5TH ANNUAL CURSILLO CRUISE By Cathleen Bauer

A few years ago, my husband (Doug Bauer, a member of the Men’s team) came up with the idea of combining his love of cruising with his love for Cursillo – and, as an extension of that – his love for his fellow Cursillistas!
So – in late February of 2020, the 1st Annual Cursillo Cruise was born! We had 23 people on our maiden voyage – some seasoned cruisers and some others who were not necessarily cruise lovers but, like Doug, were lovers of Cursillo and its community members! We arrived home to NY on March 1st, 2020 – and after that is when the world “closed up” with Covid, and we were happy to have made it home safe and sound!
We did not make it out in 2021, with Covid still ruining our lives, but in 2022 we did return and this time chose September as our cruise month (and we have kept that month each year to cruise)! This year, September 8th – September 19th 2025 was our 5th annual Cursillo cruise and to celebrate we chose an ELEVEN day cruise out of Manhattan to the Caribbean! We had 22 people this year and, out of 22, we had 5 “newbies” join the group! The final tallies are not in yet, but the general consensus is that all five will be invited back next year! LOL
But that is what is so great about this annual “event”! ALL are invited and you don’t have to be a Cursillista to join us! Two people in our group this year had not made a Cursillo, but we never give up hope that the spirit will move them!
Each year on our cruise we start each day, together, with morning prayer. Doug has always arranged for a conference room to be assigned to us for prayer and we take full advantage of this. We all sign up to take a morning to lead the prayer and the rest is up to the Lord. We have readings, typed up prayers, favorite chosen songs to play and always time for “sharing” among the group! And the nicest thing is as we meet strangers on the cruise, we invite them to come pray with us – we are “open to all” each morning and some people take us up on our offer! One way people talk to us is by seeing our T—shirts! Each year Doug Bauer & Rich Grillo pick a color (this year was yellow!) & we all pay to have our own shirts – which we then wear on the ship! We have coordinated days when we ALL wear our T-shirts and truly make a statement! Rich Grillo and I were on Deck 8 this year purchasing items in the shops and 2 lovely sisters from Brooklyn (reminding us of our beloved Marie & Lucille) saw our T-shirts and were excited to tell us that they made their Cursillo in Brooklyn, on Humboldt Street, almost 50 years ago! We invited them to morning prayer and the next day they were there – SO excited to be with fellow Cursillistas again!!!
We ate, we drank (boy, did we drink with the FREE unlimited drink package!). I was told by an expert that drinking a frozen margarita at 11am is not considered “Day drinking” – that is considered “MORNING drinking” – a little worse!! LOL
Our shared meals, our attendance at shows together, our excursions, & our walks into town together during port stops are all memories I will cherish forever – and that will hold me until next September! In the meantime, it’s wonderful to know that the Cursillo community offers me so many ways to keep in touch with my fellow Cursillistas each month, starting with the monthly Ultreya in Floral Park (the 1st Tuesday) & Manorville (the 3rd Wednesday) & Ann Marie Dodd’s prayer group the 2nd Tuesday of each month – these are ways I enjoy seeing my community and keeping that bond with everybody!
SO – if you think you might want to join us next fall and attend the 6th annual Cursillo cruise, keep in touch with our community &, as soon as the next cruise is picked, you will see the flyer in our monthly newsletter or Facebook page!
Until the high seas come calling me again
DeColores with much love,
Cathleen B!