The Leaders School of The Cursillo Movement

Of The Savannah Diocese

Savannah, Georgia

PRECURSILLO - SESSION # 3 PREPARATION OF THE CANDIDATE.

References:

1. (FI) Fundamental Ideas of The Cursillo Movement, 1992, Chap. V, para 230-238.

2. (LM) Leaders Manual, 1998, Chap. 9, 82-85.

3. (3-D) 3-Day Manual, 1999,Developing Christian Community Within our Environments pp 167-175.

4. (SOL) How To Program A School of Leaders, pub #714, 1983. Pp 35-37.

In review, Pre-Cursillo consists of four primary functions:

1. Selection of the environment.

2. Selection of key person.

3. Preparation of the candidate.

4. The invitation to live the three days.

In the previous lessons we focused on Selecting environments and selecting key persons. This lesson will focus on the Preparation of the candidate. Do we need to go over the "key person" issues of 1.Who should go vs 2. Who can go vs 3. Who should not go???? If not then let’s proceed.

Goals:

It is absolutely necessary to prepare the candidate adequately. The paramount

importance is that the preparation helps the candidate 1. benefit from the Cursillo and that the cursillo benefits from the candidate and 2. that the candidate joins a Group Reunion and ultreya in the Postcursillo community.

When a friendship is established with those you selected, explain to your friend enthusiastically the reason for Cursillo in such a way that they, too, will become enthusiastic about it. "Make a friend, be a friend and bring that friend to Christ". Since those christian friends are interested in becoming more of a christian person, it is desireable and necessary that they see the Cursillo Movement as a means for attaining their desire.

In this way, they will already be Cursillistas by desire before attending their Cursillo weekend. If they are not interested either in becoming more of a person, or more of a Christian, or in their own sanctity, it would be much better for them not to attend a Cursillo weekend.

Responsibilities:

The ultreya is ultimately responsible for candidate preparation, so it is important that the one person concept for preparation be put aside so that the community will participate.

Agents of the preparation:

The preparation of each candidate will be done by a sponsor. Preferably this will be a group or community, but when this is not possible, the sponsor can be an individual. Ask your Reunion Group to help you and ask the Ultreya as well. A group can support the candidate better because the living witness of the community adds so much life to the effectiveness of the preparation. Doing so models the workings of the community. Ideally the candidate would be already living in a community conducive to reunion with other cursillistas in the Postcursillo. Invite and strongly encourage the candidate to share your Reunion group and Ultreya.

Sponsors :

Whether a group, a community, or an individual, whoever is responsible for enrolling and preparing the candidate - the following is expected of the sponsor:

1. That the evangelistic purpose of Cursillo Movement is understood.

2. The environments that have been selected and prioritized for evangelization are known, and

3. the basic criteria as to who can, who should, and who should not make a Cursillo is understood, and that they be well enough acquainted with their candidate, through close personal contact to be able to discern their candidates true disposition, and

4. that as "servants of the truth" they try, through their witness of the Word and of life, to awaken in their candidate an attitude of openness to inquiry, to friendship, and to change; and

5. that in cases where the sponsor is an individual, that person should be an active member of a reunion group, so as to help the candidate by example to become incorporated into a group of christians, while accompanying the candidate for a reasonable length of time in the Postcusillo.

Preparation Objectives:
  1. Make it clear that Cursillo is a real lived experience by those who did it,
  2. that it is oriented toward the Church, toward community, toward real life, not a theoretical approach;

3. Create a predisposition toward listening, to foster a readiness for conversion, and to ignite a desire for God;

4. Awaken the desire to find fulfillment as a person and as a Christian.

Ways of making the preparation:

1. Pray and make sacrifices for each candidate. Candidate preparation should begin by praying to God about man before talking to man about God.

2. Show respect for the identity and freedom of each person, and

3. promote dialogue about the need to build a new social order that is more just and familial, one that is founded on the inviolable dignity of the human person;

4. Present Christianity as a valid answer to the specific dilemmas new circumstances are forcing on people and present Christ as the model of grace and service, and of liberation and solidarity;

5. Do this presentation by word of mouth, and by one's personal testimony of a life centered on Christ and involvement with one's brothers and sisters;

6. Do all this with the humility of one who sees another person not as an object of apostolic endeavor, but as the subject of your own conversion (being humble, showing the love of Christ);
  1. This is to be done with patience, not hurried or in a coercive way, which would only generate a defensive attitude, but taking all the time necessary for pre-evangelization to sow the seeds that will later on grow into a total option, allow the Holy Spirit to bring this together for you.

 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion the Cursillo Movement is the work of God, and therefore grace is its first principle and its very foundation. But it is also the work of human beings, and therefore it needs to be supported and energized by the community--- people.

In light of the fact that grace is absolutely essential for every movement whose purpose is Christianization, a Cursillo weekend is never to be celebrated without an adequate spiritual foundation. "Make a friend be a friend and bring that friend to Christ". Profound communion with God, acquired through palanca (prayer, sacrifice), reception of the sacraments, and reflection on the Word, will mark every moment of the Cursillo: First, from the selection and study of environments on which the Cursillo Movement will place special emphasis; then secondly that of the searching out, the selecting, and the preparing of leaders for those environments; and lastly that of preparation of a team of leaders who will, with humility, give witness to these future evangelizers of their own constant struggles to construct the Kingdom of God in the world.

In the Precursillo, therefore, as in the other two stages of the Cursillo Movement, the last word is always that of faith and hope in the presence of the Lord who is with us yesterday, today, and forever. Our Lord is with us always we only need to recognize Him here in all that we do.