Ely Cursillo

There are two indispensible parts of Cursillo:

• The three-day residential Cursillo weekend;
• The ongoing programme and network of meetings and activities.

1. The Cursillo Weekend

A Cursillo weekend is three days long – usually from early Thursday evening to late Sunday afternoon.

A team of lay people and clergy, all of whom have experienced a Cursillo weekend,.

The Eucharist is celebrated daily. Worship together is at the heart of all that takes place on the weekend. During the three days you will hear talks given by both lay and clergy members of the team on some of the fundamental elements of Christian life and faith, including ideals, grace, faith, sacraments, study and action. You will also have the opportunity to discuss these talks in small groups.

The programme is busy and varied, but there are also times for prayer and for quiet reflection.

Learning, praying, sharing, singing, and living together is the basis of discovering what it means to say: "We are the body of Christ."

A Cursillo weekend is a mystery - a mystery of Christ's endless love for us played out through Christian Community.

The Cursillo weekend is not intended to be an end in itself. After the weekend the Cursillo method offers continuing support.

The Cursillo weekend is three days long but - it lasts a lifetime. We call this the ‘Fourth Day’.

2. Other activities

• We are encouraged to grow in faith and to develop our individual gifts as we try to serve the Lord in all aspects of our lives: in our families, work places, and congregations.

Cursillo provides us with a means of support through:

Group Reunions - regular, short, meetings of three or four people for mutual support and encouragement - set within a framework of prayer, study and action.

Area Meetings (Ultreyas) - larger meetings, held every few weeks, short enough to fit into a busy life, for both lay people and clergy who have participated in a weekend. There is a pattern of informal worship, Christian witness, and sharing in small groups - to strengthen us for service in the world.

Occasional one-off events – either an evening or a one-day event for fun and faith-sharing.

All of these activities are open to people who have not attended a Cursillo weekend, as well as to those who have. Indeed, Cursillo positively encourages people to get involved in the Fourth Day before even attending a weekend – this was how the original Cursillo method developed, through small groups meeting regularly to share faith, study and action. So if you ’d like to know more about Cursillo , you ’re welcome to come along.

If you would like to go on a Cursillo Weekend

• Cursillo weekends are run regularly by Ely Anglican Cursillo. For dates of forthcoming weekends, see the Diary page
• Get in touch with someone on the Secretariat page who will let you have more information and a list of dates and venues.
• Pray about it and seek God's guidance.
• Start going to a local Cursillo reunion group to see what it is like. Contact us for more details.