Belleville Cursillo Movement at PO Box 331, St. Libory, IL 62282 US - Lay Director

In Romans Chapter five verse five, Paul said, “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” We as Cursillistas have seen first hand the love of God through the amazing works of the Holy Spirit. My amazement and wonder continue each time I experience God’s love in the Christian community that is the Cursillo Movement. So many Cursillistas come together each year with a spirit of teamwork, dedication and love that truly inspires our candidates on the weekends. Numerous Cursillistas take time out of their hectic schedules to attend the nine-week novena to pray for the weekends, and those that can’t travel pray from home. In addition, the teams prepare through the six weeks of formation and their prayer and Palanca.  Our Spiritual Directors rearrange their busy calendars to be there for all of the 4^th Day community involved in the process. Sponsors and/or their supportive friends drive from all areas of the diocese to bring their candidates to the DuBoisCenter and help make the weekend even more special.  Cursillistas also drive from all over the diocese to attend both the men’s and the women’s closing ceremonies helping to provide food for the potluck and loving support to the brand new Cursillistas. Then everyone does their part to help clean up and load all the supplies. The Holy Spirit becomes a tangible reality to me through this example of Cursillistas working together as part of the Body of Christ.

It takes many special people filled with the Holy Spirit to keep the Cursillo movement alive and vibrant in our diocese and one of those people is Marie Rutter. She has worked extremely hard on the Evangelizer Newsletter for many years and she has decided that it is time for her to use her many gifts in other areas. Please take time to thank Marie for her loving service.

At the last School of Leaders we formed a committee that will meet for adoration at St. Joseph’s in  Freeburg on March 24, and after praying for discernment, the committee will begin the process of finding a new Spiritual Advisor/Advisors for the Cursillo movement in our diocese. We were blessed to have Father Braun, O.M.I. as our spiritual advisor for many years, and he was able to devote a large part of his time to attending Ultreyas, School of Leaders, Regional Encounters and Secretariat meeting. I spoke with Noreen Ford, the Regional Coordinator, and she explained that a Cursillo Spiritual Advisor is a deacon, sister or priest who is the main spiritual mentor for the Cursillo Movement within a particular diocese. That person can lead a team of other spiritual directors to cover the responsibilities of the Spiritual Advisor. Please pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as this process begins.

The Secretariat, with the approval of the attendees at the last School of Leaders meeting, has decided to host a Workshop in September.  I called Barry Cahill, the Lay Director of St. Louis, and invited St. Louis to participate in the workshop. The Regional Service Team said that they would be happy to present, and we hoping to host the workshop sometime in September. We are in need of a facility that will hold 150 people and also has some type of kitchen area, so if anyone has an idea for a possible location, please let me know.

As many of you are aware, Marie Caddell diligently posts the Secretariat Minutes on the Cursillo website. The Secretariat meets every other month, and we approved the December minutes at our February meeting, so they are available on the website. In order to make the minutes available sooner, The Secretariat has agreed to approve them by e-mail prior to the next meeting. Marie will also create a suggestion area on the website, so Cursillistas can offer loving and constructive ideas for making our Cursillo movement more effective in our efforts to bring people closer to Christ. When someone makes a suggestion, Marie will receive it in her e-mail so she can forward it to the Secretariat for further discussion at the School of Leaders.

I wish you all a rewarding Lenten journey and a blessed Easter Triduum.

Your sister in Christ,

Julie Bostick