History of the ACTS Movement
The ACTS movement came to birth
from the Cursillo Movement through the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, in the Archdiocese of San Antonio. ACTS started in 1987 at
Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Selma, Texas, a small suburb of San
Antonio.
"Three men who were formerly
involved with Cursillo, Ed Courtney and Joe Hays of Our Lady of
Perpetual Help Church in Selma, and Dr. Marty Sablik of St Luke's
parish, met in the spring of 1987 at a local restaurant and
discussed the possibilities of starting a retreat program that would
concentrate more on parish life and community.
The proposed retreat program
was approved by Joe Hayes' pastor, Father Patrick Cronin, at Our
Lady of Perpetual Help, his pastoral council and Archbishop Patrick
Flores. The men received the blessings to form a committee to
develop a retreat weekend with a goal of having a men's retreat in
July 1987 and a women's retreat in the fall of 1987. Archbishop
Flores asked that the committee be sure to allow non-Catholics to
attend as part of the community.
With Joe Hayes as chairman,
10 committee members began developing talks, sacramentals,
meditations and schedules for the weekends. The committee met each
week while forming the retreat program and discussed choosing a name
for the retreat but there was never a consensus among them. One day
Wallace Vaughn, one of the committee members, had a dream in which
the Holy Spirit encouraged him to read Chapter 2, verses 42-47 of
the Acts of the Apostles. This selection from Acts describes what
the committee wanted to achieve on a retreat weekend. He also felt
the Holy Spirit wanted the retreats to be called 'ACTS,' and thus
the name was born. The acronym of ACTS came to mean Adoration,
Community, Theology and Service, which is today the precept of these
retreats. Nearly all who have experienced an ACTS retreat feel truly
blessed by God through the guidance of the Holy Spirit." 1
The Cursillo Retreat is a
wonderful weekend experience and true to its name is a remarkable
"Short Course" in the Catholic faith. Although the ACTS retreat was
modeled after Cursillo, there are some major differences, most
notably in focus and in emphasis. Cursillo Retreats are strictly for
Catholics, and always reach out to the general population to form
team and recruit retreatants. ACTS Retreats are open to all faiths
and generally are directed primarily to those within a parish.
Another example of difference is
that the Cursillo Retreat is very structured and provides very
little flexibility. The ACTS Retreat, on the other hand, represents
the wishes of the Director and team in selection of presentations.
No two ACTS retreats are exactly alike. There are certain events
that are required but each retreat is unique because of the
individuality of each team.
The ACTS and The Cursillo
Retreats do the work of the Holy Spirit and both are needed. The
ACTS Movement shall always be grateful to the Cursillo Movement for
its beginnings and its foundation. The ACTS retreat has gradually
become a Parish Weekend Retreat patterned after the description of
the early Church in the Acts of the Apostles (ACTS 2:42-47);
breaking bread together, worshipping together, receiving instruction
together, sharing in common, and reaching out in loving service.
After the Weekend, participants
are encouraged to reach out to parish activities. ACTS does not want
to be thought of as a "Group", but as parishioners that have been on
a special retreat and now have a greater interest in parish ministry
involvement. Many men and women too numerous to mention here have
added much and continue to add to the ACTS Movement through the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
ACTS Missions was founded in 1997
to take the ACTS Retreat to new Parishes all over the world so that
the ACTS Community would be alive in all parishes. ACTS has grown
much since 1987, and is now in Alaska, California, Connecticut and
Missouri, as well as all over Texas.
1 Reprinted with permission from Today's
Catholic
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