The Service Structures

The MCC becomes a reality when it is incarnated in specific people in specific circumstances, that is, in a human reality that is grouped, organised and structured in a specific way. This is what is known as the SERVICE STRUCTURES of the MCC: the human instruments necessary for its organisation and functioning. There are two of these operational structures, which are called the School of Leaders and the MCC Secretariat. 

In every diocese where the Cursillo Movement is present, the Cursillo School of Leaders is an essential piece for the continuity, development and achievement of the Movement’s purpose: a group of men and women who, having lived the experience of a Cursillo weekend, freely accept, as a specific vocation, to assume the evangelising mission of the Church in the specific form of the Movement.  

The School is therefore made up of this group of leaders of the Cursillo Movement: a community in which its members are committed to animate, promote and vitalise the Movement in all its tasks and activities. It is therefore the driving force of the Movement, an essential element for its continuity and development, and three aspects converge in it1: 

1. School of holiness: its first requirement is to be a channel of holiness, the first and fundamental vocation of every Christian2. The aim is that all the leaders of the MCC progress in their particular path of holiness, since only in this way will they be truly capable of living their insertion in the temporal realities and participating in the specific activities of the Movement. 
2. School of communion: it is a community of Christians that seeks to be more united, more integrated and more committed every day, to live and help to live what is fundamental for being Christian. It is therefore a space for communication and communion of people, criteria, objectives and efforts. In it, everyone has something to teach and to learn, something to offer and something to receive.  
3. School of formation: in order to fulfil their own vocation in the Cursillo Movement, the leaders need a permanent and progressive formation, which will enable them to continually bear more fruit in their task. For this reason, the School maintains a process of human, spiritual, doctrinal and specific formation in the methodology of the Cursillo Movement. 

In each diocese, the structure of the School and its particular development will be determined by the reality of the group of leaders, their needs and possibilities and also by the circumstances of their specific diocesan reality. 

From the School, as a new structure of service, arises the Secretariat of the Cursillo Movement. It is the specific body whose members, priests and lay people, presented by the Cursillista community, are chosen by the hierarchy to guide, coordinate, promote and serve the Movement in a diocese (or in a country), to ensure an effective insertion in the life and pastoral action of the Church from the specific identity of the Movement. It is therefore responsible for maintaining the identity and attending to the promotion, development and orientation of the Movement in a diocesan or national reality.   

Thus, the Diocesan Secretariats of the Cursillo Movement are the service structures in each diocese. They are formed by the leaders of the respective School and are appointed and accepted by the diocesan Bishop, for the promotion, development and proper direction of the Cursillo Movement in that diocese. There is a diocesan president, a consiliary and a group of members. 

The specific functions of the Diocesan Secretariats are: 

1. Maintain the identity of the Movement in the diocese. 
2. Coordinate and oversee the development of the MCC strategy and method. 
3. To attend to and promote the life of the School and ensure its proper functioning. 
4. To be and feel part of the respective National Secretariat, to maintain contact, to contribute to the unity of the Cursillo Movement, to use its services and to help in its support. 
5. To ensure the effective integration of the Movement in diocesan pastoral work. 

In countries where the Cursillo Movement is present and recognised by the respective Bishops’ Conference, the National Secretariats are service structures to be a means of communion, participation and orientation of the Cursillo Movement in that country. They are constituted from the diocesan Secretariats of that country.  

The specific functions of the National Secretariats are: 

1. Illuminating, coordinating, linking and unifying the MCC. 
2. Promote the initiation, reactivation and/or development of MCC in the country. 
3. To assist, in a subsidiary manner, the Diocesan Secretariats in the performance of their functions. 
4. Maintain active and constant communication with the other National Secretariats and International Groups. 

The International Groups of the MCC are bodies that bring together and represent the National Secretariats recognised by the respective Bishops’ Conferences.  

The specific functions of the International Groups are 

1. Coordinate the National Secretariats and support their relations with the World Organization of Cursillos in Christianity. 
2. Promote, at the global level, a permanent and dynamic reflection on the identity of the Cursillo Movement, in accordance with its charism, mentality, purpose and method. 
3. Assist in the promotion of the MCC in countries where it is not established. 
4. To organise and coordinate the resources to achieve the objectives and orientations of the International Meetings. 

There are currently the following MCC International Groups: 

1. Latin American Group of Cursillos in Christianity (GLCC). 
2. Asia-Pacific Group (APG). 
3. North American-Caribbean Group (NACG). 
4. European Group of Cursillos in Christianity (GECC). 

The World Organization of Cursillos in Christianity (OMCC) is the service body responsible for the coordination of the Cursillo Movement, the exchange of information, initiatives and reflections, as well as for fostering the dynamic unity of the Movement worldwide. It has recently been recognised by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life as a “structure of coordination, promotion and diffusion of the experience of the Cursillos in Christianity, having private juridical personality“3. Thus, the National Secretariats serve and coordinate the Diocesan Secretariats; in turn, the National Secretariats coordinate in the International Groups and these in the OMCC, constituting a universal network that makes the Cursillo Movement a reality and identifies it throughout the world. 

The specific functions of the OMCC are: 

1. To be a place of communion and participation of the International Groups, an instrument of coordination, in order to maintain and develop the unity of the MCC on a universal scale. 
2. To preserve the MCC in its fidelity to the Church and its Magisterium. 
3. Preserve the identity and unity of the MCC in its essence, faithful to its original charism, to the Fundamental Ideas of the Movement and to the conclusions of the World Meetings. 
4. Promote unity and cooperation between International Groups. 
5. Coordinate the International Groups to achieve their own objectives. 
6. Reflect on the role of MCC at the global level. 
7. Help introduce MCC in countries where it is not yet in place.