WELCOME MESSAGE FROM English Coordinator: 

To our Austin Diocese English Cursillo Community,

Hello, my name is Maria Hudkins also known to many as “Lulu”. I am a member of St. Mary’s Church parish in Temple Tx. I was born in Temple and have lived here my entire life. When I was younger, I attended St. Mary’s parochial school, and with my parents attended Our Lady of Guadalupe Church where I received all my sacrament. I am the 6th child born of 12 siblings, sadly 3 of my siblings and both of parents are resting in peace. I am a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. I am proud to say that both of my parents were Cursillistas.

In September I was appointed as Orie Sanchez successor in the position of the Austin Diocese English Cursillo secretariat Lay Director.

I am highly honored to hold this very important position of a such a wonderful movement. I have a lot to learn, and even though Orie is a petite woman she left me with big shoes to fill following in her footsteps.

I lived my Cursillo in October of 2008. In all honesty I did not become fully involved with the Cursillo movement until May 2021 when after all these years after I lived my Cursillo, I was invited by Mona Lockhart to be a part of the Kitchen team for the July 2021 Women’s Cursillo weekend held in Burnet. Out of curiosity, I attended a pre-Cursillo meeting with Mona and the next thing you know I went from being on the kitchen team to doing the leaders Rollo for the candidates at the Women’s Cursillo weekend. When Dominga asked me if I would do the Leaders Rollo, I accepted the request and jumped in with both feet. I then attended all the following Pre-Cursillo meetings, read my outlines, studied the Cursillo manual, reviewed other talks, and invested a lot of prayers and hours preparing for what it was that God wanted me to relay in the Leaders Rollo. It was a very rewarding experience to not only work with such faith filled women moving ONWARD with the Cursillo movement, but to also have had the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work through me in such a spiritual manner. God does work in mysterious ways.

God has called me by name, and here I am again answering his call as your new Lay Director. (God does not always call the equipped, but he equips the called.) It is only by the grace of God that I have such a wonderful secretariat team that I am so looking forward to working with. Some members have previously served on the secretariat and bring much Cursillo knowledge to the table, and others like me are newcomers, and joyfully have a lot to learn for the good of our cause. Together we will work hard to the best of our abilities for the success of our Diocese of Austin English Cursillo Movement.

I understand that our Jarrell center needs repairs and updating, and I am sure we are all working toward addressing those areas of concern. If I can be of any help, please do not hesitate to call. If I do not know the answer, I will seek an answer. (Seek and you shall find) I ask that you, our Cursillo community please keep us in your prayers for the continued success and growth of a gift that Eduardo Bonnin gave to us all to share with others

De Colores.

Lulu