January 1949. The monastery of St. Honoratus in Mallorca hosted what was to be the first Cursillo de Cristiandad in history.
The seed of what would later become the Cursillos in Christianity We find it in the preparatory work of a group of laymen and priests, who were part of the Diocesan Council of the Catholic Action Youth (JAC) of Mallorca, for the great national pilgrimage that the Catholic Action Youth made to Santiago de Compostela in 1948.
In this preparation, the following are carried out "Cursillo de Adelantados de Peregrinos". y "Pilgrim Leader Cursillo", led by members of Catholic Action.
In these meetings we perceive the possibility of "to develop something new, something that would allow the essential content of Christianity to be grasped in all its intensity even by those who lived on the fringes of religion." A breath of the Holy Spirit that would give shape, a little later, to the first Cursillo de Cristiandad.
Among the initiators of this movement were lay people and priests. Among the former, Eduardo Bonnín Aguiló stands out. Among the priests, Bishop Sebastián Gayá AguileraJuan Capó Bosch, of whom the process of beatification and canonization has just begun, and Don Juan Capó Bosch. Juan Hervás Benet, would be key in the configuration and birth of Cursillos in Christianity.
From those winter days on a small island in the Mediterranean to the present day, more than 70 years have passed, and the Cursillo Movement is today a reality spread throughout Europe, America and various parts of Africa and Asia.
The Movement is currently structured at the diocesan level through the Diocesan Secretariats and at the national level through the National Secretariat.
The International Groups of the Cursillos in Christianity Movement coordinate and facilitate the coordination between the different national secretariats that are spread throughout the world.
The World Organization of the Cursillo Movement (OMCC), "a service, communication and information organization", is currently made up of the International Groups of the Cursillo Movement: Latin American, European, Asia-Pacific and North America-Caribbean.
Included in the movements and associations of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, Cursillos in Christianity has been the way of encounter with Christ for hundreds of thousands of people.
In Spain, a few weeks ago, Rosa Maria Murillo took over the presidency of the National Secretariat of Cursillos in Christianity from Alvaro Martinez from Cordoba.
A laywoman, married, with a degree in Law and an active career civil servant, Rosa has been a catechist, youth pastoral agent and responsible for adult catechumenate. She has also been president of the Cursillos de Cristiandad Movement of the Diocese of Plasencia from 2012 to 2020. From her hand we enter into this reality of first proclamation in the Church that, as St. John Paul II pointed out, "In your encounter with Christ, you have learned to look with new eyes at people and nature, at daily events and life in general. You have experienced that true happiness is achieved in following the Lord. This personal and community experience must be passed on to others.".
How did you get to know the Cursillo movement and what has it meant in your life?
-I did my cursillo many years ago when I was a young law student. For me it was a decisive experience of encounter with myself, with others and with God. A triple encounter in which I was able to anchor my life choices and make following Jesus of Nazareth the true meaning of my life.
I found the answers that I believe every human being is looking for to have a fuller life. Since then I have always been linked to the Movement.
You assume the presidency of Cursillos after having been its national secretary for a long time. How do you welcome this show of confidence?
-Neither as a position, nor as a burden, I assume it as another opportunity to serve with humility, dedication and full trust in the Lord. This is the testimony I have received from the previous presidents.
What are you asking God for this stage?
-I ask Him, above all, for the gift of personal and communal discernment to open us as a movement to His will.
I ask for the courage to take the risk, the right and the wrong without losing heart in the search for creative fidelity to our charism of First Announcement to the people of today.
What is the experience of a Cursillo de Cristiandad like?
When we talk about the cursillo, we are referring to one of the parts of our First Announcement process, which takes place in a three-day meeting.
It is a strong experience of living and sharing what is fundamental for being a Christian, in which one can clearly perceive the newness of the Good News for every creature.
It is a joyful proposal of new life formulated by witnesses in friendship and absolute respect for freedom.
In these years I have been a privileged witness of how many people in a cursillo encountered the Lord. In my mind I have many young and not so young faces, people more religious than believers, indifferent people, with more and with less formation, with broken lives, people without a horizon, people without a why or what for. I have never ceased to be amazed at what God does in people as they contemplate God's passage through their lives.
Cursillo is much more than a three-day experience, it is a process in friendship already begun in the Precursillo and which is projected in a personal and community accompaniment later in the Postcursillo. The keys to this process are witness, friendship and prayer.
What do the Ultreyas ("beyond!") that live within the cursillo?
-With this expression we refer to the encounters that are offered after having lived the Cursillo. It is a place of celebration, prayer and formation. It is our way of accompanying each person so that he/she may mature, deepen and grow in what he/she has found in the Cursillo.
The objective is to integrate the experience of the Cursillo into daily life, each one in the place and environment in which he/she lives, also promoting the evangelizing presence in his/her environment as a leaven.
Ultreya is a pilgrim cry that urges us to go beyond. It is the cry of one who cannot stop announcing what he has seen and heard and which has changed his life.
Who can attend a Cursillo de Cristiandad?
-Any person of legal age can attend a Cursillo. The addressee of the Cursillo is as broad as the Gospel itself. However, it is preferably addressed to those who are searching, to those who do not know God or to those who need to recover or revitalize their faith.
One of its slogans Of Colors What does it mean for cursillo members?
–Of Colors is a popular song that symbolizes the joy of faith. A gift, a gift that changes your life and your outlook.
To look with God's eyes is to see life with hope, a life of colors.
For us it is also a community song, a sign of the joy of sharing in the evangelizing mission.
In a society in which the laity have a clearer role in evangelization than ever before, how can this evangelizing challenge be assumed from Cursillos?
-The Cursillo Movement arose from clear intuitions that are still valid: the perception of a world with its back turned to God calls for an evangelizing response of transformed men and women, who have the certainty that the world is the place of salvation, that the Gospel is the solution and that every person is capable of God and capable of evangelizing in their environments.
The Cursillo Movement is a tool with proven experience in the ever necessary, and now urgent, field of First Announcement.
The challenge is to be faithful to our charism while being creative in the context of a changing era. We say that the Cursillo method is an inductive method, which draws from the observation of the ever-changing reality. This requires openness to respond to the questions of today's men and women, abandoning routines and accommodations.
It is essential for cursillos to ferment the environments, because that is their purpose.
The challenge is to listen, to know and dialogue with the world, to assume the context in which we live with mercy and hope, not giving anything up for lost.
The challenge is to maintain a more evangelical lifestyle and relationships based on an incarnated spirituality.
