Postcursillo, group reunions and Ultreya
Everything that is done in the terms of the cursillo methodology and purpose has it’s end objective in the Postcursillo.
The precursillo and the 3-day weekend are only the preliminary steps toward the Postcursillo. As with all things in our lives, it involves a process. The Postcursillo is the means, in terms of community, which has been designed to increase and continue the conversation and the living out of what is fundamental for our being Christian, a process that begins in the precursillo and the cursillo weekend.
Within the structures of the Postcursillo the individual and the group restlessness that was brought to life on the weekend are kept stimulated so that the church and human community in which the individual and their groups are immersed and continually leavened with the gospel spirit.
If the purpose of the cursillo movement is to find, lead to conversion and sustain evangelizers in their task of evangelizing the world, then the biggest task we face is to sustain them in this task.
So, the question is, how do we sustain our cursillo community in the task of Evangelizing? We can find the answer in two of our Rollo’s, Study the environment and Total Security. Both Rollo’s led us to making a friend, being a friend and bring a friend to Christ, but they also lead us into post cursillo and the two methods there that help us sustain our movement Which is the group reunion and the Ultreya. Let us look at these two a little further.
Group reunion’s, the definition of this is, an act by which the community comes together and engages in the sharing process. As we learned on the 3-day weekend it is necessary to find a small group or 4th day group of friends, by which we share and deepen our friendship with Christ. By participating in these groups, we are forming the deepest form of living together and that is friendship. By doing this we are raising our friendships to a sanctifying level by means of grace, we then have the best way possible to achieve the Christian community. In these group reunions we live the cursillo motto- Make a friend, be a friend and bring a friend to Christ. We also live and share our piety, study, and action to build and grow our Christian faith and community.
Many of our failures in these small group reunions are due to placing too great a importance on the mechanics of our reunions and in reciting of commitments or reports to each other, as friends, we need to rely less on commitments and focus on the essentials, namely sharing our piety, study and action. If we do not do this then our groups, community and movement are going to fail.
Now let us look at the next level of our group reunions- The Ultreya. The Ultreya is a community to the degree that the permanent small friendship groups together make-up this community and are willing and able to draw new members into the living community.
The Ultreya is the driving force to the groups in the environment. The permanent groups are the driving force to the individual, both together ought to be the driving force to the work of evangelization in the world. So, as we can see the groups satisfy the basic needs and growth of the individuals in the community and the Ultreya satisfies the need for growth in the community and in the church and world.
So, for the individual the group reunion is the most important aspect of the cursillo method, but for the community the Ultreya is the most important. So, both are equally important to achieve our ongoing work of evangelization of our environments in the world.
So, let’s all make a friend, be a friend and bring a friend to Christ and keep our community growing and moving forward.
School of Leaders
Hi, I am Jeff Williams the dean of the school of leaders for the Sacramento Cursillo Secretariat.
I lived my cursillo in 2019 and have been on the last two men’s teams. I was confirmed a catholic in 1997 through RCIA, I attend Mass at SS. Peter and Paul church in Rocklin, Ca and I am very active in our parish as an usher for mass and as a facilitator of our Thursday night Bible Study.
For those that do not know about the sol it is assigned the task of being the right hand of the Lay Director of the secretariat, where we help provide our cursillo community with the information and materials for our spiritual, methodology and doctorial formation materials. We also serve as the training arm of the secretariat in adding the pre-cursillo, post-cursillo and 3-day cursillo chairs by providing them with sol members to learn and aid them in the committee duties. This also helps in training future secretariat members for the different positions on the secretariat.
I do this by holding monthly meetings via zoom on the 2nd Wednesday of every month. These meetings are open to everyone in the cursillo community. As I said before we are the training arm, so we provide the necessary information to serve on the weekend teams with technical presentations on a wide verity of cursillo subjects.
If you would like to know, more come join us at our zoom meeting or email me at
On Saturday July 9, at 9:00 AM PDT, the School of Leaders will have a guest speaker, Cef Aguillon. He will speak on several topics including; The School of Leaders and Cursillo history. The presentation will be followed by some question and answertime.
Everyone is welcome!!!
Biography
Ceferino (Cef) Aguillón lives in Cedar Park, TX in the Diocese of Austin. He is married to Gloria. They will be celebrating their 53rd Anniversary in December 2022. They have a son, Charles, daughter-in-law Vanessa and two grandsons, Noah, and Brandon. They have a daughter, Cynthia and son-in-law, Clay.
Cef lived his Cursillo Weekend in February 1986 in the Diocese of Victoria in Texas. His life is dedicated to serving Christ and his Church through the gift of Cursillo. Cef serves as the National Coordinator for the English Language Cursillo Movement in the United States. He has visited every diocesan movement within the 12 regions in the United States to share the Good News that God through Christ loves us. He enjoys sharing the truth and simplicity of Cursillo in light of its Charism through the method of friendship. He was blessed to have had the opportunity to meet with Eduardo Bonnín, Founder of Cursillo, for one week in Palma, Mallorca in Spain in June 2006.
De Colores
To access recorded Zoom Meeting:
Access Passcode: 1c+RsG42
Foundational Charism of the Cursillo Movement
January 2014
My talk will only skim over this very deep topic. In the words of Juan Ruiz, Cursillo National Hispanic Coordinator “A Cursillo de Cursillo is required to fully discuss the charism of the Cursillo in Christianity Movement”. I will try to share some important points about this topic.
In order to begin this topic we have to focus on the definition of Charism. The dictionary tells us the meaning is “gift” “present” which is equivalent to “grace” “appeal” or “vocation”. It’s practically synonymous of “functions and activities”.
“The charisms are, therefore, the effects of the Spirit of God in the believer, which can never be demanded by man, nor can they be provided by the official bodies of the church, nor can they be achieved by the reception of the sacraments.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines Charisma in Section 799 as “a specific gift or grace of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefits the Church, given in order to help a person live out the Christian life, or to serve the common good in building up the Church.”
On-Going Conversion of the Person
February 2014
What is “Conversion”? Conversion is our turning toward God who is always turning toward us. Conversion is the response of our whole person turning in faith and love to the God who loves us. Faith is the giving of our whole self – head hearts and hands – back to God.
Conversion takes time. It takes chipping away at the stone wall, or tomb, which surrounds us and separates us from God and allows God entrance into our tomb, or life. It takes time and humility to learn that love is not self-made but pure gift.