Dear friend of CUF,

I’d like to thank all of the members of Catholics United for the Faith—from veteran members who knew our beloved founder personally, to our newest members who have joined in the past year—who responded to the membership renewal letter that I sent in January.

As I mentioned in the letter, CUF’s combination of an award-winning magazine, research services, and local chapters makes us unique among Catholic apostolates. The response to the letter was deeply heartening. Again, thank you very much.

In this letter, I’d like to tell you about an important new initiative of CUF that will bring the work of our apostolate to many Catholics in the pews and at the same time promote vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

I’ll discuss our new initiative—parish bulletin inserts—in detail on the next page. But first, I’d like to tell you why we’ve decided to do this.

In the letter I sent back in January, I mentioned that our Holy Father recently delivered an important speech to a group of German bishops. Pope Benedict discussed the sickness of secularization that is at the root of so many of the problems afflicting Europe and America today.

The Holy Father also pointed to the cure for this sickness. He told the bishops that the Church needs Catholics—priests and laity alike—

† who are loyal to the Church’s teaching
† who know the Faith well
† who live out the Faith with integrity, and
† who can articulate the Faith in conversations with others.

The desires of Pope Benedict XVI—the 265th Pope and the Vicar of Christ on earth—are nothing new. The first Pope, St. Peter the Apostle, to whom Christ gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven, also wanted reverent, loyal disciples who knew the Faith, lived the Faith, and could articulate it in conversations with others. St. Peter exhorted:

[I]n your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear. (1 Pet. 3:15–16)

Because CUF exists to support, defend, and advance the efforts of the teaching Church—and because the teaching Church, from St. Peter to Pope Benedict, wants Catholics to know their Faith—we have been asking ourselves for some time, "What can CUF do to help the average Catholic in the pew know the Faith better?"

We’ve discussed this question in board meetings. We’ve discussed this question in the office. I’ve discussed this question with many members over the years. And we’ve come up with an answer: Faith Basics.

What is Faith Basics? It’s a series of parish bulletin inserts that

† deals with topics that are of interest to the average Catholic
† is easy to read and understand
† is faithful to the teaching of the Magisterium

The next time you’re at Sunday Mass, look around to see how each person reads the parish bulletin. Some may glance at the bulletin before Mass—perhaps after they have genuflected, knelt in the pew, and said a few prayers. Others will read the bulletin just after Mass. Many will take it with them to read it at home.

Because so many people at least glance at the bulletin, a series of parish bulletin inserts that is faithful to the teaching of the Church can have a powerful impact on the average Catholic.

We’ve decided to devote the first installment of Faith Basics bulletin inserts to vocations. We’re doing so for three reasons.

First, we’re convinced that vocations are a topic of interest to most Catholics.

Second, many of our dioceses are experiencing a priest shortage, and many Catholics have endured the heartbreak of seeing the closure of parishes where they were baptized, received their First Holy Communion, were confirmed, and were married. We want to do our part to promote vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Third, and most fundamentally, every follower of Christ has a unique vocation in the Lord’s vineyard. Our Lord calls some men to be clergy—to be bishops, priests, or deacons. Christ calls some men and women to the consecrated life and to take vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. He calls most Catholics—the lay faithful—to sanctify the temporal order. Some are called to remain single for their entire lives, while most are called to marriage and family life. We want to do our part to help Catholics to live their vocations more faithfully.

There will be four bulletin inserts in the first Faith Basics series on vocations—one on the priesthood, one on the religious life, and two on discerning one’s vocation. Archbishop Burke of St. Louis, Bishop Carlson of Saginaw (until recently of Sioux Falls), Bishop Sheridan of Colorado Springs, and Bishop Vasa of Baker have all contributed to the series. You can view a PDF of one of these bulletin inserts by clicking here. (You may need to obtain a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader to use this PDF file.) Please tell us what you think.

† Do you like the content of this Faith Basics bulletin insert?
† Do you like the appearance?
† Besides vocations, what other topics do you think these bulletin inserts should cover? Faith Basics series currently in the works include the Holy Eucharist, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and pro-life issues.
† The Faith Basics inserts are very much a work in progress. Do you have any other suggestions for improvement?

Mike Sullivan, our vice president and Lay Witness editor, is overseeing the Faith Basics initiative. Mike would be deeply grateful for your comments and suggestions; his e-mail is msullivan@cuf.org. (It may take a few weeks for him to reply to your e-mail: he and I will be traveling to Rome this month to discuss members’ concerns with officials of the Curia.)

I am excited by Faith Basics. I believe it has the potential to be our apostolate’s most important initiative since Emmaus Road Publishing was founded a decade ago.

Faith Basics has the potential to bring the work of CUF to thousands upon thousands of Catholics in the pews. These bulletin inserts have the potential to help them become the Catholics that Pope Benedict says the Church so desperately needs: Catholics who know the Faith, live the Faith, and can discuss the Faith. The series on vocations has the potential to cause numerous young people to think about vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Faith Basics, however, cannot succeed without the financial assistance of our members. Because CUF is new to the bulletin insert "market," it will be some time before the Faith Basics project will be financially self-supporting. Members’ support at this time, then, is crucial to the support of this project.

If you, too, think the Faith Basics bulletin insert initiative has great potential, please pray for its success, and please consider making a donation to help fund the project today.

Leon J. Suprenant
President

P.S. As mentioned above, Faith Basics is a work in progress, and we would be deeply grateful for any suggestions you may have. Please e-mail Mike Sullivan (msullivan@cuf.org) with any comments; as discussed in the letter, he may not be able to reply for a few weeks.