Greetings!

With this e-mail, we launch a new way of publishing our international newsletter. We hope to publish about six times a year, with each issue bringing you news from the International Secretariat as well as useful advice for making Tres Dias more effective at the local level. This issue is being sent to community presidents, Assembly delegates, and International Secretariat members, but we would like to reach a broader audience. To help us achieve that goal, see the message at the end of this issue.

    Let us know how you feel about receiving the newsletter this way, either by sending me a message at president@tresdias.org or by replying to our newsletter editor (newsletter@tresdias.org).

In Christ,

Paul Weis

News From the International Secretariat's Membership Committee  

Richard Thornhill

 Charters for three new communities, Peru Tres Dias, Ottawa TD, and Colorado Front Range, were approved at the March meeting of the International Secretariat, as announced by Membership VP Richard Thornhill.

   Eleven other "emerging" communities (three foreign, eight within the US) are working toward being chartered. Emerging communities always fill their teams with "guests" from established communities. You don't need to be a member of the sponsoring community to serve as a team member. If you are interested in serving in that way, look at the possibilities by going to www.tresdias.org and clicking on the WEEKENDS tab. You'll find dates and contact information for each community; for additional information, contact Richard Thornhill, vpmembership@tresdias.org.

Why Not Attend a Meeting of the Tres Dias International Secretariat? 

This 27-member group, which serves as a board of directors for Tres Dias, inc., meets three times a year. The first meeting is just following the Annual Assembly; the next meeting is in the fall, and the next in the spring.

   The location for this year's Annual Assembly, Seoul, Korea, may make a casual visit difficult, but the subsequent meetings will be close to home for many:

   Fairfield, Connecticut: 19-21 October, 2012

   Dallas, Texas: 8-10 March, 2013 

   Richard will be sending out special invitations to neighboring communities encouraging them to attend. The guests can sign in as observers, attend the plenary meetings, and participate in the committee work.

  There's an added benefit: this is an opporunity to attend Essentials training and become certified as a trainer, someone who can conduct the training in his or her home community.

Tres Dias Workshop 

Best Practices 

Expanding Prayer Vigils Worldwide

 Candidates often feel astonished to learn that someone has been praying for them, every minute, day and night, throughout the weekend. When they can be told that the prayers were not just from  people within the community, but from individuals throughout the US and even from foreign locations--and then shown a list of people who prayed and their geographic locations--the sense of wonder expands beyond all expectations.

Weekend prayer vigils have long been a tradition in some Tres Dias Communities, and the Internet site 3 Day Weekends Online (www.3dayol.org) builds on that form of palanca by making it easier for a community to set up the vigil and for persons from outside the community to sign on. The site is well worth a visit, even if you don't set up a prayer vigil. The home page states "This web site is dedicated to the many 3-day weekends occurring around the world." Although Tres Dias refers to itself as part of "the fourth-day movement," the term "three-day movement" is also commonly used. The section labeled 3-Day Movements lists 23 of the best- known organizations, including prison ministries and ministries for youth.

To visualize this expansive development of the three-day movement, visit that section of 3 Day Weekends Online labeled Cursillo History. The genealogical chart (family tree) diagrams the Catholic Cursillo expansion into the US, Germany, Austria, and Canada during the 1960s, simultaneously diversifying to include youth and prison ministries. The Lutheran and Episcopal churches were the first to sponsor denomination-specific Cursillo weekends, and Tres Dias pioneered non-denominational Christian weekends.

To get a sense of the current diversity, visit the Prayer Vigil listings. For a typical Thursday to Sunday in the spring or fall, between 50 and 80 communities request vigils. If you see an open slot, consider signing on.  Before closing out this issue, the editors took a look at the entire listing--more than 300 prayer vigils are scheduled between now and the fall!

 To date, only a handful of Tres Dias communities are using the resources available from 3 Day Weekends Online. That is likely to change as more communities become aware of the site.