Welcome to the Houston Journey to Damascus
Mission Statement
The mission of Journey to Damascus is to inspire, challenge and equip
the christian laity to witness for Christ on a daily basis. This will be accomplished in ecumenical fashion through the Journey to Damascus weekend and the fourth day activities.
Authority
The authority of the organization comes from Christ in a cooperative partnership of the Cardinal Archbishop of the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese and the members of the Houston Journey to Damascus community. Cardinal DiNardo has appointed Fr. Carl Tenhundfeld as spiritual director.
Journey to Damascus Overview
The Journey to Damascus (JTD) was initiated as an ecumenical Catholic effort to promote leadership and service among christian women and men. Centered in the person of Jesus Christ, it's goal is the promotion of mutual christian values, partnership in promoting God's kingdom and servant leadership in church communities.
JTD has two principal wellsprings: The Catholic 'Cursillo' and the Methodist 'Walk to Emmaus'. The Cursillo was started in Spain in 1949. It was " a short course in christianity", experienced in a 72 hour
period, Thursday - Sunday. The Walk to Emmaus patterned itself on the Cursillo model. The Upper Room, a ministry unit of the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church, sponsors the Walk to Emmaus.
During the weekend, there are 15 talks given by lay and clergy, touching upon God's gift of Grace, what it means to be disciples and how we live , church, and atmosphere of communal prayer and worship with daily Holy Communion permeates the weekend. Minds and hearts open up to the Holy Spirit. Small group activities foster a spirit of dialogue and mutual understanding. Hearts are touched, lives are changed and servant leadership grows the Church.
The Walk to Emmaus is "grounded theologically and institutionally in the Upper Room Ministry unit of the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church." Hence, when adapting it to express a Roman Catholic perspective, the Journey to Damascus evolved. The 
Journey to Damascus is theologically and intstitutionally grounded in Catholic beliefs and practices. Likewise, there are 13 talks given by lay and clergy members. There is an atmosphere of prayer, communal as well as personal, with the daily celebration of mass. Also, small group activities open our minds and hearts to mutual understanding amoung christian sisters and brothers. All builds up to a strengthening the Body of Christ and to service and leadership in our various churches.
History
A group of clergy and laity began planning the JTD in the Diocese of Corpus Christi in 1998. The first journey weekend was held there in 1999, as well as the next 22 journey weekends. Catholics from the greater Houston area participated in some of these weekends. Convinced of the energizing spiritual power of the weekend, they formed a committee to bring the journey experience to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. The first journey was held in Houston at Circle Lake Retreat Center in February, 2004. Since then, journey weekends have been experienced by over 800 people and through November of 2010, 20 weekends have been experienced by Catholic and Protestant women and men. In response to a formal request by the Houston Board of Dierctors, Cardinal Daniel DeNardo gave his approval in a letter dated November 6, 2006, appointing Fr. Carl Tenhundfeld as spiritual director.