References for
the CURSILLO Movement
by Popes & Bishops

 

 

Pope John Paul II
July 29, 2000 Jubilee Address to Cursillistas, Rome

    “Your presence here, so varied and festive, shows that the tiny seed planted in Spain more than 50 years ago has become a great tree laden with fruits of the Spirit.  Indeed, it continues to be a successful response to the question asked by my venerable Predecessor Pope Paul VI at the first world Ultreya in Rome: ‘Can the Gospel still win over the mature person ... in urban and rural cultures?’  You transform the world by becoming new men and women.  I am therefore delighted to join in your thanksgiving to the Lord for all He has done and never ceases to do in the Church through the Cursillos de Cristiandad.  The theme of this world Ultreya – Evangelizing the Milieus of the Third Millennium: A ‘Challenge’ for the Cursillos de Cristiandad – demonstrates your efforts to repropose the experience of Christ to the men and women of the 21st century with new means and enthusiasm.  This has become ever more urgent, since whole countries and nations, where religion and the Christian life were formerly flourishing and capable of fostering a viable and working community of faith, are now put to a hard test ... as a result of the constant spread of indifference to religion, of secularism and atheism.”
    “In view of this situation which challenges believers to remake the Christian fabric of the ecclesial community, the Cursillo method aims at helping to transform in a Christian way the milieus where people live and work through the involvement of ‘new men and women’ who have become such from their encounter with Christ.  This is the goal of the three-day ‘little course’ on Christianity, in which a team of priests and lay people, supported by the prayer and sacrifices of the movement’s other members, communicate the fundamental truths of the Christian faith in an especially ‘living’ way.  When presented in this way, the message of Christ almost always opens participants in a Cursillo to the gift of conversion and to a deeper awareness of the Baptism they have received and of their own mission in the Church.  They feel called to be the prophetic ‘leaven’ which is kneaded into the dough so that the whole mass will rise to be the ‘salt of the earth’ and the ‘light of the world’ to proclaim to everyone they meet that only in Jesus Christ is there salvation and that it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear.”
    “ ... This is your apostolate, carried out in constant harmony with the Church, to show the ‘strength of communion’ which is at once the style and the very essence of the People of God.  As you face the various forms of individualism which fragment and divide your evangelizing ability and resources, join your missionary forces with those of the various ecclesiastical groups raised up by the Spirit in the Church of our time.  Endeavor to restore the beauty of the first Christian communities, which prompted pagans to say with admiration: ‘See how they love one another!’  And always be docile to the directives of the Magisterium.  No charism, in fact, dispenses you from referring and submitting to the Pastors of the Church, whose discernment is a guarantee of fidelity for the charism, itself.  May the Jubilee celebration instill in all of you a renewed fidelity to your original inspiration and a firmer ecclesial communion.  Many people are looking to you for the light of faith.”
    “... During the days of a Cursillo, the words of [a] popular Spanish song help the participants to reflect on the multifaceted beauty of creation.  In encountering Christ, you have learned to look with new eyes at others and at nature, at everyday events and at life in general.  You have experienced that true happiness is found in following the Lord.  This personal and community experience must be passed on to others.  Many men and women of our time, who unfortunately turn away from God, expect from you the light of faith that will help them rediscover the colors of life and the happiness of feeling loved by God.”

Pope John Paul II
July 29, 2000 Jubilee Address to Cursillistas, Rome
 

Pope Paul VI
May 28, 1966 Address to First World Ultreya, Rome

    "Cursillos 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.”
    "Cursillos de Cristiandad!  Christ, the Church, the Pope, are counting on you!"

Pope Paul VI
May 28, 1966 Address to First World Ultreya, Rome
 

Bishop Paul Bootkoski (Bishop of Metuchen New Jersey)

    “I am very happy to recommend the Cursillo Movement for your serious consideration.  This Movement has a history of fine accomplishments in recent Catholic circles, where it appears to have borne wonderful fruit in the spiritual lives of many people.  Those who are Cursillistas are certainly the kind of people whom one finds energetically promoting the cause of Christ and His Church in many parts of the world.”
   

“I ask God to bless the Cursillo Movement, and, if it is your good fortune to make a Cursillo, to bless you in that undertaking.”