As time passes, email addresses, phone numbers, and mailing addresses change for many of us.  We’ve been noticing an increase in the volume of incorrect phone numbers when we attempt to reach people for potential team assignments or to seek help with volunteer needs.  Please provide any information changes for you to our Cursillo email address (cursillobnil@bncursillo.org). 

The upcoming Cursillo weekend (June 8-11) is in need of volunteers.  Cursillistas, please prayerfully consider how you can help make this the best weekend ever.  Click on the Cursillistas tab on this page, then click on the “Continue to protected content” link, which will prompt you to login. 

Our community will gather on Saturday, July 16, at 7:00 PM, at St. Mary’s Parish (527 W. Jackson St., Bloomington).  Come to celebrate mass and for a light social gathering afterwards.  Fr. Doug Hennessywill be our celebrant, and the new Diocese of Peoria Cursillo Lay Coordinator will speak.  We hope to see you there!  We are hoping to live stream the Mass:  Click here to LIVESTREAM all liturgies

Let’s have a Cursillo!!!  The Secretariat has agreed that it’s time to re-ignite our wonderful B/N Cursillo community with a Cursillo weekend.  Although we were not yet totally comfortable with a June weekend we have made the decision, with input from other Cursillo centers in our diocese, to commit to our usual September weekend.  This will allow us to maintain our normal men’s/women’s weekend schedule.  The diocese has reserved #1200 for us since the shutdown.  Therefore we will begin planning in May/June and team preparation will start July 12^th for a September 8-11 Men’s 1200 weekend.

After much prayer and input from the Secretariat we are in agreement that a March weekend is not prudent this year.  We will continue to monitor the pandemic, specifically locally and reevaluate again in the coming months.  As we stated late last year we will remain on hold until we are assured that the worst of this pandemic is behind us.  

In light of the uptick in covid cases, especially in our area, and the delta variant which is apparently highly contagious and the demand for hospital rooms, the Secretariat feels it would be in the best interest of our B/N Cursillo Community that we again postpone our weekend.  This was not an easy decision but we do think it is the prudent one.  We will continue with Ultreyas on a regular basis. Our next one will probably be in October, but stay tuned for future announcements.

Please review the COVID-19 Policy to gain an understanding of the requirements and conditions to expect for all involved with our community and upcoming events.  The policy is based on the State of Illinois Executive Order 2021-10 – (COVID-19 Executive Order No. 79) dated May 17, 2021.

Unfortunately we did not receive approvals to open Cursillo soon enough to logistically make our September weekend possible. BUT, we are pleased to announce the long-awaited Men’s Cursillo #1200 will be November 11 – November 14! Team meetings and masses will begin Tuesday, September 14 at 6:30pm. Masses will be held in Holy Trinity Church; team meetings will be held in the parish center. Please see the July Newsletter for more details.

After prayerful consideration, we have determined that the Fall Cursillo Weekends are to be cancelled and the candidates’ money to be returned. We will re-evaluate the next steps after the beginning of the new year. 

We talk a lot about love in our Christian faith, especially about agape love, a sacrificial love that causes us to will the good for the other person. It is out of that same agape love that we have made this decision. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed most of our lives in one way or another and is still very much a threat to the health of our community. While we know that some aspects of a Cursillo weekend could still be accomplished with reasonable adaptations, there are other elements for which there are no substitutes. 

But the overwhelming reason for the cancellation is our desire to “will the good for others”. We do not want to ask our Cursillistas or our Candidates to risk compromising their health. We all want Cursillo weekends to be a positive and powerful experience for everyone involved and that cannot be accomplished in the current environment. We want to make sure that when Cursillo weekends resume, they can be done within the guidelines of both Diocesan policies and State government regulations. 

We know this decision is going to be welcomed by some and a disappointment to others. We ask that no matter which, you continue to hold us in your prayers as we work toward returning to Cursillo weekends as soon as it can be done safely.

Blessings and Love,

Dcn. Al and Dcn. Gary

This was a very difficult decision to make, but the right one. We already had to postpone Men’s weekend #1200 until September, and now, we have to postpone our Women’s June weekend #1206 until November 12-15, 2020.

Let us take this time to seek a deeper relationship with Christ through prayer, study, and apostolic action. We are not a community in exile, we are a Christian force dispersed and at work in our home and neighborhoods. There are people around us in need of comfort that can only come from God. They depend on you and the Holy Spirit to reach out to them. Cursillo weekends are postponed but, your fourth day starts each morning. Make a friend, be a friend, bring a friend to Christ.

Our next Team Mass is scheduled for July 14th at Holy Trinity Parish center. In the meantime keep reading the newsletter and keep PRAYING!

May God bless you and keep you in the palm of His hand,