History of Via de Cristo

The Via de Cristo movement originated first as the Spanish Catholic church “Cursillo” in the 1940’s and moved to the United States in the late 1950’s.  In 1971, lay people and clergy in the Lutheran church attended a Catholic Cursillo in Iowa and Florida, which led to the first Lutheran sponsored weekends in 1972.  The Indiana Lutheran community held its first weekend in May 1984 with the help of the Ohio and Michigan communities, who helped establish our movement.  In 1986 our Indiana community adopted the Via de Cristo name and in 2003 it became INKY Via de Cristo, including northern Kentucky as part of our community.  Just as our community received help in getting started, INKY Via de Cristo helped in the birth of the Latvian Via de Cristo, who in turn is helping start the movement in Sweden.  Now held in over 25 states and some foreign countries, Via de Cristo is the Lutheran expression of this method which is used in many denominations including: Episcopal, Brethren, Methodist, Presbyterian and Reformed churches, with weekend names such as The Great Banquet, Way of Christ and Emmaus Walk.