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A Publication of the Cursillo Movement of the Albany Diocese
VOLUME 2019, ISSUE 2
June 2019
Message from the Lay Directors
We are happy to announce that effective July 1st Eva
and Joe Fitzgerald, after three years as Cursillo’s School
of Leader’s chairs, will begin their three year term as Co-
Lay Directors.
These past three years have brought us both many chal-
lenges and many blessings. The biggest blessing has
been the support that we have received from the Cursillo
community.
Following are the current members of Secretariat. They
can’t do it all alone and will be setting up committees to
aid them in their efforts for Cursillo. Please contact the
chair of whatever area you are interested in via e-mail. Eva Fitzgerald Co-Lay Director [email protected]
Joe Fitzgerald Co-Lay Director [email protected]
Shannon Kelly Pre-Cursillo Chair [email protected]
Kathy Murphy Cursillo Chair [email protected]
Karen Van Alstine Post Cursillo Chair [email protected]
Bob Van Alstine Secretary [email protected]
Maura O’Brien Treasurer [email protected]
Sr. Monica Murphy, CSJ will continue as Cursillo’s Spiritual Advisor.
We ask YOU to come forward and help to lead us into
the future.
De Colores,
Linda and Tom Molloy
MEN’S WEEKEND Sept. 12 — Sept. 15, 2019
Dominican Spiritual Life Center Niskayuna, NY
Closing: Sunday, Sept 15, 5PM Meet in the Dining Room
at 4:15 pm
WOMEN’S WEEKEND Oct. 3 — Oct. 6, 2019
Dominican Spiritual Life Center Niskayuna, NY
Closing: Sunday, Oct. 6, 5PM Meet in the Dining Room
at 4:15 pm
Please join us as we welcome our newest Cursillistas!
MEN’S WEEKEND
Fri., Sept. 6, 2019
Place: TBD
Holy Hour—Time TBD
Pizza & Camaraderie to follow
WOMEN’S WEEKEND
Sept. 27, 2019
Place TBD
Holy Hour—Time TBD
Pizza & Camaraderie to follow
SCHOOL OF LEADERS CHAIR
The School of Leaders will have a new format beginning the 2019/2020 year. A committee has begun to form! Additional committee members and a chair or co-chairs are needed. We need you!!!!
COMMUNICATION COORDINATOR
Barry Lupe has for many, many, many years maintained the computer mailing database as well as sending out all our con-cerns as a community including prayers needed, and Cursillo information regarding events. Though Barry will remain active in Cursillo, he has decided to step down from the above responsibilities. Therefore, now is the time for someone else to take over these important tasks.
Please contact Eva or Joe (see contact info above) for further information regarding these opportunities.
Lee Bateman
Mary Ellen Crucetti
Eva Fitzgerald
Laureen Foro
Dona Fragnoli
Patty Johnson
Shannon Kelly
Kim Klementowski
Marcia Lupe
Wendy Marino
Kathy Murphy
Fr. Frank O’Connor
Wendy Preedom
Djemila Stevens
Sharon Thouin
Karen Van Alstine
Sr. Betsy Van Deusen
Claudia Warren
Fr. Chris Welsh
Maggie Whelan
Sr. Sue Zemgulis
MEN’S WEEKEND #56
TEAM
WOMEN’S WEEKEND #62
TEAM
Nick Papa
Rob Pilch
Mark Sabatini
Alan Smith
Joe Stenard
Adam Stevens
Joe Thouin
Rich Athens
Mike Beehner
Hugh Cameron
Joe Fitzgerald
Kevin Fragnoli
Greg Kaczmarek
John McGuinness
Fr. Mike Melanson
Information regarding our candidates will be sent out via email
as we get closer to the weekends!
Contact Shannon Kelly: [email protected]
With information concerning potential candidates
WOMEN’S & MEN’S
WEEKENDS When: Sunday, Oct. 27 @ TBD Followed by Diocesan Ultreya
and Pot Luck Dinner @TBD Place: TBD
SAVE THE DATE
Come and support our new Cursillistas!!!!
Watch your email for details
Saturday June 8th was a beautiful day for the Annual
Cursillo Picnic! Many Cursillistas turned out at The
Crossings of Colonie after the Mass and Commission-
ing of the 2019 men’s and women’s weekend teams.
As is usual at a Cursillo event, so many people con-
tributed to the success of the
picnic. Cursillistas grilled,
purchased the hamburgers and
frankfurters, Cursillistas
brought salads, snacks and
desserts. We don’t want to for-
get those who brought tables,
EZ-ups and screen canopies so
we would have a place for all
of the food. A special thank you to those who ar-
rived at the picnic site early to set up. Everywhere
you turned, there were helpers, coming to the rescue,
serving each other, setting up and taking down. And
fellow Cursillistas talking, sharing a meal and just
enjoying being together. DE COLORES
DE COLORES
The Commissioning Celebration for Wom-
en's Weekend #62 and Men's Weekend #56
was held on June 8th at
St. Pius X Church in
Loudonville. Father
Frank O’Connor celebrat-
ed Mass assisted by Dea-
con Mike Melanson.
Team members were
warmly greeted by Kevin
Fragnoli, Rector and Rec-
tora-in-Training, Wendy
Marino. The Teams were commissioned fol-
lowing Mass by Father Frank.
Thank you to all those Cursillistas who
came to celebrate with the Men’s and Wom-
en’s Teams for our 2019 weekends.
Nick Papa
Sept. 6 Time: TBD
Holy Hour Men’s Weekend, Place TBD
Sept. 12-15
Men’s Weekend
Dominican Spiritual Life Center
Niskayuna
Sept. 27 Time: TBD
Holy Hour Women’s Weekend, Place TBD
Oct. 3-6
Women’s Weekend
Dominican Spiritual Life Center
Niskayuna
Oct. 27 Time: TBD
Weekend Reunions/followed by Pot Luck/
Diocesan Ultreya, Place TBD
The S P O N S 0 R S Responsibilities
The following has been excerpted from the Sponsor’s Booklet put out
by the National Cursillo Center.
“The purpose of sponsoring is to prepare a person or persons who can bring about a change in their en-vironments. You should have a plan on how you are going to do this. Part of your plan would include identifying those individuals with the talents to bring about change; to bring Jesus Christ into their environments.” “Sponsoring is not a haphazard circumstance. A sponsor should know the candidates very well...” “Your candidates will become the agents of change in their families, work situations, neighborhoods, so-cial gatherings, etc. “ “Being a sponsor is committing one’s self to the selection and preparation of a person for the Cur-sillo, and ongoing assistance to that person in the Postcursillo.” As part of this, a sponsor should help the person they sponsor find a small group and bring them to Ultreya. This follow-up should be discussed with candidates before they make a weekend. Remember to Make a Friend, Be a Friend, Bring your Friend to Christ (or to a better relationship with Christ). Always “remember to speak to God about the per-son before speaking to the person about God.” “It can be said that our Postcursillo will only be as good as our Precursillo. So candidate preparation is an absolute necessity!
What is P A L A N C A
With the men’s and women’s weekends rapidly ap-
proaching, it seems appropriate to remind ourselves
exactly what PALANCA is meant to be. Following is
a definition of PALANCA and a PALANCA Letter.
A PALANCA Letter is one that is sent to the candi-
dates and team, informing them of the prayers and
sacrifices that you are offering to God on their be-
half. A letter may be sent explaining what type of
PALANCA is being offered, but the letter is NOT the
PALANCA. The actual PALANCA is the action - in-
tercessory prayer, sacrifice, or works of mercy, and
it can be done without writing a letter. What PAL-
ANCA has been done should ALWAYS be included in
the PALANCA Letter.
So, let’s get started on that
PALANCA!!!!
Because we have four Ultreyas, it seems important to follow a given format for consistency for us (as Cursillistas) and for potential candidates and new Cursillistas. Also, we want to foster the atmosphere of Christian community — the place where we re-ceive the nourishment we need for our spiritual and evangelical journey. The format also helps to stay within our time frame. Even when one goes to an Ul-treya outside of the Albany diocese, the format is the same. There is something comfortable about that. This is important for our community as a whole. In case you aren't familiar with our agenda or need a refresher, this is an excerpt from my talk as Post Cursillo chair at a workshop 2 years ago on Ultreya where I discussed the format. I didn't make it up, it came from research - Leaders guide, books, and arti-cles from Cursillo leaders. There is a set content of what’s included and wher-ever we go, Cursillo Ultreyas follow the given for-mat. There is prayer, grouping, witness, echo, sum-mary, prayer. As you can see from that format, the Ultreya is not meant to be the place where we go to learn more or get instructions from Cursillo. We start as we start everything…with a Pray-er. Generally the Ultreya Coordinator can begin with prayer or if there is a Spiritual Advisor present, they can offer an opening prayer. And it is perfectly ac-ceptable to have music or a song to create an atmos-phere of peace. Most of the time, our opening prayer is a meditation of some kind prepared in advance by someone. It is a short reading or reflection on scrip-ture or some aspect of our Christian faith. No more than 5 minutes. There is no need to comment on the meditation; we just go right on to grouping. The leaders’ manual calls this a floating Group re-union. It is necessary that the members of existing groupings mingle with others, to form the floating group reunions. This unifies the Movement as well as facilitates the incorporation of new Cursillistas into the Cursillo community. What results from this is that new friendships are formed and it helps new Cursillistas move into a regular group. The format of
the grouping is the same as for a friendship group reunion -the legs of the tripod – which are? Prayer, Study, Action and a moment closest to Christ. As with our regular grouping, we are respectful of the person, we listen and don’t inter-rupt those speaking in the group.
Sharing with members of the community who are not part of your regular group offers more opportu-
nities to grow in faith. The next phase of the Ultreya is the Witness. A witness does just that, gives witness to their growth in living union with Christ, so that others may be encouraged to do likewise. They witness about the grace of God that supports our life of Piety, Study and Action for growth. They should encourage by personal example, not by theory or instruction. There should be a broad variety of witnesses; this gives us the most possibilities for Christian growth and action. The witness offers concrete examples of how they are living love of God and neighbor in their environment – family, work, sports, and social life. Sharing by a witness of how they are living their fourth day should in-spire imitation. And that is important enough to say again -a witness talks about what they are liv-ing. It should be written down and current. We would love to hear your life story, but this isn’t the time for that. Ultreya coordinators should in-struct the witnesses ahead of time, so they under-stand what is expected. Generally, there are 2 lev-els of witness. A basic one by a new Cursillista concentrating on the change or conversion in their life, before and after Cursillo weekend. The second type centers on the person’s current at-tempt in putting into practice and living the grace they experienced in their fourth day. The Echo is immediately following the witness. This should be spontaneous and only 2 or 3 Cur-sillistas who briefly provide an echo about the message contained in the talk. It is not for every-one to make a comment, or to critique the talk or praise the witness or try to explain it. It is to Echo or to communicate briefly, this is how I live it. It might be one point the witness covered that the person giving the echo might reflect on in their life. If a Spiritual advisor is present, he or she will do a Summation or Summary. They will prepare a summation in light of the gospel. He/she will sum-marize the opening prayer/meditation, witness and echo parts to further encourage us to go forth and live the Good news. We close the Ultreya with Prayer. We may have some announcements and a closing song but here is the time we wrap up by giving thanks to God and asking Him to hear our petitions of prayer. So, that wraps up the content of the Ultreya: Prayer, Group, Witness, Echo, Summation, and Prayer.
By Wendy Marino
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS
PRAYING FOR OUR CANDIDATES & TEAM!
All Those who are part of the Cursillo Movement are asked to do Palanca in the form of
Prayer for the upcoming weekend. The following indicates How you know your time to
pray for the Candidates and the Team during the Women’s and Men’s Weekends.
Your times are determined by the 1st initial of your last name.
Please help keep our candidates and the teams in constant prayer.
You know the power of prayer!
Thursday
Evening
6:00 PM A
6:30 PM B
7:00 PM C
7:30 PM D
8:00 PM E
8:30 PM F
9:00 PM G
9:30 PM H
10:00 PM I
10:30 PM J
11:00 PM K
11:30 PM L
Friday
Morning
12:00 AM M
12:30 AM N
1:00 AM O
1:30 AM P
2:00 AM Q
2:30 AM R
3:00 AM S
3:30 AM T
4:00 AM U
4:30 AM V
5:00 AM W
5:30 AM X
6:00 AM Y
6:30 AM Z
7:00 AM A
7:30 AM B
8:00 AM C
8:30 AM D
9:00 AM E
9:30 AM F
10:00 AM G
10:30 AM H
11:00 AM I
11:30 AM J
Friday
Afternoon/
Evening
12:00 PM K
12:30 PM L
1:00 PM M
1:30 PM N
2:00 PM O
2:30 PM P
3:00 PM Q
3:30 PM R
4:00 PM S
4:30 PM T
5:00 PM U
5:30 PM V
6:00 PM W
6:30 PM X
7:00 PM Y
7:30 PM Z
8:00 PM A
8:30 PM B
9:00 PM C
9:30 PM D
10:00 PM E
10:30 PM F
11:00 PM G
11:30 PM H
Saturday
Morning
12:00 AM I
12:30 AM J
1:00 AM K
1:30 AM L
2:00 AM M
2:30 AM N
3:00 AM O
3:30 AM P
4:00 AM Q
4:30 AM R
5:00 AM S
5:30 AM T
6:00 AM U
6:30 AM V
7:00 AM W
7:30 AM X
8:00 AM Y
8:30 AM Z
9:00 AM A
9:30 AM B
10:00 AM C
10:30 AM D
11:00 AM E
11:30 AM F
Saturday
Afternoon/Evening
12:00 PM G
12:30 PM H
1:00 PM I
1:30 PM J
2:00 PM K
2:30 PM L
3:00 PM M
3:30 PM N
4:00 PM O
4:30 PM P
5:00 PM Q
5:30 PM R
6:00 PM S
6:30 PM T
7:00 PM U
7:30 PM V
8:00 PM W
8:30 PM X
9:00 PM Y
9:30 PM Z
10:00 PM A
10:30 PM B
11:00 PM C
11:30 PM D
Sunday
Morning /
Afternoon
12:00 AM E
12:30 AM F
1:00 AM G
1:30 AM H
2:00 AM I
2:30 AM J
3:00 AM K
3:30 AM L
4:00 AM M
4:30 AM N
5:00 AM O
5:30 AM P
6:00 AM Q
6:30 AM R
7:00 AM S
7:30 AM T
8:00 AM U
8:30 AM V
9:00 AM W
9:30 AM X
10:00 AM Y
10:30 AM Z
11:00 AM A
11:30 AM B
Sunday
Afternoon
12:00 PM C
12:30 PM D
1:00 PM E
1:30 PM F
2:00 PM G
2:30 PM H
3:00 PM I
3:30 PM J
4:00 PM K
4:30 PM L
Check the website for complete and current Cursillo News
natl-cursillo.org/albany/
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If so, drop us a note at
with their name and contact information
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