Spiritual Director’s Message Men’s Weekend News Reflections From A Retired Cursillista 4th Day Chair Message Spotlight on Apostolic Action—Holy Grill of St Nicholas Spotlight on Apostolic Action—Holy Re-deemer Food Pantry EWC #111 Message From the Editor Cursillo Calendar Grand Ultreya
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 10
Inside this issue:
Greetings and blessings one and
all! I hope everyone has been en-
joying the wonderful days of sum-
mer.
My husband, Bob, and I have had
an amazing summer with a mission
trip to Belize; a vacation to New-
foundland to visit people Bob met
during the 9/11 tragedy and then
just very recently the birth of our
second granddaughter, Payton.
Our hearts are full and we are
grateful.
Through the events of this summer,
I continue to be amazed by God's
weaving of our lives. Bob and I have
enjoyed mission work together for
years and this year Belize was no
exception.
In Newfoundland, I got to see the
places Bob unexpectedly went to in
Gander and Gambo, Newfoundland
as he was coming home on an
American Airlines plane from Paris
and diverted to Newfoundland due
to the closing of our borders.
The townspeople were welcoming
and made every effort to take care
of their guests.
I met these folks - Ted and Holly
and Graham and Maxine and nu-
merous oth-
ers.
I was
touched by
God's
blessings in
a foreign
land and
among peo-
ple, I had
never met
before.
And then, Payton was born and our
family found new love and grew a
bit bigger. Moreover, God contin-
ues to teach me how to love.
For me, this abundance of joy and
gratefulness was a direct result of
Cursillo. My walk with Christ picked
up the pace because of my week-
end. Having Jesus with me sharing
this journey gives me cause for
hope and joy. Then, the icing on
the cake - the friendships that have
been forged through our Cursillo
community and diocese.
Our next Cursillo event is a Men's
Weekend coming up October 6th
through 9th. We need pilgrims.
Please prayerfully consider spon-
soring
Lay Director’s Message
Fall 2016 Volume 1, Issue 4
The Official On-line Publication for the Episcopal Cursillo® Move-ment of the Diocese of Southeast Florida — Published Quarterly
continued on page 8
Fall 2016 Page 2
Throughout the weekend the
Holy Spirit infuses love into the
Pilgrim’s environment and the
heart begins its transformation
into a new understanding of
God’s purposes and ways.
At the Closura a new creation
emerges, wearing the same
shell, celebrated and sent out
proclaiming the love of Jesus to
a waiting world.
I have not met one Pilgrim who
was not anxious anticipating the
transition from their present
weekly routine to the vast un-
known of the Cursillo Weekend!
I have met only a very few who,
after attending the weekend,
have not had their hearts trans-
formed into the deeper experi-
ence and love of God in Jesus.
I suggest to you sisters and
brothers that the Cursillo Week-
end, combined with the faithful
and sacrificial commitments of
the Cursillo community, are cer-
tain and powerful instruments of
evangelism.
Within the tool box of Grace the
Episcopal Church has in her
storehouse, I rate the Cursillo
experience as the most powerful
means of transformative evan-
gelism we posses, following that
of the Holy Scriptures and the
Sacraments.
We are charged by Christ to use
these and other gifts of the Spirit
to benefit God’s people!
Every morning upon our awak-
ening we are to remind our-
selves of this Divine fact. If we
so choose to enter the daily dis-
cipleship of Jesus we must ask,
“Am I really, really deciding to
show Jesus to the world as I live
this day? Do I really, really ask
Jesus to take all that I am and
use it for His purposes?”
If we each can say “Amen” to
these questions, you and I can
rest assured God is doing a
greater thing through us and for
the world than we could either
ask or imagine!
Aren’t holy transitions great?
With God’s Love,
Fr. Bernie Pecaro †
De Colores Dear Cursillistas of
the Diocese,
This past month Sylvia and I
took our son, John William, to
Tuskegee University, Alabama,
to begin his collegiate career.
Many of you know the feeling of
seeing your last child depart the
nest and begin a new life outside
the parental and protective care
we have provided. It is for us,
and perhaps for you, a time of
relief and joy. But there are also
the certain feelings of sadness
as we live into a new transition.
Life is filled with many transi-
tions. Some of those experi-
ences are overflowing with joy
and splendor, like the celebration
of a marriage, or the birth of a
child. Others are shrouded in
blankets of sorrow and grief like
the death of a beloved family
member, or friend. Transitions by
their very nature raise our fear
and anxiety. Transition means
change and change, joyous or
difficult, threatens our level of
personal comfort.
When transition leads into the
spiritually enlightened state of
transformation there we find at
work Actual Grace. The Cursillo
experience is one such special
avenue of God’s Grace. There,
the work of transition meets the
spiritually enlightened state of
transformation and a new and
holy beginning is born.
Here’s how I see it working. The
Pilgrim responds to Grace and
says, “I’m going!” S/he attends
the Send Off and the transition is
begun.
Spiritual Director’s Message
“I rate the Cursillo experi-
ence as the most powerful
means of transformative
evangelism we posses,
following that of the Holy
Scriptures and the Sacra-
ments.”
EMC #93 October 6—9, 2016
My name is Douglas Jackson. I
worship at Church of the Ascen-
sion in Miami. I attended EMC
#80 where I sat at the table of St.
Luke!!
The team for EMC #93 is in place. It was not an easy job, but with faith and prayers all things are possible. The team meetings have been going quite good. The first critique was awesome. The talks were great and both cri-tiquers Mr. Anthony Simons and Ms. Brenda McGintis were im-pressed by the talks. It would be a real pity if there are no pilgrims in the room to hear these talks.
We’re appealing to the Cursillo community to make an effort to look around their church par-ishes for some good men, who would benefit from a spiritual journey to walk and talk with Je-sus Christ over the weekend. We only have six weeks remaining before the start of the weekend. I am also asking that you keep the team in your daily prayers and also the pilgrims that will be at-tending the weekend.
We are also encouraging the servant community to start work-ing on their Palanca. These gifts are usually beautiful and they warm the hearts of those receiv-ing them. But most of all prayer palanca is very important to the success of the weekend.
Below is a list of donations we hope to receive for the weekend.
90 Placemats for Friday evening with scripture reading.
90 Placemats for Saturday eve-ning.
60 Pilgrims Guide covers
Prayer chain.
Number of items:
90 Dining Room Palanca
90 Pillow Palanca for Pilgrims & Team
60 Rollo Room Palanca
42 Pilgrims Pillow Palanca
Please remember to include a 3”x 5” index card with a descrip-tion of the Palanca, how many, weather it is for pillow palanca, dining or Rollo room etc. Name of church, reunion groups or indi-viduals giving the Palanca.
The logo for the weekend is available on the Cursillo website at http:/www.sef-cursillo.org. It can be downloaded.
SNACKS TO SERVE OUTSIDE DURING BREAKS & COFFEE.
Apples, bananas, grapes, or-anges, nutri-bars, cheese, crack-
ers etc.
Snacks for the Rollo Room.
Granola bars, Pretzels, miniature chocolates, mints, mixed nuts.
Desserts
Friday Noon and dinner, Satur-day Noon and dinner and also Sunday Noon.
Drinks
Apple juice, Cranberry juice, Ice tea (sweet & unsweet), 2-liter sodas and gallon bottles of wa-ter. (No individual cans or bottles please).
Wines for Saturday night (red only) and non-alcoholic Spar-kling Cider or Grape Juice.
The Cha-Cha’s responsible for the receiving and monitoring the gifts are listed below. Please make an effort to contact them.
General Palanca Cha:
Hugh Gilchrist, [email protected] (305-793-6002)
Food Palanca Cha:
WWWEEEEEEKKKEEENNNDDD NNNEEEWWWSSS
continued on page 8
Page 3 Counting On You
Fall 2016 Page 4
which to store the beds and all of
the equipment used during the
Cursillo weekend.
And we don’t need a very large
team of volunteers to setup, run,
cook, serve, and take down, and
repack the semi-van for the next
weekend.
We don’t “rough it” like we used
to but the essentials of the Cur-
sillo weekend are there.
It was the best opportunity in
town to encounter Jesus Christ
and experience him in the wider
community of the church but
Cursillo had her faults, most of
which have been corrected over
the years.
There was too much secrecy and
some tendency toward rigidity
during those early days such as
don’t tell anyone anything at all
about what you experienced and
men had to go first.
When I was Spiritual Director un-
der Bishop Schofield, we did
away with most of these ele-
ments which impeded the procla-
mation of the true message of
Cursillo, New Life in Jesus
Christ.
I am Bryan Hobbs. I attended
Men’s Cursillo #9 in 1976 or
1977, where I sat at the table of
St. Luke at St. Stephen’s
Church, Coconut Grove (that’s
where all of the Cursillos were
held in those days.)
I didn’t go voluntarily.
I was coerced by Fr. Leo Alard,
then rector of St. John’s Church,
Homestead and later the Bishop
Suffragan in the Diocese of
Texas.
Since I had only been ordained
for little over a year and Leo was
one of the senior clergy, I de-
cided to go since it was sort of
go or “I’ll kill you!’ invitation. I
took Leo at his word and went.
Needless to say, I liked it. It was
not the first time I had been to a
wonderful renewal event but be-
ing an extravert and accustomed
to such events, I loved it from the
moment of the opening prayers
and the joyful singing.
Bunking with 50 snoring partici-
pants in St. Stephen’s parish hall
was a thrill as was adjusting to
the makeshift showers.
But all in all, my Cursillo week-
end was very moving and cre-
ated bonds that have lasted over
40 years.
Well, lots have happened to the
Cursillo Movement in the dio-
cese. We no longer use
churches to house our Cursillo
weekends.
We no longer have a semi-van in
As a priest in Key West and then
in Pembroke Pines, I recruited
as many people as possible to
make their Cursillo.
Many did and they became the
leaders of our churches.
The recruiting and training of po-
tential leaders is one of the key
elements of any church that
wishes to experience the dy-
namic presence of Jesus Christ.
There are many, many additional
methods of experiencing Jesus
Christ as the Living Lord (trust
me…I discovered and employed
many – Discovery Weekend, Re-
treats, Quiet Days, Mission
Trips, etc.) but this was the one
approach that allowed a diverse
group of “seekers” to experience
the presence of Jesus Christ in a
much larger context than their
individual lives or as a member
of one congregation.
Cursillo opened the doors for
new and exciting ways to serve
Jesus Christ while preserving the
basic elements of our faith as
experienced in the Anglican
Communion.
Quite frankly, the congregations
that I served for over 40 years
Reflections From A Retired Cursillista
By The Ven. Dr. Bryan A. Hobbs, Archdeacon (Retired)
continued on next page
“I didn’t go voluntarily.
I was coerced by Fr.
Leo Alard. Needless to
say, I liked it. ”
Page 5 Counting On You
and speakers rounds out a very
worthwhile event. Hope to see
many of you folks there!
On November 5th the Grand Ul-
treya will take place at St. Mary
Magdalene in Coral Springs. We
are all very excited about this
happening!
The St. M&M committee has
been working hard in preparation
for this joyous event.
Please encourage your parish
communities, especially your
newest Cursillistas, to attend.
The Grand Ultreya is a wonderful
way to reenergize ourselves as
we live through our 4th Day.
As 4th Day Chair I have been
spending more time talking with
folks about the kinds of apostolic
action and other 4th Day activities
that are taking place around our
diocese.
I have heard some of the most
amazing stories and witnessed
many generous acts of kindness.
De Colores Cursillistas!
I hope everyone has been hav-
ing a blessed and relaxing sum-
mer!
As we move into our fall season
activity starts to rev-up again
with work, meetings, projects
and events.
In our Cursillo community we
have 3 major events coming up
on our calendar.
The EMC #93 will be held on
Oct. 6-9 with Douglas Jackson
serving as Rector.
Pray for the pilgrims and team
and get your palanca ready!
On October 21-22 the Episcopal
Cursillo Ministry will hold its Na-
tional Conference on Long Is-
land, New York.
The National Conference is a
wonderful way to meet Cursillis-
tas from many different dioceses
and learn how other communities
work to bring friends to Christ.
The diversity of the workshops
4th Day Chair Message By Karen Weeks
Please share these stories and
moments with our community by
submitting a short article (or long
one!) with a photo/s to COY.
You can read one terrific story in
this issue written by veteran Cur-
sillistas Jim and Kathy Barnette.
Just email Jim Wells and let him
know you’re contributing.
Hopefully we will come to know
better the awesome work that is
taking place for our Lord.
In His Service,
Karen Weeks
Cursillo continues to evolve as it
should; leaders change, sched-
ules are adjusted from time to
time, and there are always new
songs to help us worship and
become unified in the expression
of our faith.
But the essence of Cursillo…
forming at tables, sharing our
faith, hearing the stories of our
leaders, shedding our burdens,
rejoicing with tears, and celebrat-
ing our life in Jesus Christ – will
never change.
Archdeacon Bryan
Hobbs † (Retired)
Cursillista Reflections (Continued from previous page) would not have experienced the
excitement of serving Jesus
Christ in so many ways if it had
not been for the Cursillo experi-
ence.
And the real plume at the core of
my experience in Cursillo has
been the many friendships I have
found and maintained for so
long.
These I truly cherish.
Page 6
Join the Cursillo Email List
SEF Cursillo has a new and improved way for communications via email through MailChimp.
To join the distribution list for regular communications, just send your email address to Hum-
phrey Braaf at [email protected] and he will add you.
Fall 2016
Feeling a call to move outside
church walls and beyond the
boundaries of fixed sites, St
Nicholas Church in Pompano
Beach is launching an exciting
new mobile feeding ministry that
will provide spirit-lifting
hot meals to the home-
less.
The parish purchased a
food trailer, which they
have named The Holy
Grill of St. Nicholas.
Initially, The Holy Grill
intends to offer breakfast
packaged in biodegrad-
able paper containers in
order to minimize the car-
bon footprint of this min-
istry. Soon dinners will
be provided, also.
While the primary mis-
sion of The Holy Grill of St.
Nicholas is to serve hot, spirit-
lifting meals to the homeless,
disaster relief is an ancillary min-
istry. So should a hurricane
strike anywhere in the Diocese of
Southeast Florida, the Grill is
prepared to transport food and
water to the affected area.
The Holy Grill also intends to act
as a clearinghouse of information
about other resources and refer-
rals in an effort to mitigate some
of the harmful effects of home-
lessness and to reduce the over-
all problem in the community.
In August, Rev. R. Gerard
Klingenberg agreed to serve as
the Ministry Director for this feed-
ing program and Diane Wagner
agreed to serve as the Food Co-
ordinating Manager. The food
trailer was wrapped, clearly iden-
tifying it as a ministry of St.
Rule of Life: Spotlight on Apostolic ACTION
Holy Grill of St. Nicholas - Feeding Bodies & Souls
Nicholas
Episcopal
Church.
St Nicholas admits this ministry
will be a huge undertaking for a
small church. To succeed, it
needs Volun-
teers!!! The
church needs peo-
ple to pick up food
from various ven-
dors, stock the
pantry, prepare
daily meals in the
church kitchen, to
the trailer, and
serve food in the
trailer.
Volunteers of all
faiths or no faith
affiliation are wel-
come, provided
you have a caring heart for our
less fortunate brothers and sis-
ters.
Please contact Rev. Gerard
Klingenberg, at holy-
[email protected] or (954)
913-3594 for further information
or questions. Please spread the
word that St. Nicholas could use
your help.
Page 7 Counting On You
to learn enough Spanish to wel-
come and register them. I try to
learn a new helpful phrase or
question each week and it has
been an experience.
We are sharing this with you be-
cause we see this as true Apos-
tolic Action. We are doing what
Christ has told us to do. Go out
into the world and show His
love.
It is always more comfortable to
stay within your church family
and do things together.
We encourage you to keep doing
that. But we felt that Christ
wanted us
to broaden our service. Make
new friends, be a friend and
show the love of Christ is alive
and well on this planet, despite
the actions of some. We see
many of the same peo-
ple week after week and
we interact with them,
taking the time to learn a
little about them.
One of the ladies that
Kathy sees often told her
that she had to have a
breast biopsy. Kathy
checked her registration
card and sent her a note
saying she would be
praying for her.
The woman was greatly
touched and on her next
visit she went straight to Kathy
and gave her a big hug. We of-
ten see those in need respond-
ing gratefully to people like us
who take action .... “In a loving,
caring Christian way”
There is opportunity all around
you to share you love of
Christ. as always, you will re-
ceive far more than you give.
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in
Christ, we are Jim & Kathy
Barnette. We worship at Holy
Spirit Church in West Palm
Beach. We attended Episcopal
Men’s Cursillo #24 and Episco-
pal Women’s Cursillo #22
where we sat at the tables
of St. Paul and St. Marga-
ret.
Almost every Tuesday
morning for the past
seven years, We have
gone to Holy Redeemer in
Lake Worth to serve at
their food pantry. Kathy,
in fact, has been doing
this for many more
years. We join several
other members of Holy
Spirit each week.
Kathy’s job is to greet returning
people and register their atten-
dance before they join the line to
receive the food.
At first, I just handed out car-
rots, onions and potatoes.
When the “new people” registrar
left, I volunteered to take his
place. That meant I would have
Rule of Life: Spotlight on Apostolic ACTION
Holy Redeemer Food Pantry By Jim & Kathy Barnette
Page 8 Counting On You
EMC #93 News (Continued from page 3)
Time passes so fast and we all are very
busy.
God is Counting on You to help with the
next EMC #93 in October. The reunion
group I belong to has been working on
placemats and we have incorporated a
new baby chick into our reunion group.
Today we faxed in two applications for the
men's weekend. Please join me and en-
courage your men to go and be a part of
this incredible gift God has provided for all of us in this Diocese.
Blessings , Cheryl Rectora, EWC #111
Message from EWC #111
Paul Madeira, [email protected] (954-288-4946)
Thank you all in advance for your support of EMC # 93. Please follow the list on the Cursillo website as some of the above items has already been donated.
“The harvest is truly plenteous but the laborers are few……” Matt 9: 37-38.
God bless you all!
Douglas Jackson,
Rector- EMC #93
[email protected] 305-305-2650
someone. And, as always, please keep the weekend in your prayers.
We also have a Grand Ultreya fast approaching on November 5th at St. Mary Magdalene Episco-
pal Church in Coral Springs. Much planning is taking place and I encourage all to participate and bring a friend, even someone you may be thinking of sponsoring. This is an opportunity to come to-
gether as a diocesan community and spend time with our Lord and each other for spiritual nourish-
ment.
I look forward to seeing you at these upcoming events.
In His Love,
Pam Anderson
Lay Director’s Message (Continued from first page)
story in ancient Hebrew used
the word Abba for God —
Daddy, NOT Father. He en-
couraged us to seek that type
of closeness with our heavenly
Father on the weekend. And
we would find that his yoke IS
easy and His burden light.
Our Rector, Douglas, has cho-
sen a new song for his week-
end that promises to be an in-
stant favorite to all who hear it.
But the weekend needs help in
recruiting pilgrims.
Please search your hearts and
minds for men who might be
looking to improve their faith
journey and walk closer to
Christ.
Remember that we are to talk
to God and our rectors about
those men, BEFORE talking to
the men about Cursillo.
I also need your help to share
your stories about how Cursil-
listas are living out their 4th
Days with Apostolic Actions.
And, I
am
looking
for input
from the
Com-
munity
on the
origins
of the Men’s & Women’s
Mighty Bands of God and on
how Cursillo weekends worked
before they were conducted at
the Duncan Center.
De colores,
Jim Wells [email protected]
From The Editor By Jim Wells
My Dear Brothers and Sisters
in Christ, I write to you after re-
turning from one of the last
Team Meetings for EMC #93
where we celebrated a Team
Mass, received our Commis-
sion and washed each other’s
feet.
What a moving set of experi-
ences.
Our Spiritual Director reminded
us that it was our sacred duty to
be Servants on the weekend.
That there was no more impor-
tant function for us as we had
the power to help effect life
changing transformations on
the Pilgrims on behalf of our
loving God.
And in the process, we might
also be transformed because
God is not through with us.
At the previous Team meeting,
Fr. Tom Graff read the portion
of gospel when Jesus speaks
about being as innocent as chil-
dren. He pointed out that the
October 6-9 2016 Episcopal Men’s Cursillo
Weekend #93, Duncan Center, Delray Beach
November 5, 2016 Grand Ultreya, Central
Sector, St. Mary Magdalene in Coral Springs.
Is your parish hosting a 4th Day Celebration??
Let the Community know about it!
Share it here in C.O.Y.!!
Send your Announce-
ments, Fliers, Stories &
pictures to
See us on the Web
www.sef-cursillo.org
Cursillo Calendar
Page 9 Counting On You
Page 10 Counting On You