CUF News

"You must never grow weary of doing what is right, brothers" (2 Thess. 3:13).

Catholics United for the Faith was hit hard in 2001 by a sluggish, uncertain economy. Despite many successes and an all-time high in membership, we simply did not raise the support we needed to finance our many outreaches. Consequently, we ran a significant deficit during 2001.

As CUF continues to receive support sufficient to meet this year's budget, we still have to manage the effects of last year's shortfall. That's why we're asking Lay Witness readers to consider making a special donation to CUF this month. If only 10% of our members would make a one-time gift of $100, we would have this financial quandary eliminated.

Many of you have already responded generously to CUF President Leon Suprenant's Lenten letter about the financial situation of Catholics United for the Faith. The entire staff is grateful for your charitable contributions and eagerly looks forward to working with you in serving Our Lord's Church throughout 2002.

If you have not yet replied to Mr. Suprenant's Lenten request, please take the time to send CUF a special donation by using the cutoff form below, or call us at (800) MY-FAITH to make a credit card donation. That will put us on firm footing into the foreseeable future, and ensure that Lay Witness magazine, Emmaus Road Publishing, Information Services, and our other outreaches will continue to be available to the many people who benefit from them.

Over the years, many of you have been generous partners in our spiritual work of mercy. Thank you for your generous prayers and support, both in the past and in the present moment of need.

Have a Question?

A priest from Pennsylvania recently wrote to our Information Services staff: "May God continue to bless your work. This side of eternity, you will never know all the good you do. Thanks also for your articles on the Rapture. They were and will be the basis for my homilies!"

As one of the primary outreaches of CUF, Information Services provides practical answers to hundreds of callers' questions each week about the Catholic faith, and some queries you might not expect: What are the moral conditions for landlords regarding tenants? What does the Church teach about hunting? Other questions are far narrower in scope: Was there ever actually a Church rule saying you had to be at Mass by the offertory? Are a person's sins forgiven at a Penance service where general absolution is given? Still other questions are more complicated: If Jesus was God and all knowing, why does the Bible say that Jesus learned He was God? And some inquiries are downright elementary: Who can be pope and how is he elected?

Those are a very small sampling of questions that Information Services receives. The department has turned many of those interesting queries into FAITH FACTS, which are available free to CUF members. This month we're recommending these FAITH FACTS: Where Do We Go from Here? The Concept of Limbo; One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic: The Marks of Christ's Church; Let the Children Come to Me: Why the Church Baptizes Babies; Human Knowledge of Christ; and Rock Solid: The Salvation History of the Catholic Church.

If you have questions about the faith or would like to receive CUF's Faith Facts, call Information Services toll-free (800) MY-FAITH or visit the Faith Facts web page. You may also find this month's FAITH FACTS in taking the following quiz!

Faith Facts Quiz

True or false

1. The goal of ecumenism is to unite all Christian churches and denominations into one Church.

2. Children who die without receiving the Sacrament of Baptism are necessarily consigned, because of original sin, to eternal damnation.

3. The Catholic Church is a man-made, post-Resurrection invention of the early Church necessitated by the phenomenal spread of the Christian faith.

4. Regarding infant Baptism, there is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and likely during biblical times the practice was in place when whole "households" received Baptism.

5. By its union to the divine wisdom in the Person of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ enjoyed in His human knowledge the full understanding of the eternal plans He had come to reveal as the Messiah and Redeemer of man.

6. The Catholic Church has long since abandoned the outdated teaching summarized by the phrase "outside the Church there is no salvation."

7. The doctrine of limbo was officially formulated at the Council of Trent and to this day, despite widespread opposition, must be believed by the Catholic faithful.

8. Jesus' violent death is part of the mystery of God and not the result of chance or tragic misfortune.

9. Baptism should be delayed until the age of discretion so that the child can meaningfully request it for himself or herself.

10. The Third Council of Constantinople solemnly declared in 681 that Christ had only one, perfect divine will-and not two wills, one human and one divine-thus definitively condemning the Nestorian heresy.

Answers to Quiz.
(1) False. The Church's unity is Christ's gift, which she can never lose. Ecumenism instead refers to the effort to restore unity among Christians. See Catechism, nos. 820-22.
(2) False. We are invited to trust in God's mercy and providence, and to pray for their salvation. See Catechism, nos. 1261, 1283.
(3) False. The Church was instituted by Christ Himself. See Catechism, nos. 763-66.
(4) True. See Catechism, no. 1251 and accompanying biblical cites.
(5) True. See Catechism, no. 474.
(6) False. This concept, properly understood, is essential to a full understanding of the Church's catholicity. See Catechism, nos. 846-48.
(7) False. Limbo has never been a formally defined doctrine of the Church, but rather a theological opinion. What Catholics believe regarding children who die without Baptism is summarized in Catechism, no. 1261.
(8) True. See Catechism, no. 599.
(9) False. See generally Catechism, nos. 1250-55 regarding infant Baptism.
(10) False. This Council affirmed that Christ has both a human will and a divine will. See Catechism, no. 475.

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