World Organisation of the Cursillo Movement

OMCC logo

OFFICIAL NAME

Organismo Mundial de Cursillos de Cristiandad

 

ACRONYM

OMCC

 

ALSO KNOWN AS

World Organisation of the Cursillo Movement

 

ESTABLISHED

1980

 

HISTORY

The OMCC was established to serve as the coordinating body of the Cursillo Movement. The movement was born in the 1940s in Majorca, Spain, during the spiritual preparation for a pilgrimage to the tomb of the Apostle St. James organised by the youth of Catholic Action during the Compostela Holy Year of 1948. The first Cursillo was held in January 1949. It took place in the Hermitage of Saint Honoratus of Randa (Majorca).

Notable among the group of initiators of the Cursillo Movement were Eduardo Bonnín Aguiló and several bishops. They included the then Bishop of Majorca, Juan Hervás y Benet (1905-1982), who accompanied the growth of the Movement with paternal care, and Bishop Sebastián Gayá Riera.

Since its inception, the Cursillo movement has undergone considerable expansion. This has made it necessary to set up Diocesan and National Secretariats, as well as International Groups, in order to facilitate effective coordination of the movement's activities. During the Fifth Inter-American Meeting held in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) from 23 to 27 June 1980, the World Organisation of the Cursillo Movement was created. It is a service-based structure at the international level aimed at guaranteeing the fidelity of the movement to the teachings of the Church, and at fostering unity and preserving its identity. On 30 May 2004 the Pontifical Council for the Laity decreed the recognition of the World Organisation of the Cursillo Movement as a structure for the coordination, promotion and diffusion of the movement.

 

IDENTITY

With the conviction that the lay faithful have a specific role in the mission of evangelisation by virtue of the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, the aim of the Cursillo Movement is that there should be nuclei of baptised people who serve as leaven for the evangelisation of home and workplace. The members place themselves at the service of the bishops as instruments in their pastoral work, and they do this by holding cursillos or “short courses”. These are brief but very intense spiritual experiences that are followed by a period of perseverance through regular attendance of the sacraments, prayer and a weekly meeting of participants (Ultreya).

One feature of the movement is that it has few structures. The main responsibilities are entrusted to diocesan secretariats and national secretariats.  The OMCC is responsible for the mutual exchange of information, initiatives and reflections among international groups, and of these groups with the national secretariats, as well as the necessary programmatic and organisational directives. With this role it is at the service of the dynamic cohesion of the movement and of the diffusion of the movement in countries where it is not yet present.

 

ORGANISATION

The OMCC comprises an Executive Committee and the Executive Committees of the International Cursillo Groups. The Executive Committee includes the President who represents the Movement, i.e. all the international Groups; the Vice-President; the Ecclesiastical Assistant; the Secretary and the Bursar.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Bulletin OMCC, published half-yearly.

 

WEB SITE

http://www.cursillosdecristiandad.net

 

HEADQUARTERS

Organismo Mundial de Cursillos de Cristiandad

Calle 45 No.90, Santa Ana,

San Francisco de Campeche,

Campeche, México, CP 24050

Tel: 9818165277