SAN BERNARDINO DIOCESE ENGLISH CURSILLO

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In reflection I was looking at the events of the last couple years including the celebration of 50 years of the Cursillos in Christianity Movement, the passing of our founder, Eduardo Bonin, the National Encounter in San Bernardino, and the World Ultreya in Anaheim.  It all seemed like a blur, especially the most recent National Encounter and World Ultreya.

We, of course, were the hosts for the National Encounter held at Cal Sate San Bernardino.  I want to first thank Our Lord for allowing these events to come off well and be a real praise of His presence and His life in us and our sister and brother Cursillistas.  The love we have for God and for each other were obviously present at the National Encounter.  If we have one challenge it is to keep that obvious love and faith alive and visible as we encounter our normal lives in our particular environments. 

Next I want to personally thank everyone who had anything to do with the planning and implementation of the National Encounter.  Everyone involved from all three cultures, Spanish, Filipino, and English did their part above and beyond expectations.  In fact it was this sharing of responsibilities and working together that really made things come off so well.  I can’t count the number of times someone from another part of the country said how welcome, well taken care of, and loved they felt.

Finally I would like to thank all those Cursillistas associated with the OMCC, and those in Los Angeles and Orange counties from all the different cultures that made the World Ultreya at the Anaheim Convention Center a tremendous event and expression of the Cursillos in Christianity world wide.  Again our biggest challenge is to keep that love and faith alive and visible as we live our normal lives in our particular environments worldwide.

I would like to challenge everyone reading this letter to do three things:

1. Find one Cursillista you know who isn’t active with Cursillo and invite that individual to join you at the School of Leaders to learn more about our Movement and the Charism of our Movement.

2. Find someone to pray about and make a friend, be a friend with that individual, bring that friend to Christ, and if the Holy Spirit wants, bring that friend to Cursillo. 

3. Do Palanca.  If we all do these three things we, with the Holy Spirit, will make a real difference.

Please mark your calendars for the Multicultural Mass and Grand Ultreya which will be celebrated on Saturday, November 7, 2009, at Our Lady of the Desert in Apple Valley starting with Mass at 9:00 AM sharp and concluding with Ultreya and lunch.

Please remember in your prayers your brother and sister Cursillistas, those new Cursillistas and all those who have gone on to their fifth day.  We certainly need each other’s support and prayer to help bring the message of Jesus Christ to the environments where we are planted.

God Bless You All,

Bill Thurin

Lay Director