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January-February 2007
Calendar of Events
January 5-6, 2007 Practice Weekend,
January 6, 2007 Secretariat Meeting, St.
Mary School,
January 11-14,
2007 Men’s Weekend,
January 14, 2007 Men’s Closing, 5:00pm (4pm
Mass) St. Mary Church, David City, NE
January 18-21 2007 Women’s Weekend,
January 21, 2007 Women’s Closing, 5:00pm (4pm Mass) St.
Mary Church, David City, NE
February 10, 2007 Secretariat Meeting - 9:30am,
Location TBA (depends on Postcursillo Reunion)
February 10, 2007 Postcursillo Reunion - 1:00pm,
Location TBA
February 23-24, 2007 School of Leaders (quarterly reunion) - 7:30pm Fri-3pm Sat, St. Ann Parish,
Doniphan
March 10, 2007 Secretariat Meeting, 9:30am,
Blessed John XXIII Diocesan
Center (tentative)
April 14, 2007 Secretariat Meeting,
9:30am, Blessed John XXIII
Diocesan Center (tentative)
April 20-21, 2007 School of Leaders (quarterly reunion) - 7:30pm Fri-3pm Sat, (Location TBA)
April
27-29, 2007 Region VI Spring
Encounter –
June 29 –
July 2, 2007 National Encounter
–
July 13-14, 2007 School of Leaders (quarterly reunion) - 7:30pm Fri-3pm Sat, (Location TBA)
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Lift
them up in prayer …
PRAYER/ADORATION
HOURS (by
Thursday,
7:00pm - Friday, 1:00am Hastings/Holdrege/Minden
Friday,
1:00am - 7:00am Beatrice/Crete/Hebron
Friday,
7:00am - 1:00pm
Friday,
1:00pm - 7:00pm
Friday,
7:00pm - Saturday 1:00am Nebraska
City/Plattsmouth/Offutt
Saturday,
1:00am - 7:00am Hastings/Holdrege/Minden
Saturday,
7:00am - 1:00pm Beatrice/Crete/Hebron
Saturday,
1:00pm - 7:00pm
Saturday,
7:00pm - Sunday 1:00am
Sunday,
1:00am - Sunday, 7:00am Nebraska
City/Plattsmouth/Offutt
Sunday,
7:00am - 5:00pm David
City/Shelby/Wahoo
Candidates for January Weekends (
Men:
- Barger, Brendon – Imperial
- Breuer, Dave – Auburn
- Dalton, Mike – David City
- Hilger, Dan – Bellwood
- Juranek, Dale – David City
- Kobza, Ray –
David City
- Oborny, Charlie – Bellwood
Women:
- Barger, Bonnie – Imperial
- Coufal, Maureen –
- Dalton, Camille – David City
- Else, Jeanette –
- Gilliam, Amber
– Lincoln
- Hein, Marlene – David City
- Hilger, Mary Jane
– Bellwood
- Hottovy, Rose – David City
- Jakub, Roni – Abie
/ Bruno
- Kobza, Cherie –
David City
- Maurin, Mary –
Crete
- Matulka, Marianne
– David City
- Oborny, Dorothy
– Bellwood
- Prochazka, Diana
– Wilber
From the
Secretariat …
· New Secretariat Members … At the December Secretariat meeting, Mark Pribyl was
elected Lay Director and Kathy Springer was elected Treasurer. John Springer was appointed Three Day
Chairperson to complete the remaining year of Mark Pribyl’s three-year
term. A few days after the December
Secretariat meeting, Chuck and Joyce Micek regretfully submitted resignations
from their positions on the Secretariat due to work and family
commitments. They indicated, however,
that they intend to stay on as Ultreya Center Representatives for the David
City-Shelby-Wahoo Ultreya Center. Kathy
Rowell (
· New Cursillo Website … The Lincoln Diocese has a
new Cursillo web address. It is
www.catholic-church.org/cursillolincoln/
until that web address is up and running, we
will be using this temporary address (where you currently are): http://www.gpcom.net/stpatrickschurch/cursillolincoln.html
Please
book mark this home page as your Lincoln Diocese Cursillo Website.
· Cursillo Application Forms Enclosed … Sponsor
Sheet Updated …
With the January Weekends right around the corner, we are
including with this mailing, a packet of application materials to be given to
prospective candidates (however, do not give the blue Sponsor Sheet to the
candidate). The packet includes:
1) Goldenrod
Sheet – Recently re-written to
explain Cursillo in a simpler way (by better defining some of the Cursillo
terminology). Still contains the
endorsement of Bishop Bruskewitz and Popes John Paul II and Paul VI.
2) White Sheet
– Application form … this
is what the candidate should complete and give to you (the sponsor).
3) Blue Sheet – Sponsor sheet … PLEASE read both sides of this REVISED sheet
… it will help you better understand the responsibilities of being a
sponsor. And please note (there have
been many questions on this point in the past) that when a husband and wife are
both eligible to attend a Cursillo, then the two should be prepared
(Precursillo) at the same time – the question
of who attends first is NOT important.
In other words, it is NOT mandatory that the husband live a Cursillo
Weekend before his wife. For more explanation/details, read the Blue
Sponsor Sheet.
May we have eyes, Lord, to know who You want us to
invite …
and please help us to be courageous enough to
follow through …
· Region VI Spring 2007 Encounter ... The Lincoln Diocese has agreed to host the
Region VI Spring Encounter the
weekend of April 27-29, 2007, in
·
· Precursillo … Make a friend, Be a friend, and Bring that
friend to Christ!!!
********
Precursillo (thoughts
from Chuck Micek, Precursillo Chairperson)
I was visiting
with a woman the other night in
Saturday evening I noticed how many people came to church in jeans. It seemed to me that about 80% of the people attending Mass that evening were in jeans. I wondered, “Did they not believe that Jesus was present?” Some of these people I know very well, and I know their belief to be firm.
Years ago, when Catholics attended Mass, they went in their “Sunday best”. Times have certainly changed. Everyone is so busy today we do not have time to dress for Mass the way we should … or the way we could … to properly worship Jesus Christ. So what is going on? Is it that Catholics really don’t understand what takes place at Mass?
World Library Publications says in the Guidelines for the Reception of Communion, “As Catholics, we fully participate in the celebration of the Eucharist when we receive Holy Communion. We are encouraged to receive Communion devoutly and frequently.”
Devoutly
… Because Catholics are required
to believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in what appears to be bread and wine,
the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of our oneness of
faith, life, and worship. We are aware
that Jesus is present in the
holy sacrifice of the
Others may not
have Christ in the center of their lives … Ask them to live a Cursillo Weekend, so that
they too might encounter Christ …
There are Weekends less than one month away at St. Mary School in David
City. Do not presume to make an answer
for someone else … simply invite … and let God do the rest.
De
Colores! Chuck
Micek
· Three Day Weekends ...
You have been given a gift … Cursillo … Share that gift with others … Invite someone to live a Cursillo Weekend … And just a reminder … Because of the increasing costs of Cursillo supplies [e.g., crucifixes, Pilgrim’s Guides, booklets (“Cursillo – What Is It?”, “Sponsor’s Booklet”, “Let’s Keep the Fourth Day Simple”), table supplies, etc.], the registration fee requested when an application is submitted was increased to $15.00 (the previous fee was $10.00).
U Men’s – January 11 - 14, 2007 (
U Women’s – January 18-21, 2007 (
The
teams for the January 2007 Weekends are:
U Men’s: Mark
Pribyl, Coordinator; Eldon Buster, John Fertig, John Springer, and Myron
Wendland. Fr. Nick Baker, Spiritual
Director; Fr. Greg Pawloski, Assistant; Fr. Mark Seiker, Palanca Spiritual
Director
U Women’s: Annette Wemhoff,
Coordinator; Monica Buster, Mary Fertig, Joan Junkin, and Kathy Springer. Fr. Chris Goodwin, Spiritual Director; Fr. Mark
Seiker, Assistant; Fr. Jeremy Hazuka, Palanca Spiritual Director
If your
candidate cannot be part of the upcoming January Weekends, future Weekends include:
U Men’s – September 20 - 23, 2007 (St. Ann Parish,
U Women’s – October 4 - 7, 2007 (St. Ann Parish,
U Men’s – February 14 - 17, 2008 (Location not yet determined)
U Women’s – February 21 - 24 2008 (Location not yet determined)
Palanca Letters
…
Personal Palanca letters continue to be a very important part of Cursillo. Letters from the sponsor and/or a spouse should be marked so they may be given to candidates during the Weekend. All other personal Palanca letters will be sent home to be read/enjoyed during the Fourth Day when the candidates will be in special need of encouragement as they return to the world they left behind on Thursday evening. Many candidates have commented that these letters are particularly helpful following the Weekend, as they return to their homes and workplaces … please keep them in your prayers …
Personal and general Palanca letters (including posters) may be mailed to Kathy Springer, 1410 E 15th St, Crete, NE 68333, or any Secretariat member, in time to arrive by the Wednesday prior to each Weekend (Jan. 10th for the Men’s; Jan. 17th for the Women’s).
The Lincoln Diocese Cursillo website will be kept updated with the names of candidates as they are submitted. The new website is www.catholic-church.org/cursillolincoln/.
**************
From an article submitted to Ultreya on-line
magazine
(Mark Pribyl, Three Day Cursillo Chairperson)
For those of you who don’t know me, I lived my Cursillo Weekend in Lincoln in January 2001. My family was St. Robert Bellarmine. As I entered into my Fourth Day, I planned to focus on a couple of things -- my responsibility to Christ and the fact that Christ would be counting on me. And if I had really made the decision during my Weekend to grow in Faith, Hope and Love, I knew that I had been given some tools to do just that. Before my Weekend, I was learning about Christ and what He expects of me mainly through the readings and homily at Mass. And even though I went through RCIA, it really never sank in to my head that I had any responsibilities to uphold as a follower of Christ.
During my Weekend, however, it truly hit me that Christ is counting on me and that there is no other plan. "Go out and tell all the Good News!" I knew that if I was truly being sent, it was going to take courage, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, piety, and fear of the Lord (the gifts of the Holy Spirit).
During the Three Days, I learned a way that I might first recognize, and then form, these gifts, in order that I might ''Go out and tell all who will listen". The ORIGINAL Cursillo method of Group Reunion and Ultreya is still complete today, in that if I regularly make time to share with my brothers and sisters in Christ my attempts to grow in piety, study, and action, then I will be strengthening myself in each of these three areas.
(Piety) Praying … praying is first asking for help, and then listening … listening for the answer to our prayer … followed by acceptance … accepting the answer that you receive. And sometimes the acceptance is the most difficult part of all!
(Study) Study is putting on the mind of Christ in what I read, hear, and experience … so important! Ignorance is no excuse. And neither is laziness … make the time! I have … and now when I find myself confronted about my beliefs, I can respond with certainty.
(Action) This is the part of my Weekend that really hit me between the eyes! Just as I did, you might need to overcome your fears of ridicule and defeat … And knowing that God promises to be with you always, YOU should speak in the name of Christ, for Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, so that others might be drawn toward Christ.
God (not man) picks those He intends to send out … and He makes them leaders. Back in the 1940s, the Holy Spirit inspired Bishop Juan Hervas and Eduardo Bonnin with some notion of the potential that Cursillo might hold, and He has picked many others since then to be obedient and faithful to what God gave us through Cursillo.
What did Cursillo do for me? Nothing. What has the Spirit of God done for me through my faithful living of the Cursillo Method, as presented to me by the leaders God chose for that purpose? Everything! I have learned one very important thing! I CAN DO NOTHING WITHOUT CHRIST. The joy I have in and with Christ I can't even begin to put into words … to serve Jesus is to love Jesus. And being obedient is to give of yourself and not to count the cost.
My Weekend was complete, as was yours. The Spirit moves each and every one of us at our own pace, and the Spirit knows exactly who to send and what it is going to take to get us to budge … to wake up. We don't need hype and frills … we simply need truth. And with joy and the truth, our mission becomes more clear … to bring others closer to Christ.
God gave us Jesus … Jesus gave us Our Blessed Mother Mary … and the Spirit through Bishop Juan Hervas and Eduardo Bonnin gave us Cursillo, that we might come to know Jesus, too. It takes grace to accept a gift as it is given. Asking for that grace is Piety … and Study teaches me how and why … and then, with the help of God, Action makes it possible that God might use me, a mere creature who was created by God, to bring someone a little closer to Christ! What an awesome God!! De Colores!! Mark Pribyl
· Postcursillo ...
U Please
attend the Closings for the upcoming (January) Cursillo Weekends in David City
… remember how important it was for you to be greeted by the Fourth Day
community … He is counting on
you!!!
U And
speaking of
From the Spiritual Advisor
...
We are preparing to celebrate the Solemnity of Christmas, the birth of Christ, the Incarnation … God becoming man … taking on our flesh … pitching His tent among us … in order to save us from our sins. We have been preparing for this mystery of Christ’s birth at Christmas throughout the Advent Season.
During
these weeks of Advent, we long, we wait, we hope for the coming of the Savior
as did the Jewish people of the Old Testament times. They knew they needed a Savior, a Messiah,
and they were longing and hoping for His coming. There were various different ideas among the
Jewish people about who the Messiah would be.
God the Father had been leading the Chosen People all through the
ages. He revealed Himself to them in the
burning bush, through the law and the prophets.
He led them by a column of fire and a column of cloud. He fed them with quail, manna, and water from
the rock. Then God led them into the
Promised Land and He made His dwelling in the
So, when God became man … when the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity took on our flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and was born on that first Christmas … now for the first time, men and women could see God. God became man to show us how we are to live … to call us to holiness … and to give us the grace to make our growth in holiness possible. All this was in the eternal plan of God … and we must reflect on that as we celebrate the Solemnity of Christmas.
Recently
I was prompted to reflect on this as I was praying the Office of Readings of
the Liturgy of the Hours. There was a
reading “From a letter to Diognetus” which said: “No man has ever seen God or known
Him, but God has revealed Himself to us through faith, by which alone it is
possible to see Him. God, the Lord and
Maker of all things, Who created the world and set it in order, not only loved
man but was also patient with him. So He has always been, and is, and will be:
kind, good, free from anger, truthful; indeed, He and He alone is good.
He devised a plan, a great and wonderful
plan, and shared it only with His Son.
As long as He preserved this secrecy and kept His own wise counsel He
seemed to be neglecting us, to have no concern for us. But when through His beloved Son He revealed
and made public what He had prepared from the very beginning, He gave us all at
once gifts such as we could never have dreamt of, even sight and knowledge of
Himself.
When God had made all His plans in
consultation with His Son, He waited until a later time, allowing us to follow
our own whim, to be swept along by unruly passions, to be led astray by
pleasure and desire. Not that He was
pleased by our sins: He only tolerated them.
Not that He approved of that time of sin: He was planning this era of
holiness. When we had been shown to be
undeserving of life, His goodness was to make us worthy of it. When we had made it clear that we could not
enter God’s kingdom by our own power, we were to be enabled to do so by
the power of God.”
The
letter to Diognetus speaks of God’s plan … that would be the
Incarnation … the great mystery that we celebrate on Christmas Day and
throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas.
By taking on our flesh, our human nature, God shows His love for
us. Through His Body, Jesus makes
visible the invisible reality of God, and as Vatican II said: “Christ, the
final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully
reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear.” (GS #22) That call
is to holiness.
As cursillistas, we strive to grow in holiness through our
acts of piety … through our efforts to use the gifts that God has given
to us, to respond to His grace, and through being aware of the “close
moments” when God is revealing Himself to us, and calling us to holiness
… calling us to make Him known in the world. God wants to use our bodies, and we need to
let Him.
He wants us to give of our time to enter more deeply into a
personal relationship with Christ, and to get to know more about our
faith. We are to put on the mind of
Christ … to be formed in His image and likeness … and that happens
through our study as well as through our piety.
But it is not all about us. So,
we need to give our bodies to the Lord … to put them at His service
… to do apostolic action … “to
make a friend, be a friend, and bring that friend to Christ.”
Mary said “Yes” to the Word of God … to
the plan of God … and God used her body, according to His plan, in order
that His Son could take on our flesh, and save us from our sins. Mary knew what we need to know, that it is
not about us … it is about God … it is about God’s plan
… not our plan. But our plan needs
to be God’s … which comes back to putting on the mind of Christ
… and letting Him use us and our bodies so that He might lead others to
Christ … to Heaven.
So, as we reflect on the message of Christmas … the
joy of Christmas … that in this little Baby born in a manger, God,
through a human body, reveals to men and women their calling … to be holy
and to lead others closer to Christ. I
encourage each of you to let Christ live in you and let His grace through the
Sacraments so fill you, that in your Fourth Day you may bring His message to
the world … to all those persons that you come in contact with in your
daily life … to those situations and places that He wants to touch
through your body … Jesus live … Jesus live … in each one of
us. Amen.
De Colores!!
…………………Fr. Mark Seiker
God is
calling ~
RSVP today!
From the Lay Director ...
My term as Lay Director is drawing to a close
… and I will be praying for Mark (as
should you) as he accepts God’s invitation to make it a priority to work
at keeping Cursillo strong in our Diocese.
Cursillo is a wonderful mechanism for helping men and women throughout
the Lincoln Diocese (and beyond) come to know and love and serve our Lord
better. After all, as Mark points out in
his comments, He is counting on us!! And
that is a corporate “us” … it’s not just Mark or me or
Fr. Seiker or the Secretariat or the SOL … it’s ALL of us …
each in that place that God put us!!
I had the great blessing a few days ago to be part of
one of the retreats given at Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat House in Waverly
… the retreat master was Fr. Benedict Groeschel. The topic of the retreat was to be “Understanding
the writings of Pope Benedict XVI”; however, Fr. Groeschel walked off
without his notes (as God would have it), and he gave the retreat God must have
planned from the beginning … on virtue.
Fr. Groeschel talked about the four moral virtues
(prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice) and the three theological
virtues (faith, hope, and charity/love).
Many of his remarks paralleled thoughts from his book, “The Virtue Driven Life”. The retreat was a great blessing (and being a
professor and constantly around people, the silence may have been the greatest
blessing of all!!), and I took many things home with me, a few of which I would
like to share here …
When Fr. Groeschel spoke to us about the virtue of
charity (love), he commented that we really find out about charity at home
… among those with whom we live, and who see us at our very worst. He told us that it is in the family (the very
home of charity) that charity must come to make up for our deficiencies. He cajoled us by telling us that we argue
about the most stupid things … and he concluded that it is absolute
nonsense!! He made his point by means of
“the green garbage can” lecture … He told the story of a man who had gone to
the store at his wife’s request to buy a garbage can, and when he
returned with a green one, his wife raised her voice and asked (in a less than
thankful way), “Why did you get a green garbage can?!!?” …
and she carried on and on about his having gotten a green garbage can. Fr. Groeschel’s assessment of the
situation – “How stupid … what nonsense!” He said that if you ask any widow what she
would have done differently, she would tell you that you just don’t have
many years together … she would tell you that she would have been kinder
and wouldn’t have argued over such stupid things … We really don’t have all that much time
with our family and friends, so why waste it?
Is a green garbage can really all that big of a deal? As the year draws to a close, you might
reflect about the extent to which you are making progress (or not) in the
virtue of charity, especially at home?
How might you better live the life that you profess to … that of a
Christian … would others recognize Christ in the things that you say and
do? Fr. Groeschel concluded the
discussion of the virtue of charity with a quote from St. John of the Cross:
“Where there is no love, put love, and you will draw love out”
… it will be there … Fr.
Groeschel assured us that it is a greater charity to share love with those who
are uncharitable … that THAT is how we imitate Christ …
During the homily of the Mass on Sunday morning, Fr.
Groeschel asked us, “What is standing in the way of virtue?” He commented that God, in His wisdom, knows
what a person is capable of …
That’s why, when He was alive, Jesus went along the road calling
to ALL … especially sinners …
He knows what we are capable of …
Fr. Groeschel reminded us that to whom much has been given, much will be
expected!! As the year is drawing to a
close and a new year fast approaching, it seems a good time to reflect on what
EXACTLY we have done with all that He has given us … And Fr. Groeschel, in his wry little way,
reminded us that “there is always room to improve!!”
Probably one of my strongest impressions from the
retreat (and the one that I most needed to experience) was the witness of Fr.
Groeschel’s untiring desire to do the will of God by helping others to
know Him better. I arrived at the
retreat absolutely empty, knowing that on Monday, I had to have three final
exams written, none of which I had had the opportunity to even begin … I
don’t want to go into all the details, but my guess is that you have all
experienced the exhaustion to which I am referring, and you know what I am
talking about. And thank You, God
… there is the witness of Fr. Benedict Groeschel … able to get from
place to place and up and down with the assistance of his friend, Brother
Andrew. On Friday afternoon, before
coming to Waverly, Fr. Groeschel had gone to the seminary to visit with the
priests and seminarians … and on Saturday afternoon, during one of the
breaks, he went up to the Motherhouse of the Marian Sisters to visit with the
Sisters (and “experience their joy”, as he put it), and during the
supper break, he made a quick trip to Madonna to visit Msgr. Leonard Kalin, who
helped approximately 60 young men in the Lincoln Diocese to say
“yes” to our Lord when He called them to be priests … And there he was Saturday evening offering to
have a question and answer session, after a very, very long day, asking himself
the question, “Why am I here? … I’m exhausted” …
knowing full well what the answer was …
And thank you, Fr. Groeschel for your “yes” … for your
witness that we just have to keep moving … with the grace of God …
I was reminded (and it is on this note that I will end)
of a similar incident in the life of Pope John Paul II (from the book, “Let Me Go to the Father’s House”). In the days leading up to his death, for the
first time in his twenty-six years as Bishop of Rome, Pope John Paul II was
unable to preside over the rites of the Easter Triduum … from the Way of
the Cross at the Colosseum to the Urbi et
Orbi apostolic blessing on Easter Sunday.
When he appeared at the window of his private library to impart the
blessing, “… because of his deep emotion and his suffering,
he was unable to speak, and only made the Sign of the Cross and responded with
a wave to the greetings of the faithful. … The Holy Father was also profoundly shaken by
this event. After he moved away from the
window, he said: ‘Maybe it would be better for me to die if I cannot
carry out the mission entrusted to me,’ and immediately added:
‘Your will be done … totus tuus.’” When I read/prayed these words, I was
with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament (in Wichita, KS, in fact … I was
making a holy hour before Mass, praying for a family member who professes to be
an atheist) … and I was moved to tears … In my life of exhaustion and pain, I
reflected on my mission in life … why did He put me here … and the
fact that I am still here tells me that there is no time for exhaustion …
that He still has work for me to do … I, too, want to be totus tuus … Thy will be done!!
As the new year approaches, it might be a good time to
reflect on green garbage cans (don’t get so hung up on the green garbage
cans … the little things that are not so significant … that you
fail in your apostolic efforts … especially at home), on your response to
exhaustion, and on your mission in life.
Repeat to yourself, as did
De
Colores!! …………………… Kathy Springer
(Insert #1)
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