Go Fourth!

September 1997

• Diocesan Spiritual Director's Letter
• Lay Director's Report
• The Editors [Whinge] Letter
• Who We Really Are
• Holidays
• Arguments
• A Creed For Those Who Have Suffered

DIOCESAN SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR'S LETTER

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Dear Friends,

Last week I was sad when I heard someone talking about a group of Christians, she was saying, 'they came to the meeting but they did not mix with any of us for their meals, they stayed in their own little group.'

I was even sadder when I heard her mention Cursillo and I realised that she was talking about a group of cursillistas ( I don't know where they were from. I pray that they were not from our Diocese).

I could see how it must have happened, and I know that often I am guilty of the same fault. It is natural that when we are as close as we are in Cursillo we want to be together, but we have to be careful that we are not seen as a clique.

I want to urge you to remember one of the great sayings of Cursillo: 'Make a friend, be a friend, and bring your friend to Jesus.'

Even if there are other cursillistas whom we haven't seen for some time or whom we are particularly close to. Let us make the effort to join with others first.

If something like a meal or an event is arranged, let us be involved.

We should never do our own thing to the exclusion of others or in competition with others.

Remember Cursillo will be judged by our actions. That is unfair, but it is the way of things.

Every blessing

Stephen Waters

LAY DIRECTOR'S REPORT

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Like everyone else, I have enjoyed the holiday period which for Sylvia and I was taken in Northumberland. I had intended to write something at length for Go Fourth during that time, but I'm afraid I felt too well rested to do anything but to enjoy the fresh air and wonderful countryside. On my return I contacted our editor, Geoff, with my apologies and we both agreed that it would be a good opportunity to publish my report to the AGM which was held on 17th May.

I recall looking forward with joy to giving my first report, which reflects how well Cursillo in Chester is progressing. Isn't it strange though, when we feel so filled with the Holy Spirit, that the devil has to put a dig in?

My apologies that after giving my report, I had to rush off back to the hospital, where our younger son was awaiting urgent surgery to mend facial fractures which were sustained a few hours earlier as a result of an unprovoked assault made on him.

Prayers were offered by many of you, not only on that day, but also for a lengthy period following his operation, for which we are so deeply grateful and would like to say 'thank you' from the bottom of our hearts.

Neal may require further surgery to remove a metal plate from his jaw but we know that through prayer out Lord will provide, sustain and support him in all eventualities.

DIOCESAN LAY DIRECTOR'S REPORT TO AGM

I would like to welcome you all to this years AGM. My name is Keith Craddock and I took over from Barbara Hood as Lay Director of Chester Cursillo last November, when Barbara's 3 year term of office came to an end.

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking her on your behalf for all the hard work, enthusiasm and joy she gave during that period. However, Barbara is not leaving Cursillo behind as she has now taken office as Secretary to the BACC and we wish her well in her new rôle.

It is not surprising that, in spite of some difficulties, the movement is growing in this country and elsewhere. What it needs more than anything else is clergy to capture its vision so that the lay people can fulfill its aim. Chester is one of 18 dioceses in the United Kingdom which operates Cursillo.

Secretariat

The secretariat is the name given to the diocesan body which has the general responsibility for the life and direction of the Cursillo movement in Chester under the authority of the Bishop.

Reflecting the servant ministry which Jesus taught us to fulfil is perhaps the basic key to all that the secretariat does and I would like to thank them all for their dedication and efficient manner in which they operate.

Our Spiritual Director, Stephen Waters, is loved by everyone and I personally am delighted to be working with him. The lay team are: our secretary, Sally Mullock; treasurer, Tony Riley; Go Fourth editor, Geoff Riley; weekend co-ordinator, Alice Brown; pre-cursillo officer, Evelyn Johnson; publicity and development officer, Iain Whitlam; fourth day officer, Julie Withers; and palanca secretary, Sylvia Craddock. [During the meeting Catherine Shambrook was elected to take Sylvia's place-Ed.]

Sylvia's term of office ends today, so a special thanks to her for continuing to bring contacts from all over the world to Chester.

Please speak to the secretariat about their duties when you have an opportunity and give them encouragement and support because you never know, it could be you on the Secretariat one day!

BACC

Iain Whitlam's term of office as Chester's BACC representative came to an end last November and we are please to welcome Malcolm Brown as our new representative, along with Stephen and myself. Malcolm has spent many hours on his computer over recent months updating the weekend manuals: for this we are extremely grateful. Thank you Malcolm.

At the BACC meeting in March this year, which was held at St.Bartholomews Parish Hall in Wilmslow (which is the centre of the BACC universe), David Lawson from Southwell was elected as President of BACC.

At that meeting, BACC agreed a new constitution whose aims are as follows:

"The aims of the British Anglican Cursillo Council, as part of the Anglican Communion in the United Kingdom and in common with the world-wide Cursillo movement are:

a) to develop in adult Christians a consciousness of their mission to become leaders in the work of Spiritual Renewal.

b) to sustain adult Christians as they take a positive rôle in church life and as they work and witness for Christ in their personal life and in the civic, social and economic life of their own environments."

The main changes to the constitution, without going into too much detail, are to elect a Standing Committee to which it will delegate work.

Membership of the standing committee shall consist of all the officers of BACC together with the following, all elected by a simple majority at an Annual General Meeting for a period of three years:

1) People with specific responsibilities as follow:

3 people responsible for Leadership Development;

3 people responsible for Publications and Resources;

3 people responsible for Public Relations

2) 3 other people, one of whom shall be a lay woman, one a lay man and one a priest.

WEEKENDS

Twenty-one Cursillo weekends have now been held in the Diocese of Chester. Nine weekends were held at Foxhill Conference Centre, where 131 participants have attended, and twelve weekends were held at Savio House, Bollington, where 97 participants have attended.

Of the total of 228 participants, 46 were from outside of the diocese and we presently have 125 active Cursillistas.

Bookings have already been received for the Cursillo #22 at Foxhill in October and for Cursillo #23 at Savio House in April 1998, so please fill in your staff availability forms as soon as possible as we cannot operate without you.

We are presently looking into other venues in the diocese which could be used for weekends. If we are to flourish we may need additional venues as our aim by the year 2000 is to hold four weekends a year. If we are to reach our goal, it is up to each one of us to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

The primary task of Cursillo, though, is not to recruit potential cursillistas, but to encourage all parishioners and the local community to be Christ like.

ULTREYAS

By the end of the year Stephen and I hope to have attended all of the Ultreyas. It has been a joy to be welcomed at all the meetings we have attended so far with love.

I would like to read to you from Hebrews 10:23-25:

Let us hold firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep His promise. Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another show love and to do good. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the day of the Lord is coming nearer.

This is what Ultreyas are all about and this is what I feel is happening.

Anyone can attend any Ultreya.

The secretariat will consider changes to the present areas to accommodate the requirements of cursillistas, but we don't want change for changes sake, so if anyone has any requests in this area, please advise your Lay Rector and we will consider them. And of course our thanks to all Lay Rectors for the way in which they continue to serve out Lord in their calling. You are all doing a wonderful job.

Keith Craddock

THE EDITORS [WHINGE] LETTER

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This is my second anniversary issue. The first time you got the funny angled Go Fourth on the front cover was for the September 1995 issue; and almost without exception something has happened to make me late.

I have been helped greatly by those who have submitted articles for publication: I could not write the whole magazine on my own (and I don't think you'd like it anyway!)

The reason I mention this is that this issue has more than its fair share of 'fillers'---articles which I've picked up from elsewhere, not necessarily to do with Cursillo.

Why have I had to use fillers? Well, when it reached the 'deadline' for submissions (9th August) I had exactly one article submitted. I gave an early deadline to allow for holidays and such like, but it doesn't seem to have worked.

Hasn't anyone anything interesting to tell their fellow cursillistas? I'm sure this cannot be the case. I've arranged for the Palanca Pages to move out so that there would be extra space for articles, now I find myself considering dropping a page (4 sides) out altogether.

This time next year there will be a new editor; I do not want to be trying to find someone who will have to write the whole thing themselves.

The sorts of thing I would like to receive are: reflections, comments, poems, pictures, stories, jokes... in fact anything that can be printed. (Sorry, no examples of your three dimensional artwork since collages and statues don't print very well!)

This magazine is intended to be a resource for YOU.

It is read not only by cursillistas within and without the diocese but also by a number of non-cursillistas who get a copy thrust into their hands or who pick up a copy from a table at the back of a church. What sort of impression does it give to them if it's all one persons writing? ('I wonder if there's anyone else who does this Cursillo thing?')

I'm sorry if I sound annoyed, it's Bank Holiday Monday and I need to get printing within the next week. I've waited to see if anyone sends anything in late but other than the articles which had been promised, I've had none.

Please, for the next issue I need articles by the 6th December: it's very difficult over Christmas to gain access to the printer (I print my masters at work). So it needs to be done before the Christmas break.

I'll therefore be the first to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Geoff Riley

WHO WE REALLY ARE

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Once upon a time there was an orphaned tiger-cub. His mother and father had been killed by hunters and the tiger-cub was found by a herd of goats and raised with their young to believe that he, too, was a goat. One day, the goats were out in the jungle, grazing in a clearing, when a great tiger---a king tiger---appeared. His fierce roar terrified the goats who ran off into the surrounding jungle. And the little tiger cub---who thought he was a goat---found himself all alone in the presence of the king tiger.

At first the tiger-cub was afraid and could only bleat and sniff in the grass. But then he discovered that although he was afraid, yet he was not afraid: at least not like the others who had run off to hide. The king tiger looked at the cub and let out a mighty roar. But all the cub could do in response was to bleat and sniff in the grass. The great tiger king then realised that the cub imagined himself to be a goat and so he took him by the scruff of the neck and carried him to a pond. On the clear surface of the pond the cub would be able to see that he was like the great tiger. When he saw their images mirrored side by side, however, the cub simply bleated goat-wise, not understanding what was happening.

The king tiger made one last effort to show the cub that he was not a goat but a tiger. He put before the cub a piece of meat. At first, the cub recoiled from it in horror. But then, coming closer, he tasted it. Suddenly, his blood was warmed by it. And the tiger cub, who had thought he was a goat, lifted his head and set the jungle echoing with a mighty roar.

Having discovered who we are, let us, as Christians, set the world echoing with the roar of the Good News.

HOLIDAYS

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Holidays are big business. Think of the millions spent on glossy brochures and TV advertising: all trying to persuade and advise us how to spend our hard-earned and well-deserved fortnight. Holidays are an industry like any other. And not only for the providers of holidays either. Many of us approach our own holiday with an industry mentality. We've become so used to living in a world where we are expected to be hardworking achievers that we find it hard to shake that attitude off---even on holiday. Is this one of the factors behind the popularity of activity holidays of one sort or another?

We're expected to have something to show for our work, so we feel we're expected to have something to show for our holiday too: photographs of Greek ruins, an improved backhand, or at least a fantastic tan. If we haven't got something to show for our fortnight away, people might think we've just been wasting our time---and that would never do. Oddly enough, many of us don't seem to enjoy our holidays all that much.

Are we too busy making them 'productive' to enjoy them? Perhaps we need to develop what G.K. Chesterton described as, 'the most precious, the most consoling, the most pure and holy, the noble habit of doing nothing at all.'

ARGUMENTS

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Listening in to other people's arguments can be funny if we're not involved ourselves... 'Where did you put my wallet?...' 'I haven't touched it, dear, it's where you left it...' And the result is a sour atmosphere quite out of proportion to the incident that provoked it.

Of course, the onlooker doesn't see the build-up of frustration before the argument. Often, the breaking-point is something quite trivial. Nor do we always see its context, which can change the picture dramatically.

About fifteen years after Christ's ascension, an argument which had been simmering in the Church came to a head. It was an argument which today we find hard to take seriously: should converts to Christianity be excused from the demands of the Jewish law?

The Church's answer appears as a bit of compromise. Converts are to be dispensed from hundreds of legal requirements---except for a couple of "essentials," such as abstaining from the meat of strangled animals.

When we understand the context of the dispute, however, we realise that it wasn't so trivial after all. For it was becoming clear that joining the New Faith meant leaving the Old---the Jewish faith into which they had been born and their fathers for a thousand years before them. It's very understandable, surely, that it took some time for the full implications of that to dawn on them.

Disputes in the Church continue. Customs with a thousand years behind them are changed and some of us, as a result, are confused and upset. No doubt, in a few years time, Christians will look back on the upheavals of the late twentieth century and wonder what all the fuss was about.

But, meanwhile, our arguments must continue. As the Church constantly seeks the truth under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, tension and disputes are inevitable. They remain a necessary sign that the Church is alive and well and growing.

A CREED FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED

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I asked God for strength that I might achieve.

I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health that I might do greater things.

I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy.

I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.

I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.

I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

Henry Viscardi