Report on National Episcopal Cursillo Seminar San Antonio, 2009

It was my privilege to attend the NECS once again representing Western North Carolina. I have been able to attend this conference for the last four years while covering it at my own expense. My hope each year is that other members of our Secretariat and wider Cursillo community could accompany me on this invaluable experience. But as of yet, no one else has attended with the exception of Nina-Jo Moore who serves on the national committee and the director of the National Episcopal Cursillo Leadership Workshops.

This year’s conference was lively indeed with a strong representation from the Southeastern District. In fact, next year’s NECS will be hosted by our district at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in early October. We were welcomed this year by the Bishop of Southwest Texas who preached at our opening Eucharist and shared his experience as the Spiritual Director for Cursillo #247 in that diocese earlier this year.

Our keynoter this year was The Rev. Stephanie Spellars, the author of “Radical Welcome”. Her enthusiasm for including all sorts and conditions of God’s people is contagious. Her mission is particularly focused on those people who are often relegated to the fringes of the Church because of their race, gender, age, class, or orientation. Her message of care for, incorporation of, and transformation by the least of us is an important one for all of us to hear.

I also attended a fascinating workshop on Parish Based Cursillo weekends that holds out a model for doing Cursillo that includes larger teams, more involvement by members of the Servant Community, creative programming – and perhaps most importantly in this time of economic distress – a weekend that costs about one third of what the average Cursillo weekend is costing candidates now. I would love to have the opportunity to share more about this model. They have been doing in this way in the Diocese of Olympia for more than twenty years now very successfully.

There were many new resources available in the bookstore this year including a new Cursillo song book from the Diocese of Alabama and a CD version of the Cursillo library that can be easily updated each year. I hope more of our Cursillistas can join me for this amazing opportunity!

The Rev. Dr. James A. Johnson, Cursillo Spiritual Director +

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