Mass for the Members of the Cursillo Movement

Celebrated By Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Brigid's Church, North Fitzroy,
on Saturday, 10th June, 2006, at 11.00am

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Together with your Chaplain, Father Delmar Silva, and Mabel Carbonetti, your President, and all of you, I wish to celebrate this Mass thanking God for the blessings of twenty years of the Hispanic Cursillo Movement in the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

I know that you wish to bear witness to the presence of God and the fruits of the Spirit in your lives and the dynamic Movement of Cursillo makes us all open to the Spirit whose gifts we celebrate at Pentecost.

As we call to mind our sins, let us ask that the light of the Gospel may permeate our lives and be a more compelling force in our society.

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I have always admired the Cursillo Movement since its origin in Spain in the 1940s. Your story is filled with adventure, new discoveries and works of dedication to your sharing about the state of the world and how to become effective in your efforts to renew the light of Christ in it.

I pay deep tribute to the work of Father Michael Shadbolt in beginning the Cursillo work and the successive Chaplains, Father Jose Maria, Father Bruno Morotti, Father Mario Videla, Father Lauro Ruffo, Father Giovanni Pagnin, Father Alberto Hernandez and currently Father Delmar Silva and Father Lupito Hernandez.

A priest is another Christ and a testimony to the presence of God. In teaching, holiness and example he brings to us something of the impact of the Gospel so that its power will reach deep into our hearts.

Your dynamic response, seeking to renew the light of Christ in the world, is a typical and powerful example of the call given to all Christians to a deeper union with Christ. Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, "People do not put new wine into old wine skins, otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out and the skins are ruined. Rather they pour new wine into fresh wine skins and they are both preserved." (Matthew 9:17)

Jesus did not come simply to re-state what was already taught by the Pharisees or Mosaic Law. Today we are in a world of the new evangelisation and traditionally the work of evangelisation is the making of converts, baptising non-believers into the Christian community and the Catholic Church. Once the convert is baptised or received into the Church, the work of evangelisation is done.

But we know there is a reality that people need to be continually energised for the further reception of the Sacraments and for their spiritual life. This was often left to the parish and many converts have fallen away. Once vibrant Christian countries have become even post-Christian nations.

Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II believe that the goal of new evangelisation is not baptising or increasing the number of new Church members, it is completing the mission of Christ and revitalising the members of the Church by leading those who do not know Jesus intimately into a personal deep relationship with him. Pope John Paul says, "The new evangelisation is not a matter of merely passing on doctrine, but rather of a personal and profound meeting with the Saviour." So the process of conversion begins with someone who already claims to know Jesus and be his follower. So the focus of the Cursillo Movement and of the new evangelisation is our own deeper conversion to Christ and consequently to the Gospel he preached.

In the life of each of us there are deep corners where the light of the Gospel has not yet penetrated and we discover that by fostering a deep personal relation with Christ.

Not all are called to go to foreign missions, to engage in street preaching or seek out non-Christians for conversion, but we are all called to evangelise one another; friends, acquaintances, family members, fellow Catholics and fellow Christians. Pope John Paul even said in Redemptoris Missio No 3, "I sense that the moment has come to commit all the Church's energy to a new evangelisation and to the mission ad gentes. No believer in Christ can avoid the supreme duty" to proclaim Christ to all people.

There are a number of things that are challenges for Cursillo and for all of us in the Church. Here they are -

1. New evangelisation is directed at Catholics seeking to deepen their relationship with Christ.
2. We all need the person of Christ to enlighten the dark corners of our lives where the Gospel has not penetrated.
3. We want to deepen the religious experience and commitment of nominal believers and call them back to active participation in the Church.
4. We seek to re-evangelise traditionally Christian countries that have been weakened by secularisation.
5. We are invited to use new methods, new technologies, and new ways of communicating.
6. The new evangelisation involves all members of the Church and in particular, the laity.

From your early days at Saint Francis you know that you have been conspiring to serve God and it is the Lord's grace that has supported you through this twenty years. The new evangelisation means deep conversion for each of us. This twenty years is a new moment of challenge. It means an invitation that each of us offers to a deeper love and knowledge of Jesus Christ because he is the light of the world.

May his light shine in our darkness and inspire us now and always.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.