ECDV Secretariat Meeting
Saturday, May 19, 2001
Minutes of the Meeting of the Secretariat of Cursillo in the Diocese of Virginia
The meeting was held at the home of the Assistant Lay Director, John Symonds.
Present were: John Symonds, Father Howard Humphrey, Joe Kokalas, Walt TeStrake, Mark Hopkins, Geoff Davis and Connie Smith.
The meeting began at 9:40, with grouping, after some announcements.
First, important announcements about contact information. John Symonds has a new email address: jsymonds@mwc.edu Mark Hopkins has a new address and phone number: Mark Hopkins, 13029 Chimney Stone Court, Richmond, VA 23233 804/364-6549.
Several people had printed out the new newsletter to bring to the meeting, some in color. Great to see it!
Minutes. The minutes of the March (not Marcy) meeting were approved. A condensed version, without proper names, will be sent to Joe Kokalas for inclusion on the web page. The minutes were unanimously approved.
Treasurer’s Report. The Secretariat agreed that the budget should go on the Web page, and the first page summary of the report. Geoff moved and Howard seconded acceptance of the report; it was unanimous. Walt will send the necessary materials to Joe Kokalas.
Web site. Joe Kokalas demonstrated what he has created so far; it clearly represents a great deal of work! He asked who receives applications? Right now, they go to the Seminary Road address. It should be noted, however, that the form with the newsletter has the Diocese address on it. The applications go to Ed; he sends the checks to Walt and sends the applications on to Jan Welch. The team applications go to Peter Demaree. Ed would like to see the newsletter linked to the Web page, with just a notice indicating the posting of a new edition. SkyBis or SkyBoom is having trouble setting up the domain; that is the reason for the delay in getting the Website on-line . There should be a form for the Database manager with spaces for: name, address, phones (home and work), email, and parish affiliation. Ed wants links to the National Movement and to the Diocese. After his demonstration, Joe spoke his mind on some issues. He worries about cancelling two weekends in a row. We need to begin planning early. Cursillo is a Movement not an organization. The Secretariat are guiders not bosses. We have to be careful about nomenclature, such as Chairs for the Servant Community Board rather than facilitators or coordinators. As National is revising the Library, they are getting rid of the terms "pre" and "post" Cursillo. In 1978 - 79, Joe was Ultreya leader for a Roman Cursillo. Central Intelligence came out with a report on Fundamentalist Religious Movements in which they found that a Movement usually existed 25 to 30 years. That's exactly where we are. As an example, in the late 60s, the Charismatic Movement got going, crested, and then disappeared. He would support a commission to investigate where the people are coming from into the Church. We need to feed the leaders of the Church and "kick it up a notch." Where should we look for new Cursillistas? Ed, too, is interesed in not seeing just a few parishes be fed. But a whole parish has to say, "Hey, this would be great for us." He has single-handedly galvanized the parish of Olivet. Right now, social life plays a big part in the Church, especially in an age of transiency. What is the role of the clergy? Father Howard said that Cursillo is still valuable to the Church, and the greatest need we have as a Community is communication. We need to return to the commitment of "Make a Friend, Be a Friend, and Bring a Friend to Christ." Every parish in the Diocese with its own Web page should have a link to the Cursillo page. Just as an example, St. Michael's now has a Web page, and people use it regularly. More people are using email than ever, and they are using it promptly. Joe volunteered to be communications coordinator for the Servant Community, and he will get information to Linda Baggs. Ed pointed out that the area ultreya list in the newsletter is not yet complete; he brought a copy to update. The focus of the Movement should be to provide leaders for the parish churches. Some changes seemed like a good idea; the Secretariat was a huge, unwieldy body. However, Walt misses having a representative from each region and worries that participation is crippled by small numbers. Over the years, the Secretariat has become the only really functioning body of the Servant Community. Now, because of absenteeism from Servant Community meetings, the load on the Secretariat is heavier on a smaller number of people. Geoff Davis expressed hope that this might yet change as the Servant Community gets reorganized and revitalized. The Secretariat all agreed that when the two communities came back together, logistics became much harder.
Lay Director's Remarks. Ed thanked Nancy Kokalas for the use of her laptop computer. He will contact Peter Demaree and get the list to David Wright, and will also tell him that the vanEsselstyns have volunteered to help call the Team for the November weekend and urge him to contact them.
Report from MIDLIC. Virginia will not host a National Seminar at this time. Geoff Davis suggested that Virginia might want to host one of the quarterly meetings instead. Requirements are a church big enough for services and Ultreya, and housing for members of the National committee. A new book in the Library is appropriately titled "Strategy for Restarting/Renewing Cursillo Movements in Dioceses." Other newly revised books for the Library are coming out. There will also be a new meditation guide coming out centered around the Gospel of Mark. Cursillo in Washington DC is in hiatus, but they are hoping for a new bishop to galvanize them into activity again. The next meeting of MIDLIC is scheduled for August 4 in Severna Park, Maryland.
National Seminar. The next National Seminar will be October 26-28 at Camp Allen outside of Houston, Texas. Frank Griswald, Presiding Bishop, will be the keynote speaker. Part of the conversation will be about clergy of ELCA (the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) serving on weekends.
Spiritual Director. Father Howard has been slightly overwhelmed by the loss of his assistant, but as of June 1, he will be doing more work for the Community again. He plans to call Bishop Jones about another spiritual director for the Secretariat, and he is in the process of drafting a letter to all clergy in the Diocese.
Announcements. The next meeting of the Servant Community, a workshop, will be held, possibly at Trinity, on August 18th. John Symonds will check for availability.
Marvin Price will be the rector of the November weekend, whose spiritual directors are Bob Hall, Bob Malm and Jim Chipps. He has requested names of women for his core team since it seems inappropriate to have an entirely male core team for a co-ed weekend. Joyce Bowne will be rector for the women's weekend in May. It is hoped that both Marvin and Joyce will be able to attend the meeting of the Secretariat on June 16. Team meetings for the November weekend will be: 10/6, 10/13, 11/3, and 11/10.
Next meeting. The next meeting of the Secretariat will be held June 16 at St. George's in Fredericksburg in the Elsie Lewis Room. Fellowship begins at 9:30; meeting begins at 10 a.m. Follow the path through the cemetery and enter through the door near the office. Turn right down the hall and at the corner, turn right again and proceed down the hall. The conference room will be on your left. Doughnuts will, of course, be available.
Father Howard offered the closing prayer. The meeting adjourned at 1:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Constance Fletcher Smith
Secretary
| 
