Cursillo Newsletter

Men’s Cursillo #206 will begin on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 8:00 PM at Our Lady of Mercy Church, 837 Bartlett Road, in Harborcreek, PA. Fathers Tom Brown, Dennis Veltri and Deacon Bob Ball will join Rector Doug Schenberg and his assistant, Arco Wasserman, and their team: Chief Warden Tim Gunter, Wardens Mike Rowe, Joe Tarquinio, John Bobango, Co-Warden Troubadours John Pontoriero and Chuck Cochran, as well as Auxiliaries Pat Flatley, Mike Giannamore, Jeff Hickin, TJ Robison and Steve “Lefty” Lawrie.

The Holy Hour to support this Cursillo will happen on Saturday, March 21, 2009, 9:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Mercy Church, with Fr. Phil Oriole presiding.

Palanca must be dropped off by Friday, March 20, 2009 at the following sites: 1) St. Mark Church, 695 Smithson Ave. in Lawrence Park, Mon. – Thurs. 9:00 AM– 3:30 PM, Friday before 11:00 AM, 2) Al’s Awning Shop, 1721 West 26^th St. in Erie, Mon. – Thurs. only between 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM, 3) Kelly’s Sewing Corner, 3330 West 26th St. in Erie, Village West, Mon. – Thurs. only between 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM, 4) For Art’s Sake Gallery, (474-3033) 7547 West Ridge Rd., Rt. 20, Fairview, Tues. – Thurs. 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM, Fridays 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM, 5) Hofmann’s Church and Religious Goods, 420 East 26^th St. in Erie, between 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM, Mon. – Thurs., Fri. before 11:00 AM, 6) The Cursillo Office, 521 East 3^rd Street in Erie, Mon. – Thurs. 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM, Fri. 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM. After 11:00 AM on Friday, Palanca should be taken directly to the Cursillo site.

The set up will be Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 6:30 PM. The Thursday Night Snack is the responsibility of the assigned committee. The Friday Morning Breakfast (be there at 7:00 AM) is the responsibility of St. Mark, Mt. Calvary & St. James Parishes. Friday Luncheon (be there at 12:30 PM) is the responsibility of St. Gregory (North East), St. Boniface, Holy Rosary, St. John the Baptist and St. Patrick Parishes. Friday Supper (be there at 6:15 PM) is the responsibility of Our Lady of Mercy, St. George, St. Paul, St. Julia Parishes. Saturday Morning (be there at 7:00 AM) is the responsibility of St. Joseph, St. Peter, Mt. Carmel, Sacred Heart, and Holy Trinity parishes. Saturday Luncheon (be there at 12:45 PM) is the responsibility of Blessed Sacrament, Our Lady of the Lake, All Saints and St. Jude parishes. Saturday Supper (be there at 6:45 PM) is the responsibility of Holy Cross, Our Lady of Peace, St. Andrew, St. John (Girard) and St. Lawrence (Albion) Parishes. Sunday meals (be there at 7:00 AM and 11:30 AM) are the responsibility of Elk/Cameron Counties.

The parishes assigned to the Closing Luncheon this month will be Holy Cross (Fairview), Our Lady of the Lake (Edinboro), St. Gregory (North East) and St. Hedwig. Parish Coordinators are reminded of their responsibility to inform their parishioners of this duty. You are asked to bring these casseroles or desserts in disposable containers right to the kitchen. Thank You!

For cancellations and additions to the Cursillo list, call the Cursillo office at 456-2948, Denise McCaleb Brown at 454-5801 or check the web site (bulletin board), which is updated regularly.

The next Erie Ultreya is scheduled for April 3, 2009 at St. Hedwig Church, 521 East 3rd Street in Erie at 7:30 p.m. The regular program of the Celebration of Eucharist, our sharing program and our closing social period will be observed. Babysitting is available at this site. Parents – Please Note: TJ and Erica Robison have graciously taken over the task of watching our little ones. Please be sure to sign your child in before the Ultreya (don’t just send them down). Also, please call them in advance so they will know the ages of the children and can prepare appropriate activities for them. They can be reached at 814-746-1585 (cell). Check the dates and times of other Ultreyas in the Diocese in your area newsletters.

Prayers Department: Our deepest sympathy and prayers go out to the loved ones and friends of Rev. Msgr. John Mignot, Rev. William J. Maloney’s brother, John Pearson, Robert Kosiorek, Sr., Ann D’Angio, Donna McClellan, Chuck Byerly’s wife, Bill Steger’s mother, Mary Margaret Torrance’s father, and all those of whom we are unaware. On our sick and recovering from sickness list we find, Babe Chick Florence Duchnowski, Margaret McCurdy, Jean Keck, Carolyn McClellan, Jane O’Leary, Joel and Darcie White’s son, Eric and Sarah Dolph’s infant son, Jacob Dean, Kairos brother Ron George, Dave and Martha Jones’ daughter, Rose Tarquinio’s daughter, Gary Drapcho’s mother, Chuck Faytak’s mother, Barb Cross’s mother, Chris (Moose) Fuhrman’s mother, Chris Robson’s father, Cindy Srnka’s brother, Mary McIntosh’s uncle, Jean Urash’s uncle, as well as all those of whom we are unaware.

As always, keep our seminarians, women and men religious candidates, as well as our deacon candidates and their wives in your prayers. Please remember the next Men’s Koinonia #75, scheduled March 20-22, 2009 and Women’s Koinonia #76, scheduled for April 24-26, 2009, both being held at Chautauqua.

We would also like to congratulate Jay and Janet Chandley on the birth of their second daughter, Jodie Lynn.

For the Good of the Movement: 1) The Men’s Cursillo Choir will be joining in the Celebration of the Eucharist at Saint Thomas Parish, 203 West Washington Street in Corry on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at their 5:00 p.m. Mass. Practice will be at 4:00 p.m. Mass will be followed by a meal provided by the Corry Catholic Community Cursillistas. Those attending are asked to bring a dessert to share with the group. 2) Thank you once again to the GR from Women’s Cursillo #201, Teresa Wilczynski, Debbie Bartone, Maureen Herbst and Patti Matczak, who are creating a beautiful hand-made 75” x 90” quilt done in beige and neutral colors. These dedicated women are selling tickets $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00. All proceeds will, again, benefit the Cursillo Movement. Drawing will be held at the annual picnic on August 8, 2009. Please support these wonderful women so they can exceed last year’s donation. 3) You are invited to attend Companions on the Way, a focus of spirituality experiences – for a day – for a weekend – for a week. These are popular retreats from the writings of Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister. For more information, please contact the retreat facilitator, Carolyn Gorny-Kopkowski, OSB, at 814-452-6318 or Email her at spirituality@mtstbenedict.org. 4) Reminder: Banners and palanca must be picked up after each Cursillo. The office cannot be responsible for keeping and holding on to these things. 5) “Are you or someone you know in a struggling marriage?” During challenging times, many couples find that the problems they face – personal, financial, emotional and others – cause them to grow apart rather than closer together. Retrouvaille is a helpful, confidential program designed for couples who are experiencing difficulties of many kinds in their marriages. The Retrouvaille weekend will be held March 6-8 in Erie County; for confidential registration information, call 814-437-9377 or visit their website at 222.retrouvaille.org. As Cursillo nourishes a hungry soul, so Retrouvaille helps to heal a wounded marriage. 6) There was some confusion on the date of this year’s Third Annual Fr. Tex 2009 Cursillo-Koinonia Golf Tournament. Just to set the record straight, it is scheduled this year for Saturday, August 29, 2009 at the Corry North Hills Golf Course. Hope to see you there. 7) The K.I.S.S. Dance, again, was a huge success thanks to the “Has-Beens”. This year the proceeds raised went to People for Life, and received a check in the amount of $1, 337.95. Thank you to everyone who made this possible. 8) PLEASE - We need your help… Our Cursillo newsletter is going as paperless as possible effective March 15, 2009 to save on mailing costs and to keep our mailing list as current as possible. We need you to submit your contact information so we can eliminate the old mailing system. Our data entry team has gone back approximately four years to Men’s Cursillo #186 and Women’s Cursillo #192. This is when we began taking e-mail addresses. If you have had any changes since then, please e-mail your updated census information form which can be found on the Erie Cursillo website. All others, without computer access, we absolutely need your mailed information so we can continue to send the newsletter to you. Please do not call the Cursillo office with your contact information, as this will only complicate the data entry process. We appreciate your help with updating our Cursillo Census and also for helping reduce expenses for the Cursillo Movement. Thank you in advance for your cooperation – DeColores!

Full Name first household member: ________________________________ Male q Female q

Phone (Home or Cell) (____) _____________ E-mail address __________________________

Parish _____________________________________________ Cursillo made ______________

Full Name second household member: _____________________________ Male qFemale q

Phone (Home or Cell) (____) _____________ E-mail address ___________________________

Parish _____________________________________________ Cursillo made ______________

________________________________ City _______________ State ____ Zip code ________

Additional Cursillistas at the address ________________________________ Male qFemale q

Cursillo made _____________ Additional information _________________________________

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You should know that our annual appeal has really put our finances on solid grounding. The response has been tremendous and better than expected. Many thanks to Joe Hoag who has helped us organize this whole effort - including installing and setting up the software, entering data, and especially for cleaning up our database. And, to many volunteer data entry people! And, Scott Lee, our printer - what great teamwork!

As of this writing, $ 23,592 was pledged and a goodly portion collected. We're doing really great - some of this has already been "salted away" for the future! And pledges keep coming in, so it's not too late.

When new appointments were made to the various Secretariat committees and Cursillo weekend responsibilities, we tried hard to contact every person - asking new people to step up to help - thanking the ones who have so graciously helped in the past. Some people apparently didn't get contacted, although we did make attempts to do so. This caused a little anguish on everyone's part. We apologize for the slip-ups and promise to do better next year.

Our movement thrives on the terrific generosity of people who have agreed to take on responsibilities to make great things happen. If you were missed, it was unintended. Please know that each and every person who pitches in - from the set up and clean up "stay in the background" volunteers to the "limelight" positions - is essential and God's grace flows all around our candidates as a result. We take our cue from the Ash Wednesday Gospel, "And your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you!" (Matt. 6:4,6,18)

As we continue on our ways through "the days of hope and mystery" (a song title in Oregon Press hymnals), we are touched with Spring and Love. The old English word for Lent means springtime - and if you live anywhere near northwestern Pennsylvania, you'll agree it can't come soon enough. And, as we ponder the events of the past, we become aware more and more of the many signs of God's love - and we ourselves begin to see Lent as the time to become better lovers.

So, let us make our way toward our own New Life in the Reign of God - the Reign of Love. May your Lent be - not a burden or endurance contest - but rich and energizing.

Cursillo Newsletter

March, 2009

521 East 3^rd Street

Erie, PA 16507

Phone: (814) 456-2948

Fax: (814) 454-8096

Web site: www.eriecursillo.org