ILLINOIS HEARTLAND EMMAUS COMMUNITY

HISTORY OF THE WALK TO EMMAUS

Miscellaneous

  • The Board Advisor presents a brief history of the Walk to Emmaus on Thursday night. The following history may be used, or modified at the discretion of the Board Advisor.

HISTORY OF THE walk to EMMAUS

The Walk to Emmaus comes out of the Roman Catholic tradition of Cursillo de Christianidad. "Cursillo de Christianidad" means a "short course in Christianity".

Cursillo (pronounced coor-see-yo) had its origin in Majorca, Spain. After World War II, the Roman Catholic bishop saw the deterioration of the Christian faith in his diocese. Along with some laymen, the bishop developed this program to raise up leaders among the men of his parish. The first Cursillos were very penitential in nature. In fact, the team and candidates fasted for the full 72 hours.

Cursillo came to the United States in 1957 when some Spanish airmen came to Corpus Christi, Texas for flight training. There happened to be a Spanish priest in the area who was also a Cursillista (one who has attended Cursillo). At first, Cursillos were given along the Mexican/American border and only in Spanish. It spread to other Spanish-speaking communities before being translated into English. Cursillo has spread across the United States, and many different denominations have adopted the program. Except for a very few areas, Cursillo is not ecumenical.

In 1977, the Upper Room, an agency of the UnitedMethodistChurch became interested in Cursillo and sponsored two United Methodist models of Cursillo in Peoria, Illinois, one of the few ecumenical centers, under the guidance and helpful leadership of the Peoria Diocese and Father Tom Henseler. In 1981, by mutual agreement with the National Secretariat of the Roman Catholic Cursillo, and the Upper Room, the name was changed from the Upper Room Cursillo to Walk to Emmaus, based on the passage in the 24th chapter of Luke's Gospel.

Walk to Emmaus has also spread across the country, mostly in United Methodist Conferences. The Walk to Emmaus is also being held around the world with most recent growth into Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Estonia of the former Soviet Union.

In 1982 the Central Illinois Emmaus Community was formed, based in Springfield, to serve the (former) Central Illinois Conference. This community experienced growth with Pilgrims attending from as far away as Peoria, Champaign, Decatur and Rushville. To better serve the large number of Pilgrims in the Peoria area, the Illinois Heartland Emmaus Community was formed in 1997 from within the Central Illinois Community.

WD-History Page 1 of 1 Jan 09