Albany NY Cursillo Movement

The Cursillo Movement was born out of the many lay groups known as Catholic Action. These groups encouraged a Catholic influence on society. Catholic Action was especially active in the early twentieth century in historically Catholic countries, such as Spain, that fell under anticlerical regimes.

By the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, a great number of people had moved away from Catholic Christian life. In 1940, Pope Pius XII challenged Church leaders to bring others back to Christian values.

Having read Pope Pius’s address, Eduardo Bonnin (Aguiló), a lay person, was inspired to write a script entitled Study of the Environment. The purpose was to think about how to reach those in various environments and how to make those environments Christian ones.

In 1941, a Catholic Action group planned a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It was determined that there was a need to train the pilgrim leaders and scouts. Weeklong courses were conducted called, Cursillos of Pilgrim Leaders. Eduardo Bonnin attended one of these courses. Eduardo was later invited to present at these weeklong courses.

Eduardo’s experiences with the Cursillos of Pilgrim Leaders led him to develop a method that would serve to awaken Christianity in those who were distant from God and to revitalize those who were closest to God. While he had help in this endeavor, he was the driving force.

The first Cursillos (Short Course) in Christianity was given in a chalet of ‘Cala Figuera’ of Santanyi Mallorca, Spain from August 20-23, 1944. From this first Cursillo Weekend, different parts of the method took form, including Group Reunions, Ultreyas, the School of Leaders, and the Secretariat. (These structures are defined in other sections of the website.)

Eventually, the Cursillo Movement dispersed to other parts of Spain and then throughout the world.
In 1980 the Cursillo Movement established an international office to coordinate the four international working groups of Latin America, Europe, the International English Language Group, and Asia.

Today, the Cursillo Movement is a worldwide Movement with centers in nearly all South and Central American countries, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, Australia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and several African countries.

The Cursillo Movement was brought to the United States in 1955 by Fr. Gabriel Fernandez who had come from Spain to Waco, Texas. The first United States Cursillo Weekend was held in Waco, Texas in 1957.

Fr. Fernandez, along with two airmen from Spain, Bernardo Vadell and Agustin Palomino, who were training with the United States Air Force, were responsible for putting together the first two Cursillo Weekends in Waco. A School of Leaders was formed and by 1959, eighteen Cursillos had been held in Waco, Texas.

By late 1957, Vadell and Palomino had held the first Weekend in Mission, Texas. In 1958, they started a Cursillo center in Laredo, Texas, and immediately the Movement was introduced in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Cursillo Movement had spread throughout Texas, and by 1959, had expanded to Phoenix, Arizona.

In 1960, the growth of the Cursillo Movement accelerated in the Southwest and Weekends were held for the first time in the East (New York City, New York and Lorain, Ohio).

The Weekends were held in Spanish until 1961. In this year, the first Weekends in English were held in four states: California, Indiana, Michigan, and New Mexico. By 1962, twenty-five more English-speaking Weekends were held. 

In 1962, the Movement spread farther into the Eastern United States. In 1965, the Cursillo Movement in the United States was organized on a national level and a National Cursillo Office was established. 

By 1981, almost all of the 160 dioceses in the United States had introduced the Cursillo Movement.

Evangelizing Our World

Reflections On The Beginnings Of Cursillo In The Albany Diocese

Marty and Sally Beckman

Moving to Albany from Rochester, NY, our friends told us that God was sending us to begin Cursillo in the Albany Diocese.  We laughed.  Little did we know how prophetic those words were.​

We made friends with several couples who had made a Marriage Encounter and formed a prayer and scripture sharing with them.  At Christmas, we were invited to the Marriage Encounter party where we were introduced to a couple, Jane and Larry Fountain.

As we conversed, we found out that they, too, had also experienced Cursillo.  In the ensuing conversation, they informed us that they had been praying that the Holy Spirit would send someone to pray and discuss beginning Cursillo in Albany.  That seemed like our sign and we did begin to meet at the Fountain’s home with several others who had also experienced Cursillo in other dioceses.

We soon heard of another group consisting of Gene & Joan McNamara, Mary Harrison, Joan and Ed Sesock and a few others who also had this same call from the Holy Spirit.  As we continued to pray and discuss, the Lord added to the numbers with Jim Conway, Bill McDowell, Ed and Anne Kampf, Charles and Pauline Snow, Bill O’Connor and Fr. Bill Ryan.  We were soon meeting at Holy Spirit School hall in East Greenbush as the group was growing.

We asked permission from the Bishop (Broderick) to start Cursillo.  He told us that we needed a priest as our spiritual director before we could go forward.  We sent letters to all of the priests in the diocese.  Many were interested in starting up, but none had the time to take on the responsibility at that time.  One evening, at the Harrison’s, we prayed that God would send us someone right away, because we had people interested in attending a weekend but we had no priest.  That very evening, Fr. George Mailloux called with the answer to our prayers.  It seems that he had been away, had been praying to find a Cursillo group in Albany.  When he returned to open his mail, he read the request and said YES to the call to lead us as spiritual director.  God had answered our prayers and we could schedule our first men’s and women’s weekends.

Our first weekends were held at St. Joseph’s in Valatie in 1973 and were graced with the leadership of Eddie Kalbfliesh and Louis Fontanez who came from NYC to lead us and form us in the ways of Cursillo.  The Spanish apostolate from NYC were our teachers and when we were ready to lead weekends on our own, they gave us their blessing and we began to grow.  Still, busloads of Spanish Cursillistas came up from NYC to share their joy and prayers at our weekends.

Our second weekend (the first on our own) was held at St. Mary’s School in Troy in 1974.  We arduously scoured, cleaned, prayed and prepared for the men who would become leaders for Christ and help lead Cursillo to grow in Albany.

In the meantime, Fr. George found us the old St. Ann’s convent where the second women’s weekend was held.  We had a permanent home for a while.  The next several years, the weekends were held at St. Ann’s until we outgrew the facility.  Leaders sent by the Holy Spirit were added to our numbers as we lived and used the Cursillo method to call forth the fire of the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus in the church at Albany.  We pledged to grow and developed a leader’s school to teach the Cursillo way to evangelize, lead, light the way for the new fire of Pentecost to fill our parishes and nourish and enrich the lives of the faithful Catholic and Christians in our environments.

After we outgrew St. Ann’s, and with much sadness, we left our spiritual home away from home, and approached the Franciscans at St. Anthony-on-the-Hudson and found a new place to grow.  We began a Leader’s School with committees to teach, lead, pray, learn and plan.  Marty Beckman was the first Lay Director in the movement, Ed Kampf, the second, and Jim Mylod was the third.

It was through Cursillo and conducting a weekly communion service at Barnwell Nursing Home in Valatie that Marty Beckman heard the call to the Diaconate.
Cursillo was like a mother in ways, giving life and helping to form us in the light of Christ.  No matter where we go, what we do, we give thanks for the gifts of love and zeal that nourished us through the Cursillo and gave us the grace to go out and try to spread the good news of God’s love in every environment of which were are a part.  Cursillo is more than a great weekend retreat, it is a time to hear the plan that God has for each of us and has become a launching pad for many of us, in various ministries in our parishes.

Contributors: Marty and Sally Beckman, Mary Harrison, and Joe Thouin