Re: Cursillo and the Homosexual Issue

[barbara wolf <lupa@biddeford.com>]

At 09:52 AM 2/9/96 EDT, Charles Smith wrote:
>> Again, though, I am sorry to know that you had a bad experience.  I can only
>> offer you the assurance that your experience was not the same one all others
>> have.
>
>Be that as it may, I believe that the risk, based on the design and lack of
>supervision in the program is great enough that the risks to the few are
>of greater weight than the benefits to the many.  There are many ways to
>meet the goals of Cursillo without the negative trappings of a social
>fraternity - specifically hazing activities, passwords, a "secret" language,
>a "hell" weekend, and the like.

Many eons ago (when just about everyone on the List was in diapers) the
Church used to sponsor (on the parochial level) something called "Parish
Life Weekends".  These weren't Cursillos, but they shared some
characteristics.  They were intense, hard work; they sometimes produced
marvellous results in terms of what might be called "conversion".  Most of
the people who participated came home with glowing reports and energetic
determination to pass on what they had learned.  The trouble always was,
some didn't react that way.  You will understand that I was young then and
felt strongly that it was somehow the fault of those few that they didn't
have a marvellous time.

I am older now (surprise, surprise!!) and I am aware that no program works
for everyone, that there are considerable emotional risks in any program
that posits the aims of Cursillos (and Parish Life Conferences).  I am also
aware that it's perhaps not exactly the thing to assume that Everyone Will
Love--anything.  Nor is it somehow the weakness, the fault, or the
stubbornness of the person that he does NOT LIKE SOMETHING.

And Parish Life Weekends have faded into history. (I sort of wish, though,
that I could apologize to a couple of people in Oak Park, Ill.!)


Barbara Wolf

        "But we've got to be careful not to reduce people by cramming
        them in the limits of our understanding, haven't we?"

                                                Reginald Hill