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Newsletter
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July/August 2008 Newsletter |
Contents
From the Lay Director
Hello my name is Keith Woodring and I began my journey in Cursillo, on men’s weekend # 37, In February of 1998. At St. Joseph in beautiful Fountain Colorado in the Diocese of Colorado Springs, and I sat at the table of St John of the cross.
I am humbled and honored to announce that I am the new lay director for the Cursillo movement in Colorado Springs. I look forward to serving you and Christ in the coming months.
For those of you who know me you are probably shocked that the Holy Spirit has called me to serve in this capacity. Me too! I promise that I will do the best I can to continue where Candy Milberg left off (what an act to follow!) and to continue to move Cursillo forward during my term.
During the last couple of months I have poured myself into study so I can understand the movement more fully. Candy was gracious enough to share all the information on Cursillo she has collected over the years. While I studied and muddled thru this information I came across many photos of Cusillistas. What a trip down memory lane. You guys and gals should see yourselves. What a hoot! What is troubling most is I know you are all still out there, but I don’t see you much anymore. Not at Ultreyas, or the picnics (which is coming up on August 3rd at Black Forest Regional Park, at 12 noon to whenever. Great fun!!!!!!! ) Okay that is a personal invite from me. I guess what I am saying is I miss you. That I was active and not active at times too, but when I got active again I liked seeing those familiar faces. I remember the beginning of my fourth day. The community turned out in masses with flowers and hugs for all. Just like it is supposed to happen. I was shocked that there were so many normal Catholics who had the same fire and love for Christ as me. I would like to see you again so please come to Ultreyas, the picnic, the retreat, or the closuras. Stay in touch as we are trying to get our mailing center for emails up and running better and we will make more contacts. I will close for now but keep watching for more additions of the newsletter to see what else is going on in your Cursillo movement.
Your Brother In Christ,
Keith Woodring
Lay Director
In this election year, both our United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Colorado Catholic Conference are encouraging voters to take their Catholicism with them into the voting place and vote Catholic values. Our Catholicism is like the lenses in pair of glasses through which we view our entire world. We shouldn’t leave that viewpoint at home when we go to vote.
The USCCB has some excellent information available through their website, www.usccb.org. Their voter education effort is called Faithful Citizenship and is available as a link from their home site or directly at www.faithfulcitizenship.org. One particularly worthwhile booklet on formation of conscience entitled “Formation of Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” is available at www.usccb.org/bishops/FCStatement.pdf. It also includes an excellent section entitled “Applying Catholic Teaching to Major Issues: A Summary of Policy Positions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.” We will be discussing that booklet at School of Leader’s in September.
The Colorado Catholic Conference is a combined effort of the Archdiocese of Denver, Diocese of Colorado Springs, and Diocese of Pueblo. They, too, encourage educated voting. Their website, www.cocatholicconference.org, contains not only election year specific materials but also ongoing information about legislation being considered by our state government. They include information on our Bishops’ collective position on pieces of state legislation and information on how to identify and contact your state legislators to express your personal opinion on legislation.
My father was a “Red Dog Republican.” He would have voted for a red dog if it were running on the Republican ticket. My mother was a “Red Dog Democrat.” For years they faithfully drove to the polls together, upped the voter turnout by two, and cancelled each other out in the final results. Pease vote your Catholic conscience, not necessarily your strict party line.
The Catholic Church does not endorse or recommend candidates. Some people mistakenly attribute this to fear of loss of our 501-C-3 (tax exempt) status. The true reason is much deeper than that. There is no “perfect” candidate from the Church standpoint. To endorse a candidate with many or most stated positions in agreement with the Church but some at odds with the Church would constitute endorsement of all that candidates positions. That is political. The Church is concerned with morality and ethics, not politics.
Please study the candidates and issues and be a well educated voter.
Deacon Ray
Spiritual Advisor
Candidate Application Status:
Women's Candidate Applications to date – 15. We will be setting the next weekend, as soon as we have a date I'll call the sponsors and let you know. If you would like me to call you when we pick a date (if you have applications to send in), let me know.
Men's Candidate Applications to date - 8. As soon as we get 7 more applications, we can set the next Men's weekend.
If you have identified a Candidate for either a Men's or Women's weekend, please take some time to fill out and mail the application to the Colorado Springs Cursillo P.O. Box (25655), OR get them to me (Ruth Snyder) by any means possible. Remember, Christ is counting on you!
Please be aware that if you have a candidate that would like to go, but cannot afford it, we do have partial and full scholarships available. Never let the cost be a reason why a candidate does not attend a weekend!
Cursillo sponsorship, candidate selection, application forms, etc., please contact me at apply@cscursillo.com or call me at 200-3136.
Please make sure to give your candidate the booklet "The Cursillo Movement - What Is It?". If you don't have any of the booklets, please let me know and I'll make sure you get one.
Candidate Applications are available On-Line. If you have any questions at all concerning Cursillo sponsorship, candidate selection, application forms, etc., please email me or call me at 200-3136.
Please make sure to give your candidate the booklet "The Cursillo Movement - What Is It?.” If you don't have any of the booklets, please let me know and I'll make sure you get one.
Your Sister in Christ,
Ruth Snyder, Precursillo coordinator
Cursillista brothers and sisters in Christ,
The women’s Cursillo #54 is scheduled for November 13 – 16 at John Wesley Ranch. By the grace of God it is filing up fast. We are blessed to be called to evangelize not only Colorado Springs candidates, but probably an equal number from Westcliff.
If you have a candidate, please hurry and submit the application as we foresee the possibility of having to limit the number of candidates. Please keep the team in your prayers during team formation.
Your sister in Christ,
Sharon Daniel
Hello to all my brothers and sisters in Christ,
Happy July!!!! This means it is time for our Annual Cursillo Picnic!!!! Sunday Aug 3 !!!! We will be meeting at the same place Black Forest Regional Park, pavilion #1. We will start at about 11:00 - 12:00. Please remember this is a picnic for everyone, family and friends!!! Do you have someone who might want to come and have a good time?? Please invite them. Bring your favorite dish to share. We will have water, lemonade and tea. We have fun things for children and adults to do, so come have fun and fellowship on your 4th Day. Can't wait to see you !!!!
I would like to ask those of you feeling the call to do service work to consider a position as 4th day coordinator. This position is open. It has a great committee following so you will not be alone as you take on the position. It consists of planning the fun things in Cursillo and helping everyone into their 4th Day!!! I have enjoyed this position very much but it is time to pass it on to someone new. Maybe you?? If you have any questions give me a call, email or contact the lay director and I will be happy to answer those questions.
Much Love from Your Sister In Christ
Kathy Woodring
4th Day Coordinator
July and August :: Summer break, see you in September! Your kin in Christ
Michael Fitzsimmons
An Announcement from our brothers and sisters in the Denver Archdiocese!!!
The Men’s Weekend that had been scheduled for the last weekend in May with Clausura on June 1st has been postponed so there can be more team formation. Please remember the LONG dry spell we went through a couple of years ago and pray for this part of our Movement. And, when the weekend takes place, consider joining some of us for a road trip to support the Clausura.
And from Vail Valley, everyone that has made a Cursillo weekend (in Colorado Springs) is grouping. They have regular Ultreyas and are recruiting more candidates to send to join us on our next weekend. Please keep these folks in your prayers as they try to discover what the Holy Spirit has in store for them. And understand the part our community has played in helping them get their community started! Never underestimate the power of PALANCA!!!
The 18th National Cursillo Encounter will be held July 31-August 3, 2008. The Encounter will be held at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC. Cost for the Encounter is $325.00 if registration is received by the National Cursillo Center by May 31, 2008. The cost increases to #375.00 for registrations received between June 1 and June 30, 2008, and to $425.00 for those received between July 1 and July 11. After July11, those running the Encounter can’t guarantee lodging. The registration fee covers transportation to and from Regan International Airport only, three nights lodging, dinner on Thursday evening, three meals on Friday and Saturday and breakfast on Sunday morning. Lodging capacity is 600 persons. Accommodations are two persons to a room and two rooms share a center bathroom. There are NO single rooms. There are three or four floors for each hall with stairs only. No elevators. There are a limited number of first floor rooms and a limited number of wheelchair accessible rooms. Lodging will be assigned on a first come, first served basis.
If you want to room with a specific person, the two Registration Forms must be mailed in the same envelope. If you want to see the layout of the Catholic University of America campus, check out their website at: http://visitors.cua.edu/CUAmap.pdf. The keynote speaker for the event is the Most Reverend Francisco Gonzalez, S.F. and the theme for the weekend is “Christ is Our Light.”
Social time: 7:45 am to 8:00 am. Ultreya: 8:00 am to 9:30 am.
Central (May 10, June 14, July 12, 2008) South (May 3, June 7, July 5, 2008)
Next Secretariat meeting: Monday, June 9, 2008 at 7pm in the Community Center at Divine Redeemer Church. All Cursillistas invited/welcome.