ECDV Secretariat Meeting
Saturday, August 16, 2003
Minutes of the Meeting of the Secretariat of Cursillo in the Diocese of Virginia
Present were: David vanEsselstyn, Asst. Lay Director; Dave Wright, Treasurer; John Symonds, Region 1; Geoff Davis, Lay Director; Mark Hopkins, Region 12; Ed Schneider, Region 6; Sue Davis, Candidate Calling member. Quorum present.
Meeting convened at 9:45. Geoff opened with prayer. Group broke for grouping.
Minutes. There were no minutes to approve.
Committee Reports
1. Pre-Cursillo – not present
2. Three Day weekend – need to make corrections for the web site, still looking for SDs for the weekend, Ted Simpson (rector 127) is going to approach the Rev. Larry Packard. David vanEsselstyn offered to approach Bishop Jones to get personally involved. Geoff asked Mark Hopkins to begin looking at dates for 2005.
3. 4th Day – Ed is looking at where to hold the Day of Deeper Understanding for weekend 127. It will be a one day event, possibly in Fredericksburg at Trinity Church. Geoff asked Ed to work with David on the planning for the community weekend in spring.
4. Communications – not present
Treasurer’s Report. Dave Wright presented his report. Report looked at income deficit and asked the question: how are we going to raise money to meet our weekend and operating costs? Also highlighted the need for a CPA review of our records. Recommended that we look at raising the fees for weekends. Discussion on how much we need to raise rates to cover current costs. Question raised on how much we currently have in the scholarship fund. Dave will check with Walt Testrake on that accounting. Dave will provide recommendations on rate increase schedule for the next several years to keep pace with inflation increases. Current fees fall well short of covering costs at Front Royal.
Weekend 125 report – Ed Schneider – biggest issue for the weekend was clergy support. Core team obtained clergy support and because they were called so late, they were not available for Sunday afternoon. Systemic problem with clergy service. Had to adjust talk scheduling because of clergy departure which caused rushing at the end of the weekend. Recommendation is that earlier and longer range scheduling might ease the clergy scheduling. Held open Manunitas which was comprised almost entirely of sponsors…almost all of whom also came to Closing. Managed to maintain community separation so as not to break community. Did not feel that the Community was behind the weekend. Used team shirts and explained team use of the shirts as Community sacrifice which all participants seemed to understand. Thought that the pack-up went very well with significant support from the women of Team 126. Compliments to the staff at Shalom. Switched the large meal to lunch with a lighter meal at dinner which seemed to help. Draft team training manual calls for Rollos to be 10 minutes in length which seems too short to cover the material in the talk outlines. Again, clergy assignment and participation was the biggest problem. Additional comments – even though there were team shirts and open Manunitas, the weekend did adhere to the guidelines. Agape was done as a late desert supported by the Glen Allen Ultreya. Recommendations for leadership : Bob Drake or Trig Dupree (music)
Weekend 126 report – Sue Davis – team selection produced a very diverse geographic team. Had two team members also acting as sponsors which caused some focus issues. Team meetings/formation process was three-fold (spiritual undergirding, community building, specific team role preparation). Each meeting included these three elements. Team blessed by two very involved clergy members. Core team met from 9-10 am and then full team met for balance of meeting times. Included Myers-Briggs and spiritual gifts survey, and spiritual journey into team training. Contributed to excellent team cohesion. Did team training at St. George’s, Fredericksburg which worked out very well for geographically spread composition of team. Team referred to candidates as “new cursillistas” starting at the introductions on Thursday evening. Noticed that in Team Training Manual there is no clear definition for the Assistant Rector. Created task separation for Head Cha and Assistant Rector. Recommends anyone from the core team for leadership roles in the future. Compliments to the facilities at Shalom House. The small size of the weekend made for a far more intimate experience and team got to know ALL of the new cursillistas more fully. Set up the dining area as the Rollo room and thus was able to have a lounge area. Did summary at end of each day instead of after specific Rollos that seemed to provide better review. Agape was simple as Saturday night dinner done a little bit fancier with tablecloths, etc. Richmond 4th Day community provided excellent support with flowers and set up. Several of the candidates had done research on the web site and came specifically because of the “back to the basics” theme information they found there. Closed Manunitas worked very well because it allowed a more peaceful and less intrusive event. Closing was well attended by the community and as of this date 10 of the new cursillistas are in group reunions. Holding the “Peace” until after the dismissal worked very well. Crosses were given out after the Christian Life Rollo which seemed to make good theological sense. Team Training manuals were used but mostly used Authentic Weekend booklet from Library. Recommendation for leadership:
Diane Wenz, BC Cockrell, Carol Grainger (highly qualified to be music leader), Laura Peterson, Corrie Wierbach, Barbara Lovelace, Susan Batla, Mary Sellers, Debbie Trowbridge (music and other leadership). Supplies – Unable to get inventory of what was stored at Grace Church. Recommendation made to have realistic list compiled of what actual supplies are needed for a weekend. Geoff said that Three-day weekend committee needs to come up with this listing. Concluding comments was that the weekend was a very spiritual weekend.
Weekend 127 Has full team minus spiritual directors, and 23 applications for new cursillistas. Discussion of “tag team” clergy usage came to conclusion that this does not work well because of lack of continuity and too great a burden on the one clergy person regular. Geoff asked David to meet with Bishop Jones about need for clergy for weekend 127 and to broach the issue of inviting and paying for the transportation for the Rev(s) Cox from Maine.
Team Manuals Comments from the past two rectors to be turned in to Mark Hopkins
Status of revised by-laws Need another month for review and to get Bishop Jones’ comments. Proposal is to plan on approval at the September meeting.
2004 weekends Briefed that there will be a community weekend in the April/March timeframe and one co-ed weekend in October.
Introduction of Sue Davis as the new Candidate caller for a three year term. Request that the address on the applications be held constant. Ed Schneider has offered as palanca to pick up mail and then forward to the appropriate address. Sue asked for direction on process. Clergy will always go to the top of the list. All others are done first-in, first-out. Invitation letters are to go out as soon as the team is formed. It was recommended that the term “deadline” for applications be removed and that applications normally be accepted up to two weeks prior to the weekend and later application be accepted only with approval of the Lay Director and weekend rector(a) after that.
Check made out to pay for the Lay Director’s registration fee for the National Episcopal Cursillo Seminar in 2003.
Date for team 127 commissioning to be announced.
Closing prayer offered by David vanEsselstyn. Meeting adjourned at 1:15 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
David vanEsselstyn
Assistant Lay Director
Acting secretary
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