CUF News

CUF Springtime of Faith Conference

CUF's annual Springtime of Faith Conference has been moved to the spring: April 25-26, 2003. Please adjust your calendars. CUF postponed its conference, originally scheduled for October 4-6, 2002, because CUF Chairman of the Board Scott Hahn and several conference speakers will be attending the canonization of Bl. Josemaria Escriva in Rome on the same weekend. The Vatican just recently released the date for Bl. Escriva's canonization and expects over a million people to attend the event.

The location of the Springtime of Faith Conference will still be the Pittsburgh Airport Hyatt, so there is no need to drive anywhere once you arrive at the airport. Scott Hahn, Jeff Cavins, and Pat Madrid are among the outstanding invited speakers. For more information, call (800) MY-FAITH.

CUF President on MSNBC

Leon Suprenant appeared as a panelist on MSNBC on March 15 and defended the Church's perennial teaching that same-sex relationships are "intrinsically disordered" and that God has already determined what constitutes a family. Mr. Suprenant's young counterpart on the program is aligned with an organization calling itself "Collage," a San Francisco-based association of children of gay and lesbian parents.

Suprenant appeared on MSNBC the day after Rosie O'Donnell's prime time announcement that she is a lesbian and adoptive mother of three, and that she is beginning a media campaign to overturn Florida's lawsprohibiting the adoption of children by homosexual couples.

Suprenant, himself an adoptive and foster parent (Jan./Feb. Lay Witness, pp. 2-3), affirmed the efforts of those who champion the finding of permanent, loving homes for children in foster care. But he also affirmed that "it is neither in the child's best interest nor in society's best interest to place a child amidst an intrinsically disordered lifestyle."
Suprenant also said that this topic is too important to be left to the spin-doctors—that "it is up to neither you nor me nor Rosie O'Donnell nor some sociologist from U.S.C. to define the family." He said that families are "not mere creatures of the state." Rather, Suprenant pointed out, "We must look to God, the Author of life, who made man and woman in His image and likeness and established the marriage of man and woman as the basic building block of human society."

Emmaus Road Welcomes Kate Glass

Emmaus Road, CUF's publishing arm, recently hired Kate Glass as part-time editorial assistant to help out with the growing volume of work Emmaus has undertaken. Kate, originally from North Carolina, is a senior at Franciscan University of Steubenville with a double major in English Literature and Humanities and Catholic Culture. Emmaus Road director Jeff Ziegler is confident that with Kate's skills and good judgment, Emmaus Road will continue to publish top-quality materials as this publishing outreach continues to grow.

Going on Summer Vacation?

Before you pack your final items for this year's vacation, give us a call and we'll be happy to send you extra back issues of Lay Witness, our CUF brochures, holy cards, catalogs, and a few FAITH FACTS to distribute to your friends or family while on vacation. Call toll-free (800) MY-FAITH.

FAITH FACT Quiz

True or False?
1. The Church since Vatican II encourages lay activity in ecclesial communities only when there is a shortage of available clergy.

2. Catechesis in the home precedes, accompanies, and enriches other forms of instructing children in the faith.

3. The Second Commandment requires that Christian instruction be permeated with adoration and respect for the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

4. The Church discourages the memorization of basic prayers, recommending in their place spontaneous prayers from the heart.

5. Lay people may recite the Liturgy of the Hours, or Divine Office, though a priest or religious must preside.

6. Lay people fulfill their prophetic mission by evangelization, that is, proclaiming Christ in word and action.

7. Catechesis in Christian morality should take into account that the Church's moral teachings must ultimately yield to the primacy of the individual's conscience.

8. Parents have a fundamental right to choose a school for their children that corresponds to their own convictions and, as far as possible, best helps them in their task as Christian educators.

9. Catechesis, properly understood, should be seen as a preparation for, but distinct from, the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church.

10. At the heart of catechesis we find the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son of the Father, who suffered and died for us, has risen from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of the Father.

Answers
1. False. The laity's activity in the life of the Church is appropriate and necessary even when there is no shortage of priests. See Catechism, no. 900.
2. True. See Catechism, no. 2226.
3. True. See Catechism, no. 2145.
4. False. The Church teaches that the memorization of basic prayers provides an essential support to one's prayer life. See Catechism, no. 2688.
5. False. Lay people are encouraged to pray the Divine Office with priests and religious, but also among themselves or even individually. See Catechism, no. 1175.
6. True. See Catechism, no. 905.
7. False. Personal conscience and reason should not be set in opposition to the moral law or the Church's Magisterium. See Catechism, nos. 1792, 2039.
8. True. See Catechism, no. 2229.
9. False. Catechesis is "intrinsically linked" to the Church's liturgical and sacramental activity. See Catechism, no. 1074.
10. True. See Catechism, no. 426.

Click here to view past issues.