Filipino Cursillo SB Village: Rising From The Success Of Its Predecessor

“DeColores”, a buzz word in the Cursillo movement, is a greeting from a cursillista to a fellow cursillista. It is also the title of the movement’s official anthem. But it’s more than just a greeting or a song, because its acts as a reminder to all cursillistas worldwide of the essence of their Cursillo experience.
The heart and mind of a cursillista rests on a tripod of piety (which leads to holiness), study (formation) and action (evangelization). With Piety and Study having their own merits, a great deal is heard about evangelization. In the Cursillo Movement, evangelization is approached as a very natural act of being Christ-like within one’s daily activities. The movement realizes the fact that while most people would like to live their lives in a Christ-like manner, the pressures of the world often make this difficult. Such is the case of global poverty.

The Filipino Cursillo in Christianity in the Diocese of San Bernardino (Southern California) has heard the cry of the poor. It hopes to address the issue of poverty in the Philippines through its adoption of Gawad Kalinga as one of its apostolic action. Through this adoption, the movement takes the responsibility of evangelization to the environment of the impoverished. Gawad Kalinga provides the staging area for the movement to live out its purpose of making Christian community possible in neighborhoods, parishes, work situations and other places where people live the greater part of their lives. There are many projects out there that address poverty. But Gawad Kalinga is one that vividly displays the leavening of environments with the Gospel, an undertaking that truly brings about change in the environment of the poor.

Inspired by the success of the Filipino Communities of San Bernardino and Riverside Village located at Bagong Silang, Caloocan, another village is about to be built. Thanks to God’s amazing grace and the new-found support witnessed during the November 9, 2007 showing of “Paraiso”, the true-to-life inspired movie about Gawad Kalinga, the movement was able to raise around $16,000 to start a new village named after the movement itself, proving once more that the plight of the poor ranks high in the hearts of cursillistas.

The Filipino Cursillo in Christianity in the Diocese of San Bernardino (Southern California) is very excited as it journeys to build the next village. Although a site has not been chosen yet at this time, the movement knows that God will grant them the grace in choosing the right location. It certainly believes that God will provide it with the financial resources – just as He provided in its first village.