SPRITUAL DIRECTOR'S LETTER

Dear friends,

As you will have probably heard Fr. Simon Marsh retires as Diocesan Spiritual Director at the end of December. We thank Fr. Simon for all that he has done for us and for the love he has shown us. His hard work, especially on the weekends, has been an inspiration. We wish him well and hope that he will continue to act as Spiritual Advisor on future weekends.

CHESTER CURSILLO'S EYE TEST

I believe the time has come for Chester Cursillo to have an eye test. Or to put it another way what is our vision? What is our vision like? And what are we doing about it? In order that you can begin to answer that question I want to point you to the Cursillo Library and the leaflet 'The Health and Well being of the Movement.' The purpose of Cursillo is to "convert Christians to a deeper relationship with God and to help them to understand their individual calling as Christian leaders." (Spiritual Advisors Workbook, p5) Or, again, "The Cursillo has a goal--to change the world; ... and a strategy ... of providing a backbone for Christian life in every environment." (Your Fourth Day, p7)

If we lose the vision of Cursillo's stated purpose our movement becomes something less than it should be: we turn aside from our aim and the message is diluted. This leads to us becoming unbalanced. We begin to see the weekend as an end in itself and we try to recreate 'our weekend' for others. This can lead to us doing things because they have always been done this way. It can also lead to our staffing on Weekends to boost our own good feelings, and we begin to forget that the participants must come first. For example during worship little time is left for silence or the participants cannot choose their own hymns because the team are spending all the time singing their favourites.

Cursillo is not a 'Lay Movement.' It is a movement of the 'Whole Church' together. As such Cursillo is not an end in itself and it should not take the place of the church. Our 'Group Reunions' our 'Ultreya's' and our 'Fourth Day' should and must be authentic. It would take too long to explain in this short article what I mean by authentic, but the Cursillo library has booklets that explain in depth these things. Every cursillista should as part of their study read the library and copies are available from each Lay Rector. Another book that is worth reading is 'The Fundamental Ideas Of The Cursillo Movement.'

If we are to renew our Cursillo vision we will need to look at every aspect of Cursillo in Chester Diocese and ensure that we are keeping in line with the foundations laid for us by NEC and BACC (National Episcopal Cursillo & British Anglican Cursillo Council). Our Bishops want Cursillo in Chester to grow and develop, and they value the things that we have to offer the church. They have given us their full support and we in turn should give them our full support and trust.

The time has come for us to work together for the growth of the Cursillo method in Chester Diocese and I would value your comments as to how best we can do that and what changes if any we need to make in order to ensure that Cursillo is vibrant and healthy. I would like to make an occasional visit to every Ultreya in order that your views might be heard and to share in fellowship with you. If there are areas of Cursillo on which you would like some teaching please let me know. Please think about going on a Cursillo Leaders Workshop and please, please study the Cursillo Library. In it you will find many good things that will help you to continue in the Cursillo method and renew your vision of God's plan in your and Cursillo life.

Please feel free to contact me at any time, as Diocesan Spiritual Director I see my role as being to the individual as well as the whole.

Love prayers and every blessing,

Fr Stephen Waters.

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