Tres Dias

Tres Dias is a Christian Renewal Retreat derived from the Roman Catholic Cursillo. It literally means "three days" in Spanish and typically begins on a Thursday night and ends on Sunday evening.

History

The first English speaking Cursillo was held in the early 1960's. Protestants who attended some [http://www.cursillo.org Cursillo] weekends, saw the need to make the experience available to other Protestants. This led to the development of the ecumenical [http://www.tresdias.org Tres Dias] movement. The first retreat weekend was held at Our Lady of Hope Seminary, generally known as “the Oblate House,” in Newburgh, New York November 2-5, 1972. The rector, Dave McManigal, was a Protestant who had attended a Roman Catholic Cursillo in New York. That first Tres Dias retreat was open to all Christian traditions.

Others involved in starting Tres Dias were Helmut Maier; and Bob and Mary Essert.

Starting from the [http://www.mhtd.org Mid-Hudson Tres Dias community] in Newburgh/Poughkeepsie, the movement spread rapidly, first to Pittsburgh; then Fairfield County (Connecticut), Northern New Jersey, Long Island, Maine, Central Connecticut, New Hampshire and South Hudson.

In the Spring of 1979, with the encouragement of the Mid-Hudson Secretariat, John McKinney formed an ad hoc "National" secretariat with Jim Thornley, Anton Wellbrock, Gerry Hoernes, and Bob Decker. That group produced initial drafts of a "National" constitution and "Essentials of Tres Dias". All other communities were invited to participate and refine the drafts.

On July 11, 1980, at Poughkeepsie, New York, the constitution and essentials were ratified and adopted by all of the above listed communities, thus Tres Dias became a national organization. John McKinney was elected the first president. The secretariat of each community was then chartered as a local secretariat. Subsequently, Tres Dias incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation in New York State and received nonprofit designation by the Internal Revenue Service.

In 1985 Tres Dias became international when communities were chartered in Korea and Germany. Since that time, Tres Dias has spread globally into Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cuba, Ireland, Japan, Peru, Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Many of these communities were launched by sister communities in the United States.

A "charter" member of the first National and International Tres Dias secretariats, Peter Sharfenberg, labored for more than two decades, stocking and shipping manuals and materials to Tres Dias communities all over the world. [ [http://www.tresdias.org/Miscel/History/history.htm History of the Tres Dias Movement ] ]

External links

* [http://www.tresdias.org Tres Dias International]
* [http://www.cursillo.org National Cursillo Center]

References

* [http://www.tresdias.org/Miscel/History/history.htm Tres Dias History]