The starting point of the entire Movement was the profound perception of a reality. That reality, as the founders saw it, was as simple as this: They saw a world with its back turned on God, Christ, and the Church. They had a deep-seated conviction that life had ceased to be Christian. They felt that this was because the influence Christianity had, on real life, was just about nonexistent – even in so-called Catholic circles.

Thus the founders saw that the whole world needed to be reconstructed, down to it’s very foundations. It needed to be transformed from savage into human, and from human into divine. The goal was clear:

to re-Christianize society which had ceased to be Christian. (F.I. # 17-18)

The Fundamental Ideas of the Cursillo Movement book defines the Movement as

“A movement of the Church which by means of its own method makes it possible for people to live what is fundamental for being a Christian, and to live it together; it helps people discover and fulfill their personal vocations, and it promotes the creation of core groups of Christians who leaven their environments with the Gospel.”

(F.I. #111)

The basic book of the Cursillo Movement, Fundamental Ideas states that direction of the Cursillo Movement in the Diocese is a shared one between the Bishop and the Diocesan Secretariat. While anything Catholic in a Diocese is the responsibility of the local Bishop, most Bishops are not that familiar with the workings of a movement and usually appoint a responsible party for it. In this case, the Diocesan Secretariat fulfills that function. (F.I. # 576)

The Secretariat should be organized or structured according to the needs, possibilities, and concrete circumstances of the given time and place. The number of its members and their responsibilities will be determined by the functions demanded for the fulfillment of its mission.

“Members of the Secretariat should come from the School of Leaders where they have already demonstrated (through their service to the Movement) their ability, competence, spirit of service, use and understanding of the method, humility, wisdom, and sanctity.”

(L.M. pg.41)

“The Secretariat is made up of Priests, Deacons, Vowed Religious and lay people. It is the responsibility of the Priests, Deacons, and Vowed Religious to provide spiritual direction and counseling, instruction on doctrinal matters, and guidance with respect to problems of conscience; the lay members are in charge of the organizational, methodological, and executive domains.” (F.I. # 588)

Pope Paul VI said in his Apostolic Exhortation on Evangelization in the Modern World that the Church’s essential mission is to evangelize (EN 14), which means bringing the Good News into all levels of humanity and society so as to transform them according to the Gospel(EN 18).

The Cursillo Movement emphasizes the role of the lay person in being an evangelizer in the family, neighborhood, place of work and with friends and acquaintances. Thus, the apostolic action of each cursillista is a concrete contribution to the work of evangelization.

is supposed to study their local environments and determine which ones

should be evangelized first. The National Secretariat asked all Diocesan

Secretariats to be aware of certain environments. This is reflected in

the following released statement: “Each Diocesan Movement is asked to study

the environments it finds itself immersed in and to establish a Pastoral

Plan for their transformation by means of the Cursillo method. All Diocesan

Movements, particularly those in the big cities, are asked to pay particular

attention to the following environments and to take concrete steps for

their Christianization:

-the advertising field

-the academic community

-the communication field

-the medical profession

-the political field.

The Cursillo Movement as a whole must make a concerted

effort to radically change the present environment of our country so that

it may be more Christian in its life and customs. The environments which

have a greater influence on the other environments and, consequently form

the lifestyle of our people, must have a priority in our apostolic planning.

Diocesan Secretariats are urged to begin selecting the key people in the

aforementioned environments and other important environments in accordance

with our Precursillo method. Plans should be made to link them together

as lay apostles, by means of friendship groups, environmental groups and

Ultreyas following their 3-day Cursillo. Using this method we are able

to transform this world, systematically, for Christ. This enables us to

fulfill our purpose within the pastoral work of the Church.”

(L.M. pg. 304/305)