anglican focus

The news site of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland: nourishing and connecting our faith community

Cursillo movement

Reflections The Ven. Valerie Hoare and husband Doug Reflections

The day I stopped traffic

“During an appropriate gap in the stream of cars and buses, I strode out to the middle of the arterial road and raised both my hands to say, ‘Stop’. ‘This had better work, God,’ I prayed,” shares The Ven. Valerie Hoare, the Diocesan Spiritual Advisor for Cursillo

Faith book reflections Faith book reflections

The book I have given away the most and why: Bob Randle

“I recall a two-page chapter, titled ‘Labels’. The author tells the story of a long bus trip to New Delhi. The tourists’ tinned food was stored in the luggage compartment beneath the bus. So when the bus went through rivers, the tins became wet and their labels fell off, with the tourists never knowing what they were going to eat until the tins were opened,” says Bob Randle from Holy Hermits Online and Cursillo

“This photo is of my husband Doug and me at Lady Elliot Island on the Great Barrier Reef where we went to see turtles hatching. It’s a great place to visit” (The Ven. Valerie Hoare)
Reflections

Being in place until the door opens and the path appears

“One of our children gave me a personalised ‘Countdown to Retirement’ fridge magnet with dates to mark off. Initially I couldn’t be bothered marking off each day, instead opting to cross out a month at a time,” says The Ven. Valerie Hoare

Reflections

Cursillo and the Camino de Santiago

“A highlight of my pilgrimage was reaching a place known as Cruz de Ferro, or ‘Iron Cross’…At its base, a rocky mound (now a fair climb up) has been forming over the years. The tradition is to lay a stone, brought from the place of the pilgrim’s origin, at the top of the mound, so I placed a Kiwi stone given to me by my brother just before he died in 2001,” says The Rev’d Pauline Harley on her intertwined Cursillo and Camino journey.

Reflections

How a reluctant sparky found the light of Christ

“When I was asked to attend a Cursillo weekend retreat in 2001, I rejected the offer three times and then under sufferance decided to go. That weekend was the turning point in my Christian life. Suddenly, there was a joy in every part of life that had previously eluded me,” says Cursillo Diocesan Lay Director, Alan Gray