From 12th to 14th October Australian Anglican Cursillo sent a Team to Hong Kong at Archbishop Paul Kwong’s request to run the first Cursillo there. It was a mixed Cursillo and in addition to the Team there were 14 locals who attended.

It was held at the Silesian Retreat on Cheung Chau Island which is about 6 km south west of Hong Kong and 45 minutes by slow ferry (or 20 mins by fast ferry). There are 3 members from Newcastle Diocese who were in the Team.

Please pray for the contiued development of Cursilloin Hong kong – the theme was “Fan into Flame the Gift of God in You”

Attached are some photos and a short report to read

HK #1 Review

There is a role for Cursillo in Church Growth: A proposal was tabled at Secretariat from Bruce and Helen Fraser suggesting that Cursillistas from the Diocese donate to a fund to sponsor the attendance of interested Ordinands at Cursillo weekends.

We are all no doubt conscious that trainees can be under much pressure, and how incredible it would be for them not to have one more payment to make.
Perhaps many of you do give additionally to your annual $20 contribution; but many more might  be prepared to take on a commitment to give an additional sum to be set aside for such Apostolic Action. The contribution might even be sent to thank God for the life of a past stalwart of Cursillo, a family member or a friend.
This would encourage some of our newer Clergy to understand the benefits of Cursillo in their Parish. It was felt that this, initiative would create greater support from our clergy to the benefit of the Cursillo Movement, for Cursillo Weekends, for our Parishes and our Diocesan family.
Bishop Peter has sanctioned and embraced the idea with his blessings.
A motion was passed re the establishment of this fund and that all Fourth Day Communities should be encouraged to support it.
Donations of any amount would be gratefully accepted :

Cheques should be made out to:  Newcastle Anglican Cursillo and sent to PO Box 174, Waratah, 2298;  or direct deposit BSB 032501 a/c 130926; reference Ordinand Sponsorship donation.

In addition could our new treasurer Colleen Read be e-mailed and notified of the deposit at colleen.read@bigpond.com
Thanks – De Colores and Ultreya
Lyn Carter and Bill Nicolle

Diocesan Co Lay Directors

2018 Men’s Weekend at Tahlee which was sponsored by Cursillo.  Good golf – Great talks –  & witness Speakers.

It was open to all men whether affiliated with the Church or not. Our main speaker  Archdeacon Arthur Copeman gave a very positive impetus to our theme  Ecclesiastes: Living in the Real World.   The supporting speakers were :

• Rob Marsh (witness speaker) Tea Gardens
• Rev Peter Adkins (evangelist)
• Graham Johnstone (counsellor)
• David Deane (apologist)

Check out photos from the weekend (courtesy of Grant Killen) at:

http://newcastleanglican.org.au/anglican-mens-weekend/

If you missed this year’s event – keep an eye out for next year.

Our new Secretariat for 2018 can be found by clicking the tab ‘About’ above and following the prompts. The Diocesan Ultreya was held on Sat 18 November 2017 at the Cathedral.  The Dean of Newcastle,  Revd Canon Katherine Bowyer welcomed us.  Even after the change of dates there were over 100 present. 

Welcome to new members Revd. Chris Bullock, Colleen Read, Gail Iles, Steve & Lyne Parsons; our new Co-LD Bill Nicolle and Spiritual Advisor Revd. Michelle Hazel-Jawhary – our great appreciation goes to all retiring members – thanks for a task well done! Please

keep the Secretariat in your prayers that they may be guided in the Cursillo programme for 2018 and that our Father will richly bless their efforts. It is a great privilege to be on Secretariat, but also a great challenge and each of us need to support them in prayer and action. Remember Christ is counting on us!

• M47 LD is David Marsh and W47 LD is Jane Sinclair – Please also keep them & their Teams in Prayers. And IT’S TIME to start praying & looking for Candidates in your Parish, at your work-place & in your environments. Lets Apostolic Action it TODAY!

Bishop Election Synod:  was held on 24th & 25th November & elected Bishop Peter Stuart as our new Diocesan Bishop. Congratulations Bishop Peter, you have always been a great supporter of Cursillo.

Please keep Bishop Peter in your prayers as he prepares to lead the Diocese into a healthy future.

National Cursillo Secretariat meeting was in Adelaide from 22–24 September 2017: An excellent gathering where nine Diocese from around Australia attended led by our National Lay Director Roger O’Hara. With Bishop Ian Palmer as our National Spiritual Director and Rev. Steve Niland as National Spiritual Adviser. Brian Walsh and Lyn Carter were the Newcastle delegates at this gathering. The theme for the weekend was psalm 23 with a special emphasis on the last two verses.

“ you prepare a banquet for me, where all my enemies can see me; you welcome me as an honoured guest and fill my cup to the brim. I know that your goodness and love will be with me all my life; and your house will be my home forever”.

  Topics discussed were as  follows:-

1. Treasurers report. National Secretariat Income and a concern for it to meet ongoing financial commitments.

Unfortunately there are now six Diocese where the Cursillo arm has entered into recession. This limits the amount of income that is received. A motion was carried unanimously that annual contributions should increase from $330p.a. To $400p.a. for Diocese with more than 500 members; and $270p.a. For those with less. It was felt that this was a modest increase to help overcome financial stress caused by diminishing contributors. It is to commence from 2018, and is the first increase in a number of years.

2. National web page.

Currently out of date and under review, with Philip Barrington from Newcastle taking over responsibility asap.

3. Piece by piece Cursillo.

Some discussion was held relating to bringing the Cursillo experience to older folk on a piece by piece basis. No decisions made – simply an idea. A whole 3 day weekend it was felt was quite a challenge to some of our older folk.

4. A condensed 3day Cursillo weekend.

Bathurst Diocese have trialled a 3day weekend which involves giving the “ideal” talk on the Thursday night to allow an hour for reflection/rest on the Friday afternoon. Also a condensing of talks and other parts such as the poster time to allow for this “rest” time on the Saturday afternoon which it was felt was needed (particularly for the elderly). The way of the cross was also replaced by a condensed version of the Passion.  The healing service was held at night in order to allow as much time as was needed without the constriction of  a compliance with the lunch break. This brief report was submitted as a result from a trial in 2017 by Bathurst with the intention that it may appeal to others.

5. “Marriage as a sacrament” and then “The Plebiscite”.

There was considerable discussion after the topic was introduced by Rev. Steve Niland and supported by Bishop Ian in relation to the current Christian position on the plebiscite vote. It was rather lengthy but very informative and during the presentation it was inferred that the decision of individuals should be made from an assessment of bible-based Christian morality.

6. The two day option.

This had been trialled by Perth with considerable condensation. Only one song per talk, the talk was to be limited to strictly 10 minutes and no posters other than a poster depicting the theme of the weekend. There was no meal afterward and the weekend finished around 3.00 pm on the Sunday. The experiment was reasonably successful according to the presenter although was exhausting and did not seem to appeal to the meeting with much enthusiasm.

7.  Yearly meetings

It was decided to only have one National Secretariat meeting per year as from 2018 because it was no longer necessary to have more, in view of the declining numbers of 3day Cursillo weekends held each year. The 1+2+1 model was introduced when a number of Cursillo 3day weekends were the norm per year and assessment and suggested changes may have been necessary. New members of the National Secretariat executive are now given a 1 + 3 meeting tenure with the first meeting a “getting to know”the responsibilities of the position.

Meetings for the next 3 years will be :-

2018  Cairns for North Queensland. Around August date to be confirmed.

2019  Possibly Melbourne as a “palanca” from National Secretariat in the hope that Melbourne can be brought out of recession. If that cannot be arranged then Perth.

2020 Newcastle as a celebration of its 30 years anniversary. Secretariat meeting and National Gathering combined.

8. Election of National Lay Director. 

The meeting elected our own Jim Warland as the next NLD and for his tenure to commence in 2018 from the Cairns meeting. Jim takes over from Roger O’Hara our current NLD and we congratulate Jim on this very privileged position and look forward to his leadership as our prayers and good wishes accompany him in this role   

9.  Saturday night – Adelaide Cursillo arranged a very pleasant Saturday night social evening and dinner with a well presented series of songs by a local accomplished musician and song writer who entertained us during the evening. The Saturday night was a celebration  for SA Cursillo 25th anniversary.

Final Eucharist

Bishop Ian Palmer led us in the final Eucharist prior to lunch on the Sunday and wished us all a safe and secure journey as we returned to our homes.

Conclusion.

The weekend gathering was very well received by all in attendance. Adelaide Cursillo did a magnificent job organising the accommodation, catering and conferencing facilities. The  resulting  close binding of the various Cursillo representatives was evident and appreciated. The real benefit from these weekends comes in the form of  sharing ideas and giving support to those Cursillo groups around Australia that need assistance, especially in the form of combined prayer and confidence from experienced people.  Northern Queensland will host the next combined secretariat meeting in Cairns and Robyn and Marcia Hyde expressed an appreciation for the assistance Newcastle has been able to provide in their challenges relating to the establishment of Cursillo in that place.        De Colores & Ultreya!    Brian Walsh