Formation School

*As the School of Formation, its task is to provide its leaders, leaders in the Church and in the Cursillo Movement, with a catechetical formation in spirituality, doctrine and human values in addition to the approach of the Cursillo Method (Piety, Study, Action, Permanent Spiritual Grouping and Regular Ultreya Attendance).   The Cursillo Movement inspires and strengthens leaders and prepares future leaders of the Movement by giving them a formation in holiness, doctrine, technique and the spirit of service. Being there are so few sessions available to accomplish this, strict enforcement of Women’s Formation attendance guidelines are in place, with only matters of serious nature meriting a formal excuse. Though all Cursillistas are called to be leaders in their own environments, only a small percentage of them are called to be leaders in the environment of the Cursillo Movement itself. Christian leadership is a work of the Spirit, and requires the gift of discernment in order to be at the service of the Church. Since it is an apostolate, those who accept their role in the School of Formation, and thereafter the School of Leaders, must give all their spare time to it.

*National Cursillo Movement  August 2007 National Mailing

**Formation is a time for the faithful lay people to be formed according to the union that exists from being members of the Church and society.  The Cursillo allows a person to bloom where he or she is planted.  In that mentality, formation is a response to "the call to growth and continual process of

maturation, of always bearing much fruit." It is a basic necessity for making any spiritual progress in becoming a leader in the Church and in the Movement, and for dealing with all the various circumstances of persons, things, and duties one must incorporate into one's activities.  

Formation is a time for Cursillistas to get to know themselves better, so that they can come to understand God and the changing world in which they live, with a kind of dynamic knowledge that encompasses all of a person's life. In order to be formed as a Christian, one must reform one's mentality, conform one's life to the pattern of Christ's life, and transform, by acting with full responsibility,

the secular structures in which one is immersed. It is the entire person that must be formed "until Christ is formed in that person". It is by way of formation that the transformation, or conversion, of the entire person is achieved.

 ** (1990) The Fundamental Ideas of the Cursillo Movement Dallas, TX: OMCC Press

The Women’s School of Formation is a two year commitment with a session occurring each quarter at the Cursillo Center in Prairie Ronde, LA. In addition to these sessions a weekend retreat given by the Spiritual Director of Cursillo is mandatory. (See calendar)

Men’s Formation classes are held at the Cursillo Center in Prairie Ronde approximately every month on Friday if there is a leader school on Saturday and on Saturday if leader school is not held during the weekend (see calendar). The process of formation takes approximately one year.  Completion of 90% of Men’s Formation classes is required for consideration to become a leader in the Cursillo movement.