History. In preparation for starting a United Church Cursillo in the Montreal area, several women and men from Roxboro United Church, including Rev. Dennis Dwyer, attended Roman Catholic Cursillo weekends. They, together with Catholic cursillo friends, put on our first men's and women's United Church Cursillo weekends in February and March 1987 respectively. The West-Island United Church Cursillo was born after those first weekends. After our second Cursillo weekends, which were held in the fall of 1987, the name was changed to Montreal United Church Cursillo. In all those years we have organized 73 weekends and more than 595 women and men have attended a Montreal United Church Cursillo weekend. The 595 include 40 who are ordained minister, most of whom were already ordained before their Cursillo weekend. Looking Back: 25th Anniversary Celebration. This was held on Saturday, April 28, 2012, at Knox-St. Pau; United Church in Cornwall, On. The theme was Reunion, Reflection, Relationships and Renewal (see poster here). Thanks to everyone who came out and participated. More than 60 people came out for a lovely day, filled with sunshine, music, witness, fellowship and food. Thanks to Gail McCooeye, Audrey Bronzan and Debbie Hoyland, who were all part of the planning process; to Dennis Dwyer, Tony Kinlough, Angus Dorrance, Moira Smith, Jim and Marg Madsen and Ian Smith, who were all involved and instrumental in the beginnings and growth of the early Montreal United Church Cursillo, and who shared some of their memories and/or music with us that day. Thanks to Rick Sheffer for guiding us through the day as master of ceremonies. Thanks to Cameron Gray, Ross Masters, Lisa Byer, Janice Barnes, Anne Banham, Eudora Welch, Eleanor Marshall and Colin Marshall for all their help in the set-up and clean-up, and keeping everything organized as the day progressed (I hope I didn't forget anybody!). It was good to see so many faces we hadn't seen for a while... although we did miss some of our stalwart supporters who weren't able to join us due to ill health or other commitments. Judy Coffin, President, Montreal United Church Cursillo. Upcoming Events.
Looking Forward. Our deepest apologies to those who don't have email and didn't receive a printed notification of the Anniversary event. This was the first tangible consequence of not yet filling our Communications position on Secretariat. In order to keep everyone in the loop, we need a volunteer who would be willing to send out news to the community by email, post and/or phone. Also, many of the current members of Secretariat, the organizing committee for our weekends and other events, will be reaching the end of their terms this summer. We are looking for people who are interested in planning the weekends for 2013 and onward, possibly for a one or two-year term. If you are interested in keeping Cursillo weekends happening, please let me know how you would be willing to get involved. If interested, please contact us by email (info@cursillo.org) Cursillo Communities. We currently have strong Cursillo communities in the West-Island of Montreal (Ste-Geneviève United Church, Roxboro United Church), the South Shore (Richelieu Valley United Church), the Rawdon area (Mid-Laurentian Pastoral Charge), and, in Ontario, in Cornwall (Knox-St.Paul's United Church), Kemptville (St. John's United Church) and Chesterville (Trinity United Church). Ultreyas. We gather regularly, the last Sunday of the month, for fellowship, singing and sharing of our faith at Ste-Geneviève United Church. Everybody is welcome at these gatherings, also called ultreyas. If you play an instrument, bring it along. For the schedule of the ultreyas and directions see here. Cursillo Road Shows.
A few
times per year a group of cursillistas goes on the road
and visits a church in either eastern Ontario or the greater
Montreal
area. We bring our special music and, after consultation with the
minister of that church,
we take part
in the Sunday worship service. Past and upcoming
road shows are described here.
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