For a complete history of the ACTS Retreat, https://www.actsmissions.org/history/
No history of ACTS would be complete without the help of, and some familiarity with, the Cursillo retreat. Cursillo began in Spain in the years between WWI and WWII in response to what many in the Church saw as the increasing secularization of many Catholics in Spain at the time. It was intended to be a short course (the Spanish for short course is "Cursillo") on the Catholic faith and soon became widely popular for its profound effect on people's spirituality.
By the mid-1980s, it had spread to many places in the world, including Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Selma, Texas, a suburb of San Antonio. It was here that three men who were heavily involved in Cursillo planned the first ACTS retreat. Deacon Edward Courtney, Joseph D. Hayes, and Dr. Martin Sablik were instructors and coordinators with Cursillo, with years of Cursillo experience and a mutual friendship. They thought that several aspects of Cursillo could be improved to make the retreat more relevant to the needs of the parish, especially after the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council.
From the beginning, they all felt that it was important for the retreat to be open to everyone, not just to Catholics, and not just to those who were sponsored by someone. Ed, acting under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, met Joe and Marty at a coffee shop to build a new retreat. Another friend and parishioner, Wallace Vaughn, was inspired by the Holy Spirit to read Acts 2:42-47, the passage that became the biblical inspiration for the weekend.
Since the three main pillars in Cursillo were piety, study, and action, Ed felt it absolutely necessary to bring them into ACTS. Once again, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Ed used a dictionary to help him correlate the letters A, C, T, and S into the themes of adoration, community, theology, and service. Joe Hayes, with the help of the Holy Spirit, was instrumental in securing the approval of both their pastor, Fr. Patrick Cronin, and Archbishop Flores.
After that first retreat in 1987, ACTS spread parish to parish in the San Antonio Archdiocese, and by 1997 there were perhaps 15 parishes with an ACTS program in place. In that year, ACTS Missions was formed as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization for the purpose of spreading and maintaining the ACTS retreat wherever the Holy Spirit prompted it.
ACTS Missions was started by Larry Lopez and Tony Deosdade, two men who had such a profound experience on their retreat that they were inspired to make sure everyone in the world should have the opportunity to receive it. From its headquarters at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, this small organization now leverages thousands of volunteers yearly to bring the retreat to thousands of people, allowing them to experience the love of God through their fellow parishioners.
Today, ACTS is in more than 600 parishes covering at least 87 dioceses in 6 countries. Interest is growing, literally, around the world.
People have credited ACTS with saving their lives, saving their marriages, convincing them to be ordained as priests or deacons, or leading them to religious life simply by opening their eyes and their hearts to God's word. Pastors have praised its positive effects on their parishes, leading to highly invigorated parish life. Bishops and other church leaders have called it the most important apostolate in the
Catholic Church today; all this from a handful of faith-filled people with the courage and perseverance to be led by the Holy Spirit.