Pope John Paul II
July 29, 2000 Jubilee Address to Cursillistas,
Rome
“Your presence here, so varied and festive, shows
that the tiny seed planted in Spain more than 50 years ago has become a
great tree laden with fruits of the Spirit. Indeed, it continues
to be a successful response to the question asked by my venerable Predecessor
Pope Paul VI at the first world Ultreya in Rome: ‘Can the Gospel still
win over the mature person ... in urban and rural cultures?’ You
transform the world by becoming new men and women. I am therefore
delighted to join in your thanksgiving to the Lord for all He has done
and never ceases to do in the Church through the Cursillos de Cristiandad.
The theme of this world Ultreya – Evangelizing the Milieus of the Third
Millennium: A ‘Challenge’ for the Cursillos de Cristiandad – demonstrates
your efforts to repropose the experience of Christ to the men and women
of the 21st century with new means and enthusiasm. This has become
ever more urgent, since whole countries and nations, where religion and
the Christian life were formerly flourishing and capable of fostering a
viable and working community of faith, are now put to a hard test ... as
a result of the constant spread of indifference to religion, of secularism
and atheism.”
“In view of this situation which challenges believers
to remake the Christian fabric of the ecclesial community, the Cursillo
method aims at helping to transform in a Christian way the milieus where
people live and work through the involvement of ‘new men and women’ who
have become such from their encounter with Christ. This is the goal
of the three-day ‘little course’ on Christianity, in which a team of priests
and lay people, supported by the prayer and sacrifices of the movement’s
other members, communicate the fundamental truths of the Christian faith
in an especially ‘living’ way. When presented in this way, the message
of Christ almost always opens participants in a Cursillo to the gift of
conversion and to a deeper awareness of the Baptism they have received
and of their own mission in the Church. They feel called to be the
prophetic ‘leaven’ which is kneaded into the dough so that the whole mass
will rise to be the ‘salt of the earth’ and the ‘light of the world’ to
proclaim to everyone they meet that only in Jesus Christ is there salvation
and that it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery
of man truly becomes clear.”
“ ... This is your apostolate, carried out in constant
harmony with the Church, to show the ‘strength of communion’ which is at
once the style and the very essence of the People of God. As you
face the various forms of individualism which fragment and divide your
evangelizing ability and resources, join your missionary forces with those
of the various ecclesiastical groups raised up by the Spirit in the Church
of our time. Endeavor to restore the beauty of the first Christian
communities, which prompted pagans to say with admiration: ‘See how they
love one another!’ And always be docile to the directives of the
Magisterium. No charism, in fact, dispenses you from referring and
submitting to the Pastors of the Church, whose discernment is a guarantee
of fidelity for the charism, itself. May the Jubilee celebration
instill in all of you a renewed fidelity to your original inspiration and
a firmer ecclesial communion. Many people are looking to you for
the light of faith.”
“... During the days of a Cursillo, the words of
[a] popular Spanish song help the participants to reflect on the multifaceted
beauty of creation. In encountering Christ, you have learned to look
with new eyes at others and at nature, at everyday events and at life in
general. You have experienced that true happiness is found in following
the Lord. This personal and community experience must be passed on
to others. Many men and women of our time, who unfortunately turn
away from God, expect from you the light of faith that will help them rediscover
the colors of life and the happiness of feeling loved by God.”
Pope John Paul II
July 29, 2000 Jubilee Address to Cursillistas, Rome
Pope Paul VI
May 28, 1966 Address to First World Ultreya,
Rome
"Cursillos de Cristiandad, that is the word, purified
through experience, affirmed by its fruits, that today travels with citizenship
papers throughout the world ...”
"Whether some methods become obsolete, whether new
manifestations of the Spirit arise, the permanent task of the layman will
continue to be the infusion of Christianity into life through the encounter
and personal friendship with God and in communion with his brothers.
The layman, upon forming himself in Christianity, reforms his mentality
and conforms his life to Christ's image by means of faith, hope and charity;
acting with complete responsibility, he transforms the temporal structures
in which he is immersed; guided in his action by the glance of Christ,
he continually tries to remake the world according to God's plan and design
..”
"We know that in your plan of spirituality and apostolate
in the Cursillo Movement the `Sensus Ecclesiae' (mind of the Church) is
the guiding light that orients you ...”
"Beloved sons and daughters: Our soul is so oppressed
by the vision of the evils which afflict the Church and mankind.
But permit us to express our overwhelming joy that at this moment floods
our soul before the immense chorus of your manly faith in Christ, your
fidelity to the Church, your fervent loyalty to this Chair of Peter and
to the ministry of the episcopal hierarchy.”
"Cursillos de Cristiandad! Christ, the Church,
the Pope, are counting on you!"
Pope Paul VI
May 28, 1966 Address to First World Ultreya, Rome
Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz (Bishop of Lincoln)
“I am very happy to recommend the Cursillo Movement
for your serious consideration. This Movement has a history of fine
accomplishments in recent Catholic circles, where it appears to have borne
wonderful fruit in the spiritual lives of many people. Those who
are Cursillistas are certainly the kind of people whom one finds energetically
promoting the cause of Christ and His Church in many parts of the world.”
“I ask God to bless the Cursillo Movement, and,
if it is your good fortune to make a Cursillo, to bless you in that undertaking.”