In This Issue

• CURSILLO WEEKENDS 2004
• NEW CROWING TIMES EDITOR
• REMARKS FROM OUTGOING NECC REP
• OUTGOING LAY DIRECTOR'S CORNER
• LAY DIRECTOR'S CORNER
• SECRETARIAT HAPPENINGS
• SAYING GOODBYE TO OUTGOING SECRETARIAT MEMBERS
• COLORADO SECRETARIAT MEMBERS
• SECRETARIAT MEETINGS FOR 2004
• SERVANT COMMUNITY, PART I: WHAT IS IT?
• Cursillo #110 – August 28-31, 2003
• Cursillo #111, November 6-9, 2003
• FROM THE COMMUNICATIONS CHAIRMAN
• SECRETARIAT MEMBERSHIP LIST

CURSILLO WEEKENDS 2004

NEW CROWING TIMES EDITOR

Effective January 1, 2004, Jane Owens will be taking over as Crowing Times editor. Jane is a parishioner at St. Martin in the Fields in Aurora. The newsletter will continue to come out four times a year, beginning with a Spring issue. The deadline to have information submitted for the Spring issue of the Crowing Times is March 15, 2004. You can reach Jane by calling her at 303-699-5855 or e-mailing her at The_five_js@comcast.net.

Words cannot express our sincere thanks to Nancy Hause for five years of skilled and dedicated service as the Crowing Times editor. Bless you, Nancy.

REMARKS FROM OUTGOING NECC REP

November 25, 2003
De Colores,

It has been my pleasure for three years to serve as liaison between our diocese and the NECC. I am pleased to announce, that Martha Libby from the Diocese of Colorado has been elected as the laywoman representative of the Northcentral District for a one-year term. She will be eligible next year to be nominated/elected for a full three-year term. She is very knowledgeable of, and experienced with, the Cursillo method and has many strong leadership qualities. It is an honor and a practical advantage to again have an individual from our Diocese as a representative of the Northcentral District on the NECC. I pray that you will enjoy working with her in the future. Martha may be reached by email at MLibby4444@comcast.net. Also for the Northcentral District, The Rev. Tim Goodman from the Diocese of Springfield was elected for a three-year term as your Clergy representative to the NECC.

You may contact the National Episcopal Cursillo office for all of your Cursillo supplies: NEC Library, Group Reunion Cards, Meditation Guides, etc. Please refer to the NEC Home Page at http://www.episcopalcursillo.org or contact the NEC Office. For more information, the NEC Office has a Toll Free Phone Number: 1-877-ULTREYA or 1-877-858-7392.

I want to thank you again for the opportunity to serve as your representative on the NECC. It has been a very rewarding experience for me and I have enjoyed working with you these last few years.

Ultreya,
Marge Humphrey

Note: The liaison (Martha Libby) between our diocese and the NECC will be representing the following areas: Canada, Colorado, Eau Claire, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Northern Michigan, and Wyoming.

OUTGOING LAY DIRECTOR'S CORNER

We have set the Cursillo dates for 2004 and have negotiated new contracts with the various camps. There have been fee increases at two of the camps, so we have elected to go with different fees for each Cursillo weekend, depending on the costs for that facility. The application forms for 2004 will reflect the varying fee structure for the Cursillo weekends in 2004. The planned dates are 13-16 May at Camp Redcloud, south of Gunnison, at $120/person; 19-22 August at Highlands Presbyterian Camp, near Allenspark, at $145/person; and October 21-24 (tentative) at Rocky Mountain Village (i.e., Easter Seals Camp), near Georgetown, with fees at $125/person. We are in the process of designing and printing a new Cursillo poster for 2004 showing the dates and locations for Cursillo weekends around the state. Your church should get it in the mail shortly after the first of the New Year. Please make sure it gets posted in your church in a prominent place. We will also send out one copy of the new 2004 Work Applications and Sponsorship Applications. Each church can then make as many copies as they wish for 2004. Should you lose or use up your only copy, you may go to the Cursillo website for Colorado at http://www.cocursillo.org and download a copy of the Microsoft Word or PDF forms for either application and print more copies.

By the time you read this, I will be the former Lay Director for the Diocese of Colorado. Missi Kern was selected to be the new Lay Director at the October 2003 Secretariat meeting. I wish Missi and the current Secretariat well in their Cursillo endeavors. As you can imagine, this is the hard part for me. I feel very sad to be leaving the Secretariat after more than four years because of the wonderful people that I have worked with and the wonderful people that I have met throughout the state. I couldn't have asked for a warmer welcome than I have gotten from the Cursillo community in the 4-1/2 years I have been involved. The current by-laws dictate that I must rotate off the Secretariat after two terms of two years each. I can still work on teams (as can my wife, Linda, whose term on the Secretariat was also up). Actually, Linda and I have been blessed to serve on teams in three of the four areas of the diocese that put on Cursillo weekends in Colorado (east slope, west slope, and mid-mountain). The Cursillo movement in Colorado is alive and very well indeed.

We have also come a very long way in four years. We have had the first Cursillo weekends in the Four Corners and the Mid-Mountain areas during this time. This year, we had the first Day of Deeper Understanding and, under Martha Libby's leadership, we had a Colorado Episcopal Cursillo Leaders Workshop in June. Representation on the National Episcopal Cursillo Committee (NECC) grew from none to one (Marge Humphrey) from Colorado and attendance at the National Episcopal Seminars (NECS) grow from two to nine in the same time period. In July of 2003, thanks to the leadership of Sarah Freeman, Colorado hosted a quarterly meeting of the NECC in Denver.

Since I have not been on the Secretariat since the October elections, I am moving on to other tasks within the Colorado Cursillo. Linda and I will be leading Cursillo #112 in May 2004 at Camp Redcloud. After that, I don't know yet what the Lord has in store for me, but He has always found new ways to keep me busy. I don't intend to stop traveling around the state and greeting Cursillistas wherever I find them. So, you may see me at various Church and Cursillo events in the coming years. Cursillo has always been an important part of my life, and I believe it always will be. Goodbye, and may God bless each and every one of you.

Ultreya,
Alan McPeak

LAY DIRECTOR'S CORNER

There's something special about beginning a new year. It's a chance to start with a clean slate; to try again; to turn “should have's” into “we did it's”. The Secretariat is taking that “New Year” attitude as well. With more than half of the Secretariat positions turning over this year and those remaining having 2 or less years of experience, you can say we have a whole new look. Along with that new look we have a revitalized energy as well. At our first couple of meetings as a new body, we spent some time visioning about “Cursillo” in Colorado. We spent some time looking at where we are and where we want to go. I am very excited about the direction we are headed.

We discovered that we do “weekends” very well. We currently support three“weekends” a year with strong turnout from all around the diocese. That means we are adding 60 – 100 new Cursillistas to our community every year! WOW! Unfortunately, that's where we seem to be dropping the ball.

The focus for the Secretariat this year will be centered around the 4th day. What do we do when we come home? The goal of Cursillo is to bring Christ into our environments. It is a wonderful renewal weekend, but it shouldn't end there. The Cursillo method has a built in support system to help us accomplish our goal of evangelizing the world, but so many of us miss that message (all of the Sunday talks focus on this).

The first task the Secretariat has taken on is creating a Servant Community (spearheaded by Bernie Maly). The Servant Community will take over doing a lot of the “tasks” that the Secretariat has been doing over the course of several years. By moving these “tasks” out to more people, not only are we involving more community in the “workings” of Cursillo, but we are freeing up Secretariat members to focus on developing programs to increase understanding and participation in the 4th day.

Thank you to everyone who has already volunteered their time and talents to this service. If you would like to learn more about how you can get involved, please feel free to contact me or any Secretariat member at any time. All of our contact information is listed on page 6 and also is posted on our website at www.cocursillo.org, thanks to our wonderful “Web Servant” Mickey Jackson.

Ultreya, Missi Kern
Lay Director for the Diocese of Colorad

SECRETARIAT HAPPENINGS

Please join us in welcoming two new Secretariat members:

John Canady

Hello! I am now serving on the Secretariat for the third time since 1987 – having served on the Secretariat from 1988-1991 and 1996-1998. I became an Episcopalian in 1982 in Evanston, Wyoming, while working on a construction project. Later that year, I returned to Denver and became a member of Christ Church for about 15 years. I was introduced to Cursillo in 1986 and have worked on “about 5” weekend teams as a Rollista and table leader. Living in Denver most of my life, I moved to Boulder County in 2001 and have been a member of St. Ambrose in Boulder since last year.

Dee Settelmeyer

I am actually Diana Settelmeyer, but please call me Dee. I attend St. Martin-In-The-Field's in Aurora. It is my privilege and honor to complete Martha Libby's term on the secretariat.

I am a Denver native, have two grown children, and four grandchildren. I am a career “civil servant” and have worked for the Department of Defense for 30 years. If I had a hobby it would be dogs. I am a dyed in the wool animal lover and volunteered in the Denver animal rescue community for 11 years. I currently only have 4 dogs, 2 cats, and 2 horses.

I was raised at The Episcopal Church of St. Peter and St Mary, but also have attended St. Stevens in Aurora, and currently St. Martin's in the Field. I have been active in youth work and led several youth conferences at Trinity Ranch, have been a youth coordinator, and youth group leader. My ministries now are music and, of course, Cursillo. I began my Cursillo at #105 in Lake City and have served on teams for #107 and #110. I am very excited to be on the Secretariat and look forward to serving you as Education and Training Coordinator.

Saying Good-bye to Outgoing Secretariat Members

We wish to say “Thank You” and God Bless You for all the hard work the following have provided to the Colorado Cursillo movement: Daphna Russell, Billye Spaar, Linda McPeak, Martha Libby, Twyla Zittle and, of course, outgoing Lay Director, Alan McPeak. Don't be strangers!

TOP

COLORADO SECRETARIAT MEMBERS

Fr. Rex Chambers	Spiritual Advisor	970-453-6104	P.O. Box 8017	
Rex_chambers@yahoo.com		Breckenridge, CO  80424

Fr. Ed Nettleton	Spiritual Advisor	970-944-2466	P.O. Box 22
pilgrimsrest@lakecity.net		Lake City, CO  81235

Missi Kern	Lay Director	303-617-3177	5177 S. Pagosa St.
Mkern@chefamerica.co or	Centennial, CO  80015
cursillocrazy@aol.com

Joan Stewart	Asst. Lay Director	970-243-9842	c/o St. Matthews Church
kidsministry@bresnan.net		3888 – 27 ½ Road
			Grand Junction, CO  81506

Bernie Maly	Communications	303-988-7339	6820 W. Florida Ave.
jbmaly@aol.com			Lakewood, CO  80232

Sue Emerson	Treasurer	970-244-8700	390 W. Valley Cr.
zianutz@aol.com			Grand Junction, CO 81503

Karlan Rosenberg	3-Day Coordinator	970-468-6374	P.O. Box 3052
Karlan60@aol.com			Dillon, CO  80435

Diana (Dee)	Training	303-695-0746	14591 E. Atlantic Dr.
Settelmeyer			Aurora,  CO  80014
Diana.settelmeyer@dfas.mil  or  pakadee@msn.com

Neil Folks	Special Projects	970-824-0312	P.O. Box 870
oxbowf@my.amigo.net		Craig, CO  81626

Bonnie Bentson	Palanca Coordinator	970-241-7707	P.O. Box 428
bjbentson@aol.com			Grand Junction, CO  81502

John Canady	Pre-Cursillo	303-817-4053	3293 Madison Ave.
Jcanady720@msn.com		Boulder, CO  80303

Vacant	4th Day and Ultreya Coordinator

Vacant	Secretary

SECRETARIAT MEETINGS FOR 2004

Saturday, January 10		St. Matthew's Episcopal Church – Grand Junction
    11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Saturday, March 13		Location to be announced (TBA)
Saturday, July 10		Location TBA
Saturday, September 11	Location TBA
Secretariat election meeting in early October in conjunction with Episcopal Convention
Saturday, November 20	Location TBA

*Secretariat meetings are open to all cursillistas.

SERVANT COMMUNITY, PART I: WHAT IS IT?

A “servant community” is a Christian community in action made up of committed cursillistas who engage in ongoing tasks to support, maintain, and carry out the mission and function of the Cursillo movement. The diocesan secretariat, comparable in structural position to an Episcopal church vestry, is the body under the authority of the bishop which establishes and carries out policies to orient, guide, and serve the Cursillo movement. National Cursillo educational materials indicate that the Cursillo movement “demands only sufficient authority and a minimum organization to achieve it's purpose.” These materials further state that “For this reason the secretariat should be a rather compact body which sees itself primarily as a group reunion of those authorized to coordinate the function of the movement within the diocese.”

In our diocese (as in many others), the secretariat is a large group (12 in our case) which, in our view, “tries to do too much” because there is so much that needs doing to maintain the operation and functioning of the Cursillo movement in the diocese. There are a few hardworking and committed isolated individuals who do “servant community tasks,” in some cases huge tasks, for example the web master and especially the newsletter editor.

A primary decision and priority of the recent Episcopal Cursillo Leaders Workshop (ECLW) was that of establishing a large, dynamic, and effective servant community. It is the intent and design of those who created and defined the Cursillo movement that the extensive work that needs doing to maintain the Cursillo movement be done by such a different and larger group than the secretariat called a Servant Community. Part of the rationale and wisdom of the founders of the Cursillo movement in establishing the existence of the servant community concept and entity seemed to be that, if the ongoing work of supporting and maintaining the work of the movement is done by a very large group of individuals rather than a few, the abundance of work that needs to be done should likely get done much more thoughtfully, prayerfully, efficiently, proactively, thoroughly, and joyfully. Many individuals can focus on narrower, more limited projects and give those specific tasks greater energy and attention. Time commitments to such a body need not be for numerous years, thus even more people can participate and no one has to stay on “forever” and risk burnout.

Also, there are roles of the servant community noted in national Episcopal cursillo materials as more important than the physical tasks it performs. “The Servant Community”, a booklet in the national Episcopal Cursillo “library” (which is a collection of short booklets on various Cursillo topics compiled in a binder that any cursillista may purchase from “National” (phone 1-877-ULTREYA) describes the purposes or functions of a servant community. The first two functions of a servant community noted are it being: 1) “A place to form a Christian Community among the leaders of the movement” and 2) “A place for leadership development both spiritually and in the methodology of the movement.” Consequently, the servant community is not established to do something but to be something.” Only after identifying those does it state the third purpose of the servant community, that of it being “a place to do the work of the Cursillo movement.”

The community aspect of a servant community has been feasible to this point in our diocese only to a very limited extent due to long distances and the very small number of participants (one exception was a dynamic group who got together around the task of folding, labeling, etc. the Crowing Times and formed a spiritual bond and community through their common work together). In addition to the mandate of the ECLW to develop a large and active servant community, a recent response to the question of how important each current secretariat member felt developing a strong servant community is to the Cursillo movement in the diocese on a scale of one to 10, all present rated it a 10 as a highest priority. Though we believe we certainly do have a “real” and wholesome Cursillo movement in our diocese with many strengths, we support the emphasis of another comment in the National Episcopal Cursillo materials which states, regarding a Cursillo servant community that, “a local movement cannot be considered fully Cursillo unless it has one.”

We invite and encourage you to share our enthusiasm and energy about servant community. We especially covet your prayer support that God will bless and guide efforts to develop a strong servant community (“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Ps: 127:1). We believe that a very strong and effective servant community can contribute much toward the Cursillo goal of winning the world for Jesus Christ.

If you would like to find out about getting in on the “ground floor” of this extremely exciting endeavor, please contact Bernie Maly (303-988-7339, MAILTO:jbmaly@aol.com ) or Martha Libby (303-690-1112, mlibby4444@comcast.net).

Ultreya,
Bernie and Martha

Cursillo #110 – August 28-31, 2003

Cursillo #110 was held in August at Highlands Presbyterian Camp in Allenspark. The theme of the weekend was “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” And that's exactly what we did. The team grew close, and everyone worked hard to make this weekend an uplifting event for the 25 candidates.

The whole weekend went smoothly with only a few minor bumps in the road, the biggest one being having to hold Clausura inside because God chose that exact time to water His yard. (He hadn't watered all weekend; you would have thought He would have waited a couple more hours.) The music and music team was selected by Dee Settelmeyer, who was the music director for the weekend. They often had everyone moving with their renditions of several Contemporary Christian songs that you can hear on the radio per- formed by artists like The Newsboys. The Spiritual Director for the weekend was Father Rick Kautz. All of the talks were moving and heartfelt, and the candidates really bonded. All in all, we'd say it was a HUGE success. We welcome the new Cursillistas, who are:

Cursillo #111, November 6-9, 2003

The weather was great as was the fellowship and camaraderie at Cursillo weekend #111 at the Easter Seals Camp near Georgetown. The Lay Leader for the weekend was Scott Stewart. Many comments at Closura spoke of the awesome power of the love of God and his people that the new Cursillistas experienced. Bishop Rob O'Neil celebrated Eucharist and greeted each new Cursillista with a cross and a hug. The list of the 27 new Cursillista's is below: