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The Cursillo Music Committee – An Overview

Who is this committee?  In April 2010, LCMA’s Secretariat chartered a group of individuals from the Cursillo community to tackle issues related to our non-compliance with copyright laws and reprint/usage licenses. Team members include Sandy Smith (Secretariat Liaison), Regina Jenkins, Gina Bouk, Peter Goguen and Ruthann Raitter.

Why do we care?   As a Christian community, we are individually and collectively dedicated to living lives which reflect high integrity and strong Christian values.  With respect to the music we all love, we are committed to honoring the legitimate rights of authors, composers and publishers with respect to the use of their songs… the products of their God-given talents.   We pray that all in the music community share this philosophy and will support the work of the team.

What’s different than what we do now?  In order to be compliant with copyright laws and usage licenses, we need to acknowledge the author, the copyright information, and the specific usage license that allows us to reprint the lyrics and music.  Following is an example of the text that needs to be included on a lyrics sheet or music for a song:

CCLI Song #123456

“Hallelujah” words and music by John Doe

©2000 Good Music Co.

Used by permission. CCLI License #264223

What is this team trying to do? The team’s primary objectives are to:

1.      Determine how to enable Cursillo’s use of music (lyrics, lead sheets, and guitar sheets) to be in compliance with copyright laws and reprint licenses, and

2.      Do what is necessary to enable the Cursillo music community to operate within these boundaries.  

What do we care about?  The team is concerned not only with the legal issues, but also is very sensitive to the challenges that legal compliance may present to the Cursillo music community, the need to provide tools and mechanisms to support music leaders in achieving compliance - in the context of an ever-evolving repertoire of songs!

What does it look like now? The basics of the situation we face are as follows:

·         LCMA owns a CCLI license; however, that license number has rarely, if ever, been provided to Music Directors, and no tools or instructions for its use have ever been provided. 

·         Our CCLI license (historic level) gives permission only for reprinting.  No guitar/ lead sheets are currently available so music leaders are on their own with respect to obtaining ‘legal’ copies of music.

·         Some of the most popular Cursillo songs are not covered by CCLI licenses.

What are we going to do about it?  We believe that, at a minimum, the following needs to be put in place to achieve compliance and support the music community:

·         A Secretariat-approved Policy Statement.

·         Upgraded and expanded usage licenses.

·         A living, evolving list of Cursillo songs that includes information needed to download and use lyrics and music that are in compliance with copyright laws, and including a mechanism for adding new songs to the list.

·         A set of tools and processes that will facilitate our operating within legal boundaries.

·         A Music Director’s Manual that will include necessary copyright/usage information for weekend music leaders.

·         An abbreviated information sheet for Ultreya, Mananitas and Clausura musicians.

·         A Secretariat-appointed resource chartered to support the music community, interface with music licensors and interact with Secretariat as needed.

When is this going to happen?  The team is presenting specific recommendations to Secretariat on July 11, and we are hopeful that our recommendations will be approved so that we can move forward! 

Keep an eye on the Cursillo web page and the newsletter for updates as decisions are made, and as the team continues its work to ‘get Cursillo legal’ and to support our music community in its work to offer gift upon gift of music that glorifies our God and praises our Lord and Savior!