Purpose

The MCC is an ecclesial movement with a specific purpose, namely in the field of evangelisation1 . It is explicitly defined in the IFMCC3: “to make possible the living and living together of what is Fundamental Christian, helping to discover and realise one’s personal vocation, with respect for it, and thus to promote nuclei of Christians who will leaven their environments with the Gospel”2.  In this definition we find the purpose of the Movement, which is made concrete in four aspects:  

• To make it possible to live and live together what is fundamental for being a Christian,  

• Discovering (and realising) one’s vocation,  

• Encourage the creation of Christian groups and  

• Gospel fermenting environments.  

Each of these four aspects implies the other three. And each one complements the others in such a way that it is only possible to separate them from a theoretical point of view. Because, in the end, they are different facets of the same action: to evangelise. This is the purpose of the MCC, evangelisation, in the specific field of the Kerygma, of the first proclamation, addressing itself primarily (although not exclusively) to those who are far away, in order to make possible an encounter with Christ and thus conversion, which gives rise to a new life, lived in community and committed to the transformation of the world. 

One can therefore understand a primary and an ultimate purpose in MCC. The primary purpose is centred on the person, the ultimate purpose on the environments. The aim of the Cursillo Movement is to enable everyone, especially those who are “far away”, to encounter themselves, God and others, and from this threefold encounter to begin a new life (conversion) in their own concrete and personal reality, following their own specific path. This is the meaning of the expression “living the Christian fundamentals”, a personal experience of the basic foundations of Christian life (Christ, grace, faith, the Church, the sacraments). In this first aim of the MCC, an essential dimension is the respect for the personal vocation, the individuality of each person, the desire to enable each person to discover and follow his or her own personal, Christian and ecclesial vocation. 

Starting from this first focus of attention, which is the conversion of the person, the ultimate aim of the MCC is the transformation of society, in the words of the definition, the “evangelical leavening of environments”. Logically, these are two absolutely related and interdependent objectives: environments are leavened by the existence of people (and groups) who live coherently their Christian being, that is, who have met the Lord and have committed themselves to his project: the Kingdom of God. The Cursillo Movement aims, first of all, that each person assumes a responsible commitment to his or her own environment, to his or her “square metre”. And furthermore, that there are groups of Christians who, by trying to live Grace in a conscious, growing and shared way, can exercise a transforming action on the different environments of society.  

Christian groups or nuclei are an important element for both individuals and environments. The aim of the Cursillo Movement is the existence of Christian groups in which people can share and mature their faith and from which they can act, personally and as a community, in their environments.