TRES DIAS INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT
49 Scalybark
Trail; Concord, NC 28027-7548; Phone: 704.784.9389; e-mail:
wrboyd@vnet.net
November 15, 2004
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To: All Local Tres Dias Secretariats
Attached in final form for your preview, are the revised fifteen rollos (three parts each) and five Spiritual Director Meditations (three parts each).
At the October 31, 2004, meeting of the International Secretariat in Crockett, TX, the Secretariat voted unanimously, to send to all local Secretariats for your preview, these fifteen rollos and five S.D. Meditations.
It is planned that sometime between April 15 and April 25, 2005, the Elections Sub-committee of International Secretariat will be sending you a ballot for a vote to accept these rollos and meditations as a replacement for the current ones. Your ballot will be due for submission by about June 15, 2005; the results of the ballot will be announced at the International Assembly of Tres Dias Secretariats when it meets in Altoona-Johnstown, PA on July 9, 2005. We wanted to give you ample time to preview these documents before you are asked to vote on their acceptance; we believe seven months should allow sufficient time for their preview.
A recap follows, indicating how we arrived at this juncture. At the July 2002, International Secretariat meeting (following the International Assembly of Tres Dias Secretariats in New Jersey), the Secretariat unanimously passed the following motion:
“A committee shall be formed immediately by the President to review the outline and title of each of the fifteen rollos given on the Weekend, starting with the Sacraments, and report these findings and recommendations concerning this first talk- - by the Secretariat meeting in November 2002.”
A committee (of twelve people), plus a facilitator and a secretary - - consisting of persons from various denominations (and non-denominational) was formed. It held its first meeting September 14-16, 2002. You will recall that on November 15, 2002, the Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) reported to the local Tres Dias communities on the progress made at its September meeting. Among other items in that report, the BRC prepared a recommended outline (and a new title) for the “Sacraments”/”Days in the Life of a Christian” rollo (Sacred Moments of Grace), and advised you on their plans and the process to be used to re-write the fifteen rollos. At the November 3, 2002, International Secretariat meeting, the Secretariat expanded the charter of the BRC to include a re-write of the five S.D. Meditations (three parts each).
On October 30, 2003, I wrote you to report on the continuing progress of the BRC at its September 2003, meeting, and included for critique by the local communities, the three parts (“Purpose and Situation”, “Outline”, and the “Clarification of the Outline”) for the Sacred Moments of Grace (SM of G) rollo. Many local communities prepared a thoughtful critique and submitted it. Unfortunately, many of the critiques arrived just prior to (and some after) the BRC met on January 23-25, 2004. Further, many of the critiques contained diametrically opposed opinions, making it virtually impossible for the BRC to make any progress on the SM of G rollo at the January meeting. Therefore, we proceeded to work on eight other rollos (the remaining four Spiritual Director rollos and the first four lay rollos) at the January 2004, meeting.
In the meantime, we presented to the International Secretariat at its March 6-7, 2004, meeting, the three parts of the following rollos: Ideals, Grace, The Church, The Holy Spirit, Piety, Study, Obstacles to Grace and Life in Grace. The International Secretariat unanimously agreed to send these rollos to the local communities for their review and critique. Further, the International Secretariat unanimously agreed that the content of these eight rollos was much improved from that which is contained in either of the two current (and different) sets of rollos being used within the various communities.
In the detailed and diligent process of preparing the rollos, the BRC first attempted to preserve and strengthen the Biblical basis of each rollo. Important as well, was the desire to honor the spirit, character and purpose of the Weekend as originally established by Eduardo Bonnin and the other six founders of the Cursillo de Christiandad movement. Gratefully acknowledged is their obedience to the Holy Spirit, as they worked and provided a tool through which many lives have been strengthened, renewed and transformed. Thirdly, the BRC tried to the best of its ability, to maintain as much of the unique flavor of the two sets of rollos being used within Tres Dias, without conflicting with Biblical principles.
Also at the January 23-25, 2004, meeting, the BRC prepared the Outlines (only) for the remaining six rollos and made assignments for writing the other two parts (“Purpose and Situation” and “Commentary on the Outline”). Further, assignments were made to re-write the five S. D. Meditations. Small teams (of the BRC) reviewed this work before the next meeting of the BRC, when the entire BRC critiqued the work. The BRC completed the remaining six rollos and the five S.D. Meditations at its April 23-25, 2004, meeting, dealt with the critiques from the local communities on the eight rollos and proceeded at least to some extent, on the SM of G rollo.
The fifth and final meeting of the BRC was held August 19-22, 2004. At that meeting, the critiques received from local communities were reviewed and all fifteen rollos and five S.D. Meditations were finalized. Following the meeting, one person from the BRC was assigned the job of editing and formatting the documents; that process has now been completed. The documents were subsequently sent to International Secretariat members for their final review, before requesting their authority to forward them to all local communities for your preview. We hope you will be pleasantly surprised, as was the International Secretariat, when it first viewed this work. That brings us to where we are today. However, we want to provide you with several more reminders:
Remember, the fifteen rollos are not fifteen separate and unrelated talks; rather, it is one rollo given in fifteen parts; the rollos must start out low-key, provide logical progression (according to the “Dynamics of Tres Dias”) and build as the Weekend continues.
The three parts to a rollo (“Purpose and Situation”, “Outline” and “Commentary on the Outline” - - as it will now be called) are furnished for three distinct reasons:
The “Purpose and Situation” is designed to establish for the rollista (and those critiquing the rollo), the position of the rollo in the Weekend, describe how it relates to the other rollos and generally set forth the intent of the rollo.
The “Outline” is designed to briefly designate the items which the rollista is required to cover and upon which the rollista will be critiqued.
The “Commentary on the Outline” is not meant to be the rollo. It will usually contain much more in it than can reasonably be covered in the time objective which has been established for the rollo. The “Commentary…” is meant to spark thoughts regarding the rollo, but should never be given verbatim by the rollista. Further, the rollista is not to be critiqued on the “Commentary …”, but only on the “Outline”. We believe this item is critical to the proper understanding and use of the “Commentary…”, and therefore bears repeating: The rollista is not to be critiqued on the “Commentary …”, but only on the “Outline”.
We encourage you to furnish these rollos and meditations to all of the active members of your community. It is imperative that you have input from the key leaders in your community and from the Spiritual Directors who serve in your community.
Finally, it is important to note that the time for critiques has passed. It is now time to consider the entire set of rollos and S.D. Meditations as one package. If errors are found, they will obviously be corrected. However, the difficult job of arriving at a position of unanimous agreement by the very diverse individuals serving on the BRC has proven beyond the shadow of doubt, that the Holy Spirit was with us and guided us as we worked on this task. We ask you to consider what is best for the entire Tres Dias community, and not just how it might impact your own community.
We are sending this to all communities via electronic means. The International Secretariat has also requested that it be made available to your community in “hard copy” and on “CD”. We are willing to do that. However, if your community DOES NOT WANT OR NEED a hard copy or a CD, please let me know at the e-mail address shown above (in the letterhead). To send out hard copies will require producing well over 12,000 pages, possibly costing over $1500., plus postage and envelopes, in addition to the cost of CD’s. It will also take considerable labor to produce the copies, prepare the labels, produce the CD’s and complete the mailing process. We want to be good stewards of the resources God has given to Tres Dias; yet, it is important to meet the needs of your community. Please let us hear from you regarding this matter.
In Christ’s service,
Terry Bill
Terry Gilbreath, President Bill Boyd, Executive Vice President
Member, BRC Chairman, BRC
P.S. While these (three parts) of the fifteen rollos and five meditations have been approved by International Secretariat to be sent to all local communities for their preview, it is not meant that they be implemented at this time. All communities will have an opportunity to vote on the final work of the BRC in late April through June 15, 2005. Assuming a positive vote of the International Assembly in a proxy ballot, the new Rollo and S. D. Meditation outlines, etc. would be approved for implementation across the world at one time, more than likely, with some period of flexibility for the phase-in.
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BRC 15 ROLLOS & 5 MEDITATIONS FINAL