RIDGEFIELD—Jim and Cindy Bruno have seen the Holy Spirit at work in their lives, in obvious ways and almost imperceptible ways. Members of the Cursillo movement, the Ridgefield couple look for daily opportunities to bring Christ to others, and they’ve discovered there’s plenty of work to be done because the harvest is plenty.
From baking brownies for a lonely person to discussing a book that a coworker is reading, they say the occasions to make Christ part of their personal encounters are limitless.
“Both Cindy and I recognize the importance of Cursillo,” said Jim, the Lay Director of Cursillo in the Diocese of Bridgeport. “It gave us the training to be disciples and understand our duty as Catholics. The weekend encounter gives you a conversion experience, and then you understand you have an obligation to evangelize. On the Cursillo weekend, you realize, ‘Aha! That’s what it means to be a Catholic—to bring people to Christ and show them God’s love.”
Cursillo is an apostolic movement of the Catholic Church, which was founded in Majorca, Spain, in 1944 by a group of laypeople. “Cursillo” is a Spanish word that means “short course,” which refers to the three-day weekend designed to help people learn to live in a Christ-like manner. The weekend is the beginning of the Cursillo experience, which also involves regular “grouping” with other members for a deeper spiritual experience.
Cindy, who is the Registrar of Voters in Ridgefield, has served as National Chairperson for Cursillo and also as diocesan Lay Director.
“With Cursillo, you do some of the same things you’ve been doing all along, but with a different motivation, and the different motivation is to evangelize,” she says. “People need to know that God loves them and is aware of them. That alone, to me, would change the world. That is part of my daily prayer—that people understand God’s love and mercy.”
One of her talents, which gives her great joy, is baking. She has been known to bake cookies, brownies, cupcakes, bread and her specialty, Irish soda bread, and bring her creations to others in need of a spiritual boost. During the COVID-19 pandemic, her baking skills were especially helpful when neighbors and friends found themselves isolated.
“I know why I am doing it,” she says. “There are so many people who are lonely. And many people feel isolated because they aren’t connected to God. For me, it’s an opportunity to make people realize they are being thought of.”
For Cindy, baking a plate of brownies for a person can give the Holy Spirit an entree to do something wonderful.
Jim, who works in logistics leasing railroad cars for a Danbury company, says he is always looking for opportunities to bring friends and acquaintances to Christ. For him, even a casual question like “What’s that you’re reading?” can lead to a conversation. And just saying hello to a person sitting alone at work can give him an occasion to evangelize so the Holy Spirit can change someone’s life.
“Cursillo is living out our faith,” he says. “When you’re motivated by the Holy Spirit, you never know who you will encounter. The Spirit guides me to look for ways to bring God into a conversation.”
One of their most personally rewarding occasions for evangelization is taking their grandson, 7, to daily Mass when he visits them. Although he attends a Baptist church, they are committed to explaining the Catholic faith to him. And with their other two grandchildren, they often look for religious gifts, such as holy water fonts for their bedrooms, to give to them when they visit South Carolina.
Jim and Cindy, who have received the St. Augustine Medal of Service from the diocese, are active in St. Elizabeth Seton Parish and involved in different ministries, including the youth group, a marriage preparation program and bringing Communion to the homebound. Cindy is also involved in the diocesan Ambassador program begun by Bishop Frank J. Caggiano.
“The Cursillo method isn’t new, it’s what Jesus did,” she says. “It’s evangelization through friendship. It’s not an offshoot of the Church. It’s living the Gospel message.”
They urge anyone in the diocese who has made a Cursillo weekend to become active, and to join a weekly “grouping” session with other Cursillistas at which they pray and discuss how they encountered Christ during the week. There are hundreds of people in the diocese who have made a Cursillo, and more than 500 are on the group’s email list.
Cindy “groups” with two other women, and Jim meets weekly with several men in Bethel.
“You can ‘group’ on the phone, through Zoom or in person, but you have to have that weekly contact and touch base with one another,” he says. “Just like the early disciples went out and came back and talked about their week, it reminds you of what you could be doing better to let people know God loves them. You can’t just sit back and take a pass. It is like a weekly examination of conscience.”
Jim and Cindy made their Cursillo weekend in 1989, and since that time it has been a fundamental part of their lives, doing what is referred to as “Fourth Day” work (after the three-day Cursillo weekend). They group, giving witness talks and attend Christian leadership training. They encourage Cursillistas who are no longer active in the movement to contact Jim at Bruno355@sbcglobal.net about reviving their commitment.
Cursillo, which is a lay movement, is under the auspices of the bishop. Deacon Dan O’Connor was recently named Spiritual Advisor of the Cursillo in Christianity Movement to a five-year appointment by Bishop Caggiano, succeeding Deacon Tom Masaryk.
“Cursillo, which is open to other Christian faith groups, is missionary oriented,” Deacon O’Connor said. “It’s about building the Body of Christ one person at a time. The people you are going to meet are reasonably nice people who want to become better people.”
Deacon O’Connor, who is assigned to Holy Name of Jesus Church in Stratford, made his Cursillo weekend in 2004, and even before then, he had joined the weekly Cursillo prayer group with seven other men in Newtown, where he lives.
“The ‘grouping’ keeps me there because you have the opportunity to help people understand where they are in life and how they can be better connected to God,” he says. “This ongoing connection after the Cursillo weekend lets men and women share their journey and is one of the key things that has kept me active. And as a clergy, it is something I see as a ministry.”
The beauty of Cursillo, Deacon O’Connor says, is that it gives him opportunities to pursue what he calls “extemporaneous ministries,” or “a ministry right in front of you.”
“When you see something, you do something,” he says, and thereby give witness to your faith and help others move closer to Christ.
