Cursillo Movement in America: Catholics, Protestants, and Fourth-Day Spirituality by Nabhan-Warren Kristy

Cursillo Movement in America: Catholics, Protestants, and Fourth-Day Spirituality by Nabhan-Warren Kristy

Author:Nabhan-Warren, Kristy [Nabhan-Warren, Kristy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2013-09-09T00:00:00+00:00


Community: “My Group Reunion Meeting Is a Highlight of My Week”

Once their weekend experience is over, these newly inspired laymen and women form small groups, called group reunions (or reunion groups), which meet weekly or biweekly. While some find meaning in nonreligious clubs, groups, and civic organizations, others are drawn to religious and spiritual groups. The popularity of group reunion meetings and the key role that they play in cursillistas’ living their Fourth Day is part of what Wuthnow and other sociologists of U.S. religions see as post-1950s Americans’ new “quest for community.”86 Since the late 1950s at least, American men and women have searched for small groups that can satisfy their longing for friendship and spiritual growth. Like other Americans, cursillistas say they craved a meaningful community and true friends with whom they can share their spiritual journey. Group reunion meetings function as spiritual and communal touchstones for millions of cursillistas in the United States and around the world.

For Bob Franks, Friday breakfasts with his Via de Cristo reunion group help keep him spiritually centered. Bob has been meeting with his reunion group since 1989, and their breakfasts are “a highlight of my week and I always look forward to them.” A retired college physics professor, Bob said that he was not the typical candidate in that he entered the Cursillo weekend skeptical and wanting to analyze everything. But at one point during the weekend, his faith moved from his head and reached his heart. While Bob’s wife, Rhoda, said her weekend Cursillo is a highlight of her life and brought her to a new place with her faith, she has not had the same experience of a successful, regularly meeting reunion group. While she has maintained her involvement in reunion group meetings, hers have broken up due to some members’ moving and other members domineering and pushing fellow members away. Like her husband, Rhoda stays active in Via de Cristo and attends the monthly ultreyas to stay connected and to continue to live “a life with Christ.”87



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.