Recently the Archdiocese of Madrid has opened the diocesan phase of the canonization process for Fr. Sebastián Gayá, one of the primary developers of the Cursillo movement.
The Cursillo ecclesial movement began in the 1940s in Mallorca, Spain, but soon spread to other Spanish-speaking countries, eventually making its way to the United States. It is now present in nearly every country in the world.
Fr. Gayá helped guide the Cursillo movement in its early stages and was a strong supporter of it throughout his priesthood.
According to the Catholic News Agency, “Gayá died at the age of 94 in Mallorca. His remains rest in the Monastery of San Honorato, where the first Cursillo was given.”
The official name of the movement is Cursillo de Cristiandad, which means “short course of Christianity.” It is best known for its 3-day Cursillo weekend event, but encompasses much more.
St. John Paul II gave a succinct summary of Cursillo in a message to the movement in 2000.
[T]he Cursillo method aims at helping to transform in a Christian way the milieus where people live and work through the involvement of “new men and women” who have become such from their encounter with Christ. This is the goal of the three-day “little course” on Christianity, in which a team of priests and lay people, supported by the prayer and sacrifices of the movement’s other members, communicate the fundamental truths of the Christian faith in an especially “living” way.
Many have been brought into a closer relationship with Christ through these Cursillo weekends, and Cursillo continues to be a powerful means of evangelization in the modern world.
