Cursillo Toledo is Home Wherever We Gather!

From Our Lay Directors:

We would like to say a very special “THANK YOU!!” to Sr. Edna Michel and all of the Sisters of St. Francis for hosting us at the Spirituality Center since the spring of 2022. We will miss you dearly, and pray for you and all the changes happening on the Franciscan Campus in the following years. We’re very blessed to have had you all as part of our Cursillo journey!  

We’re especially blessed to be celebrating Cursillo #300, a milestone for the Cursillo movement, and cherish this time together! (This Women’s weekend is Oct. 16th thru 19th, 2025)

The Cursillo Movement of the Diocese of Toledo is and will continue to set the world on fire, no matter where we have our retreat weekends! 

As we told you at the closing of the men’s Cursillo a few weeks ago, the next Cursillo weekends (after this fall) will be in June of 2026 at Maria Stein Retreat Center. We looked into many places and/ or retreat centers while trying to find a “new home” for the movement. Hours of phone calls, visits, emails, text messages and meetings went into our decision. But most importantly prayers for guidance from the secretariat and many of you lead us to our decision. Our biggest hurdles were pricing and scheduling, as most places are booked up a year in advance. Maria Stein is a ways away, but it is also a beautiful retreat facility and we feel blessed to have it booked for 2026. We will set Maria Stein on Fire with the Light of Christ, as we have any place Cursillo has lived.  

Men’s Cursillo #301 will be June 4th - 7th, 2026 at Maria Stein Rector; Jeff Hammer  

Women’s Cursillo #302 will be June 18th - 21st, 2026 at Maria Stein Rector; Mary Lyons 

Blessings! Your Brother and Sister in Christ, 

Karen Fritsch and Troy Peebles 

Troy Peebles tpeebles411@yahoo.com  and Karen Fritsch kittyrg1967@gmail.com

We are Cursillo! With Piety, Study and Action!

From Our Lay Directors:

God chooses YOU and me every moment of every day. He chose you to be where you are, doing what you are with whoever you are, at this time in the world. It’s not by chance that you made Cursillo, as God was calling you. Yes YOU! We are all chosen and called to bear fruit and be his witness to all in our lives. Is it easy? Sometimes more than others if I’m being honest. He never said it would be easy, he simply asks us to do it. To be his hands and feet, heart and voice to everyone in our lives.   

It’s through my piety and spending quiet time with God in particular and my study by reading the daily readings and listening to Christian music that I find myself strengthened and ready for action. In “feeding” myself in this way I find myself ready to be Christ to the world. Choosing to be Christ to the world through my hands, feet, heart and voice. Again, is it easy? Not everyday, or every moment or with everyone. But without my piety and study, allowing God’s Spirit to guide me, I would fail miserably. Keep your heart and mind open and he will guide you!   

We’d like to ask for continued prayer for two men in our Cursillo community who have chosen to serve our Lord as Permanent Deacons. After four years of intense study, and much devotion to prayer Don Fritsch and Chris Solly will be ordained Permanent Deacons on Saturday, September 13 at 10:00 am at the Rosary Cathedral in Toledo. Until then the prayer and study continue along with a week long retreat at Maria Stein in August.   

Don and Chris feel called by God to serve as Permanent Deacons for the Diocese of Toledo. Mind you this is not for everyone. But where or to what are you feeling called? God has chosen you! Are you listening with your heart open to his Spirit? How are you bearing fruit for his kingdom?   

Blessings,

Karen Fritsch and Troy Peebles

We are Cursillo! Let’s use it, Let’s share it

From Our Spiritual Advisor:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,  

May the Lord bless you hugely with His peace.  In this jubilee year of HOPE, we tap our many blessings received from the powerful gift of Cursillo.  We need to claim those blessings because we need them.  In many situations, whether in our own lives or in the lives of our loved ones or in the lives of strangers to us, we find a definite challenge to the new life our Lord calls us to live.  We might find unrest in our own souls, minds and bodies, little areas of darkness that nag at us and whisper that we are on the wrong path.  We might experience sadness related to our own struggles and apparent losses or are sad because these struggles are in the lives of our loved ones.  No matter the source, we can experience challenges, sufferings, struggles that can seem to make us want to give up, just quit the journey of Faith, or make us, briefly, ponder, “Is my Cursillo connection not real?”  This is when we wake up and realize, “No, I am on this journey of the Jubilee Year of Hope, and I am going to imitate St. Paul who told his friends, ‘I add my sufferings to fulfill those of Christ.’”  We are Cursillo!  We are a people of Hope; let’s use it; let’s share it.  

As we walk this Jubilee path of hope I offer some tidbits from St. Luke’s Gospel on the Sundays of August.  These words of Jesus really struck me as a Cursillista called to live a life full of HOPE.  May they touch you deeply. 

August 3 - One’s life does not consist of possessions.  Do not store up treasures for yourselves; rather, be rich in what matters to God.   

August 10 - An inexhaustible treasure in heaven where no thief can reach nor moth destroy is waiting for you.  Be careful; where your treasure is there also will your heart be.   

August 17 - Jesus said, “I have come to set the earth on fire and how I wish it were already blazing!  Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.” 

August 24 - Jesus said, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.”  You will stand outside the door knocking and saying, “Lord, open the door for us.”  He will say to you in reply, “I do not know where you are from.  Depart from Me…” 

August 31 - Jesus told the crowd, “When you hold a party or have a special meal, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.”  Sisters and brothers, we are called to hope in the One who is extravagant and generous in love.  Let’s cling to Him and follow His example.   

De Colores!  

Fr. Jim Morman