, but grew out of a process of development. Nor were the first leaders just a chance collection of men. They had been working together for some time trying to bring men to Christ so they could work together to Christianize the world.
But the Cursillo , on the other hand, was not just
a well worked out human product. It grew in the climate of spiritual
renewal. It was developed by men of prayer who were seeking to serve the
Lord. It was formed by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit working in men
who had dedicated themselves to bringing others to a knowledge of Christ.
The Cursillo Movement came to birth in the movements of renewal that preceded the second Vatican Council. Vatican II was such a major event in the history of the modern Catholic Church that there is a certain tendency to date everything from the Council. But Vatican II was itself born out of an effort of spiritual and pastoral renewal that had begun years before. The liturgical movement, the scriptural renewal, Catholic Action and other movements of the lay apostolate had begun years before the Council. Everywhere in the Church, people were seeking to find ways of "bringing the Church to life in the hearts of men" (Romano Guardini). The Cursillo Movement came from the work of such individuals.
The first stirrings of what later was to become
the Cursillo Movement began on the Island of Mallorca during World War 11.
The Spanish Civil War had ended in 1939, and the years after the Civil War
were a time of ferment in the Spanish Church. Before the war, a pilgrimage
to the shrine of St. James at Compostela had been planned. This spiritual
journey to the great Spanish pilgrimage center of the Middle Ages would
provide a time for the young men and women of Spain to dedicate themselves
in a renewed way to the work of the apostolate. After being postponed
several times by the disruption of war, it was finally rescheduled for
1948.
The pilgrimage set a tone. The spirit of pilgrimage is a spirit of
restlessness, of dissatisfaction with spiritual lukewarmness, of moving
onward, of "ultreya ." It is also a spirit of brotherhood among
fellow pilgrims who are striving together to reach the goal of a life
fully given to the love of God and man. The pilgrim style has marked much
of the spirituality of the Cursillo Movement.
Preparation for the pilgrimage gave rise to efforts of renewal in the
different Catholic Action groups in Spain, among them the branch for young
men in the diocese of Majorca. As a result of the preparations for the
pilgrimage there was greater interest in finding an effective way to work
apostolically. The groups responsible for preparations for the pilgrimage
to St. James were the diocesan councils for the young men's branch of
Catholic Action. Catholic Action was the official organization of the lay
apostolate in Spain (and in many other countries). Most organized efforts
of Catholic laity taking part in the work of the Church were part of
Catholic Action (which was supported and directed by the hierarchy). In
Spain, Catholic Action was divided into the men's branch, the women's
branch, the young men's branch and the young women's branch. The leaders
of the young men's branch on the island of Majorca were the founders of
the Cursillo Movement. Those who first developed the Cursillo Movement
worked together as a team from the very beginning.
They worked as a leaders' team that prayed
together, shared their Christian lives together, studied together, planned
together, acted together and evaluated what they had done together.
Together they worked at the task of forming Christian life among the young
people in Majorca. Out of their common efforts, something new in the life
of the Church was born. Church renewal, spiritual renewal, pastoral
renewal, the pilgrim style, a pastoral plan, teamwork among leaders - the
Cursillo Movement grew out of all these things. It developed not by
accident nor through a clearly specified plan, but was an organic
development of the efforts of a group of men who had dedicated themselves
to the work of God.
At first the Cursillo s were just "little
courses" (little course is the literal meaning of the Spanish word -
Cursillo ) which were given by the diocesan council of the young men's
branch of Catholic Action. They were given to members of Catholic Action
groups as a way of forming them so they could become effective apostles.
The first Cursillo in the United States was held
in Waco, Texas, in 1957. The key figures in the beginning were Father
Gabriel Fernandez and two airmen from Spain, Bernardo Vadell and Agustin
Palomino, who were training with the United States Air Force. Father
Gabriel had arrived in Waco in 1955 from Spain where he had made his three
days under two of the founders of the movement, Father Juan Capo and
Eduardo Bonnin. The priest and the airmen were responsible for putting on
the first two weekends in Waco.
Airmen Vadell and Palomino were transferred to
Mission, Texas, just after they had completed the second weekend in Waco.
By late 1957 the traveling airmen had put on the first weekend in Mission.
In 1958 they started a center in Laredo, Texas, and soon after, the
movement was introduced in Corpus Christi.
In 1959, the Cursillo spread throughout Texas and
to Phoenix, Arizona. In August of that year the first national convention
of spiritual directors was held, and Ultreya magazine began publication.
In 1960, the growth of the Cursillo quickened in the Southwest, and
weekend's were held for the first time in the East in New York City and
Lorain, Ohio.
Until 1961, all weekends were held in Spanish.
That year the first English-speaking weekend was held in San Angelo,
Texas. Also in 1961, first weekends were held in San Francisco,
California; Gary, Indiana; Lansing, Michigan; and Gallup, New Mexico. By
1962, twenty-five more English-speaking weekends had been held.
In 1962 the Cursillo Movement came to the Eastern
United States. Weekends were held in Cincinnati, Brooklyn, Saginaw, Miami,
Chicago, Detroit, Newark, Baltimore, Grand Rapids, Kansas City and Boston.
In the West, the first weekends were held in Monterey, Sacramento, Los
Angeles, Pueblo and Yakima.
The movement spread rapidly with the early centers
carrying the Cursillo to nearby dioceses. As of 1981, almost all of the
160 dioceses in the United States had introduced the Cursillo Movement.
The Cursillo Movement in the United States was
organized on a national basis in 1965. At this meeting a National
Secretariat was organized, and a National Cursillo Office (currently in
Dallas, Texas) was established.
The Cursillo Movement has the support of the vast
majority of the American hierarchy. It is joined to the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops through an official liaison in the person
of Most Rev. James S. Sullivan, Bishop of Fargo, and through the Bishops'
Secretariat for the Laity in Washington, D.C.
Today it is a worldwide movement with centers in
nearly all South and Central American countries, the United States,
Canada, Mexico, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Great Britain, Ireland, France,
Germany, Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, Australia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the
Philippines, Sri Lanka and in several African countries. The movement is a
member of the International Catholic Organizations of the Pontifical
Council for the Laity in Rome. In 1980 the Cursillo Movement established
an international office, the OMCC (Organismo Mundial de Cursillo s de
Cristiandad), in Santo Domingo to coordinate the three existing
international working groups of Latin America, Europe and the
International English Language Group. The international leaders of the
movement meet periodically to further its work.
At one of these meetings in Rome in 1966, Pope Paul VI had the opportunity to address the movement. Among his words of encouragement were the following:
"Cursillo s de Cristiandad, that is the word, purified through experience, affirmed by its fruits, that today travels with citizenship papers throughout the world...
"Whether some methods become obsolete, whether new manifestations of the Spirit arise, the permanent task of the layman will continue to be the infusion of Christianity into life through the encounter and personal friendship with God and in communion with his brothers. The layman, upon forming himself in Christianity, reforms his mentality and conforms his life to Christ's image by means of faith, hope and charity; acting with complete responsibility he transforms the temporal structures in which he is immersed, guided in his action by the glance of Christ he continually tries to remake the world according to God's plan and design....
"We know that in your plan of spirituality and apostolate in the Cursillo Movement the 'Sensus Ecclesiae'(mind of the Church) is the guiding light that orients you....
"Beloved sons and daughters: Our soul is so oppressed by the vision of the evils which afflict the Church and mankind. But permit us to express our overwhelming joy that, at this moment, floods our soul before the immense chorus of your manly faith in Christ, your fidelity to the Church, your fervent loyalty to this Chair of Peter and to the ministry of the episcopal hierarchy.
"Cursillo s de Cristiandad! Christ, the Church, the Pope, are counting on you! "
Pope Paul VI, First World Ultreya, Rome
May 28,1966
In 1980 Pope John Paul II, addressing the first National Italian Ultreya in Rome said,
"Your movement, which recently celebrated its thirtieth anniversary, devotes itself to drawing forth from Christians a commitment to live lives consistent with their faith whether individually or as a community-and to bring this ferment to the environments where you live.
"You have discovered anew the explosive truth of the evangelical message: God, Father of all, comes to us as we encounter him in Jesus Christ to reunite us through the grace of the Spirit in one family which is the Church.
"In her we are truly able to experience even now the love which will be the inexhaustible fountain of eternal joy in heaven. Here then is the synthesis of all of Christianity. This is the news that all human hearts hope for without realizing it. Therefore dedicate yourselves more and more to being tireless apostles in your environments.
"My apostolic blessing goes with you as a pledge of this divine grace which enables you to live forever."