ABOUT HEART OF ILLINOIS VIA DE CRISTO
Heart of Illinois Via de Cristo holds two sets of weekends per year; a set in the spring and another in the fall. Although there are some movements who hold co-ed weekends, so far we are set up exclusively for separate men and women's weekends.
Our weekend sendoff and closings (clausuras) are held at Faith Lutheran Church in Washington, IL. Sendoff events begin on Thursday evening around 6:15 or so when sponsors bring their candidates for signing in. Snacks are available until approximately 7:15 (or whenever the last candidate has signed in), and then the sendoff ceremony begins. After the names of those going on the weekend are called and they have boarded our luxurious limousines, the community sings All in Color as the vans prepare to leave. After the vans leave, the community returns to the sanctuary for a service where the crosses the candidates will receive Sunday will be prayed over by the sponsors. Our closings begin about 4:30 Sunday afternoon when the vans return to Faith Lutheran from East Bay Camp.
Here are a few significant dates and events in the life of Heart of Illinois Via de Cristo.....
Late 1996 and early 1997--The foundations for
HOIVdC were developed and laid by a group of 4 dedicated people.
This original group of people had made their weekends at Heart of Florida
Via de Cristo.
1997--HOIVdC
joins the National Lutheran Secretariat (NLS) of Via de Cristo. The NLS is
the leadership group of the Via de Cristo movement worldwide.
August,
1997--The very first ultreya was held. It wasn’t known if 5 or 50 might show up, but the actual count was 15. From the attendees at that first ultreya, other leaders for the secretariat were discovered. Ultreyas have
been held on a regular basis ever since.
April,
1998--During late 1997 and early 1998, it was decided it was time to “bite the bullet” and so dates were set and a retreat center reserved for the first HOIVdC weekends which were held in April, 1998.
Fall of 1998--Men’s weekend #2 in the fall of 1998 didn’t have enough participants, so the weekend was postponed until spring 1999.
April, 2001--Women’s weekend #7 had 22 participants, which today remains the largest number of candidates for a weekend so far, either men or women.
2003--A nice equipment trailer was purchased, which now allows us to move supplies more easily for each weekend.
2005--First summer weekend held..
Heart of Illinois Via de
Cristo is a member of the National Lutheran Secretariat
