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School of Leaders

School of Leaders – December 2019

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It is a New Year!  But more significant, this Christmas Season has brought us a new child, one who was actually born some 2,020 years ago to a young, faithful, sinless woman, and a baby who was a foretold surprise to a strong, willing, silent, and hard-working stepfather!  Well, just as our Blessed Mother Mary and St. Joseph realized how the Christ Child changed their lives forever, Christmas is really a new opportunity to welcome that child – into our hearts, into our homes, into our Moveable Square Yard, into our friend’s heart.  Events, holidays, gifts, surprises, parties – they can all disappoint the unpredictable, spiritual, but self-centered human heart.  The gift of Christmas, however, is not a one-day event, and it’s not just the birth of a new baby.  Christmas is an annual invitation to begin our new lives with Christ, His Church, and the Communion of Saints!

Have you thought about how Saints are our Leaders?  Have you realized we can’t learn holiness by ourselves, we need Jesus and his Saints to teach us and lead us into the paths of righteousness? Has it occurred to you that Leaders may be Saints?  In the School of Leaders, you may be sitting next to a Saint!! Blessed Christmas – and Blessed New Year!!!

Our School of Leaders will meet on February 11, March 10, and April 14, 2020, at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Parish in Freeburg, IL.   Please join your fellow Leaders in faith! 

Romans 1: 12: “What I mean is that both you and I will be helped at the same time, you by my faith and I by yours.”

De Colores and Peace!

John I Schaberg

Spiritual Director

Spiritual Director – December 2019

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“Let them grow together until harvest….”  Matthew 13:30

This passage reminds us of our Christian faith’s more challenging demand – being patient with one another.   As we are often painfully aware, we walk with and share lives with both those who live by faith and share our Christian values as well as with those who do not.   A challenge to be sure, but yet an opportunity at the same time.  These are opportunities to live out our baptismal call, to grow in faith, and to introduce others, by our words and actions, to the joys we have found in Jesus. 

We recognize the need for patience through the study of our environments, we grow in holiness by exercising it, and we show others the way of Christ by embracing it.  Our piety is on full display in our struggle for patience.  Our unsettled world needs us to embrace the struggle.  From patience grows humility, compassion, and peace. 

We may think of patience as a passive effort, but, as we all know, being patient with others, and the disappointments we face is often not easy – it’s hard work.  We ask for God’s grace to help us to be patient, to live in harmony with all, loving and charitably helping those in need of His care and mercy. 

The Christmas Season and the holiday festivities are now behind us.  But the Joy of a fresh awareness of God with us in the Nativity, in the Magi’s journey, and in our Lord’s own baptism lives on – May they remain through the New Year. 

As Cursillistas filled with renewed spirit, let us enter this new decade of 2020 with hope for a more patient, peaceful, and just world. 

De Colores! 

Deacon Wayne

Lay Director Spiritual Director

Lay Director – December 2019

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Welcome to our newest Cursillistas from Belleville Women’s Cursillo #42, and a big thank you to the Cursillo Team led by Cheryl Rajski!   Women’s Cursillo #42 was the first Cursillo to be held at the King’s House Retreat Center in recent memory.  Weekend #42 was also our first Cursillo under the new Step-by-Step Guide.  Despite the new format, all reports from both the candidates and team members indicated that the Cursillo was a huge success demonstrating that we can deliver high-quality Cursillos at the King’s House.  I believe that we are the first diocese in Region IV to hold a Cursillo using the new Step-by-Step Guide.

A final decision has not been made on whether to continue using the King’s House for Cursillo weekends or return to Ruma in the Fall of 2020.  We have reservations at both places for 2020 but we are still working through the details.  

I am pleased to announce that Bernadette Charlton has been selected to join the Region IV Service Team….an excellent choice.  She will be a big asset to the Cursillo Movement in Region IV.   Bernadette welcomes your insights, comments, and suggestions on any Cursillo topic.  She will carry your input to both Regional and National Encounters and return with appropriate feedback.

Love, Joy, Peace, and De Colores!

Bob McCormack

School of Leaders

School of Leaders – September 2019

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We have learned some new words in School of Leaders this summer!  It IS a School, right? 

One of those words is “Mañanitas!”  Another word we knew before, but failed to appreciate, is “Charism.”  Now, why are these words important?  The Cursillo Movement in our Diocese is changing for the better – to reshape our Fourth Day to fit the original “Charism” of Eduardo Bonin – the gifts he was given by the Grace of God, and the gifts he shared with the Church in the Cursillo Movement about 75 years ago.  To meet his original vision, we are adapting our Three-Day Weekend, our Precursillo and Postcursillo in compliance with guidance from the National Cursillo Secretariat.  It is eye-opening to see how much deeper and more meaningful our Movement can be – beyond candlelight dinners and stand-up art critics!

So . . .  “Mañanitas?”  (Midwestern pronunciation:  mon -ya- nee- tas)  You’ll just have to pay attention and join the Fourth Day in an early morning (rooster-crowing early!) serenade to our newest Cursillistas on Sunday, October 27, at 7:10 a.m. at King’s House Retreat Center.  We’ve never tried this before, but, believe it or not, this is a part of the Weekend that impressed Mr. Bonin as part of the Charism of Cursillo.  Watch your “PrayersRequested” emails for details.

Our School of Leaders will meet on October 8, and November 12, 2019, at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Parish in Freeburg, IL.   Please join your fellow Leaders in these challenges! 

Romans 1: 12: “What I mean is that both you and I will be helped at the same time, you by my faith and I by yours.”

De Colores and Peace!

John I Schaberg

Lay Director

Lay Director – September 2019

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In the last Evangelizer, I mentioned new guidance being downward directed to the Cursillo Movement by Eduardo Bonin and his staff in Mallorca.  These updates are aimed at aligning the US Cursillo with the original Cursillo concepts put in place 50 years ago, which was to bring people closer to God through mutual support and friendship.    We appreciate how this strikes a sensitive cord with many of us who are very passionate about Cursillo.  We have had long and thoughtful conversations in the School of Leaders and Secretariat meetings concerning how to handle these issues. Some parts of the Weekend have been deemphasized or eliminated in favor of increased time or emphasis on other parts.  For example, we will no longer have a Cursillo theme and poster.  Cursillo is the theme and the poster is the same picture of Jesus that is in the office of Eduardo Bonin.   The Weekend will now allow more time for spiritual direction and reflection.  Plans to meet and know candidates prior to the Cursillo will be made.  Candidates will become Cursillistas and receive their crosses earlier in the Weekend to emphasize that we are all Cursillistas and one body in Christ.  Cheryl Rajski, the Rectora for the next Women’s Cursillo, which will be held October 24-27, 2019, at the King’s House, has been leading the effort to identify the new Step-by-Step procedures and how to include them in the Cursillo Weekend Schedule and activities.  

At the local level, we are in the process of moving the Weekends from the spring to the fall. Relocation to the fall was made because support from priests and deacons during Lent and Easter has been increasingly difficult.  This move has received strong support by nearly everyone.  As a part of the change in season, we also have considered a change in venue from ASC Ruma to the King’s House.  We currently have Cursillos scheduled at both the King’s House and at ASC Ruma for the fall of 2020.  Terry Kostel, the Three-Day Chair, and I have had some very positive discussions with the ASC Leadership in Ruma about hosting our Cursillos.  They have offered some good suggestions on how we can better use their facilities.  In addition, the feedback from the Women’s Cursillo, which will be held at the King’s House this October, will help to finalize the decision on location.  The Cursillo Weekend venue is still an open issue that will require further discussion.

 I ask the entire Cursillo community to keep an open mind.  The road ahead has been well thought out and approached with caution and should have a positive effect on our Cursillo program in the future. 

Love, Joy, Peace, and De Colores!

Bob McCormack

Spiritual Director

Spiritual Director – September 2019

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May God, the source of our hope, fill your hearts with peace as you believe in Him.  Romans 15:13

We all have those times in our lives when things just seem to be in turmoil, or we are preoccupied over some conflict or task that seems to use up too much of our energy.  In a fast-paced world, where taking time to slow down isn’t in keeping with meeting the demands of the day, turmoil and conflict can take hold of our daily agendas.  It is in these times when we need an example of a disciple at peace, a witness of trust.  We have such an example in Mary.  Her heart was filled with peace as she put her total trust in God.

The Second Vatican Council teaches us that Mary, “While leading an ordinary life among men, one filled with family concerns and labors, she was always, and constantly united to her Son, and cooperated singularly with the work of the Savior in a manner altogether special.” (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, No 4.)

In this Marian month of October, we turn to Our Lady of the Rosary for her constant help and source of peace.  The rosary gives us a quick study on the Gospel of Christ, and a reminder of who brought God’s saving grace to the world.  In her life she was at peace in her unwavering care and devotion to her Son, even at the foot of the cross—without question, that’s peace in time of turmoil and conflict!  Let us never cease asking for her intercession to the one who is the Prince of Peace.  There’s Palanca in every bead.

De Colores!

Deacon Wayne

School of Leaders

School of Leaders – June 2019

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We have had some lively and thoughtful conversations in School of Leaders so far this year.  A giant THANK YOU to all of the 4th Day who have come to share and listen!

The National Cursillo Movement has published an article on its Website that not only sheds light on the School of Leaders, but also offers an encouraging “warm-and-fuzzy” about the “Leaders.”  It is really a “School of Thought,” where we come together to “explore and deepen” our understanding, and gain wisdom and insight from each other.  These are people who “want to understand the WHY of things. . . . They do not teach by preaching but rather by being living witnesses to the very essence of the Charism.”  The School is a “group of friends,” where we deepen our own understanding of our own role as leaders in our Environments.  “The School of Leaders is first and foremost, a School of Listening, not teaching.”  As a group of friends, our service to others flows from friendship. When we put something into Action, it is no longer a service, a chore, but an act of love.  “Secretariat and School of Leaders: Reaching a Unity of Purpose and Understanding,” John Ciliberti, Region VI English Coordinator, August 18, 2018. https://www.natl-cursillo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Unity-of-Purpose-Understanding.pdf

So, there you have it.  We listen, we learn.  We learn, we act. We act, we love.

Our School of Leaders will meet on July 9 (in the Parish Center), August 13(in the Parish Center), and September 10(location TBD), 2019, at 7 p.m.,at St. Joseph’s Parish in Freeburg, IL.   Please join your fellow Leaders! 

Romans 1: 12: “What I mean is that both you and I will be helped at the same time, you by my faith and I by yours.”

De Colores and Peace!

John I Schaberg