What is status of Catholics United For The Faith?

[Tobias2]

I’ve purchased several Emmaus Road books and quite enjoyed them. Emmaus Road is a CUF apostolate.

I recently read where Scott Hahn’s St. Paul Center may take over Emmaus Road publishing. Saw that once and can’t find anything more about it.

The Emmaus Road site indicates CUF is still the publisher/owner.

I did notice that Lay Witness which is the bi-monthly publication of CUF only has issues through May of last year. I was going to buy several newer ones but nothing is listed. Is CUF still publishing Lay Witness?

Thanks for any info you might have.

 

[Joe_5859]

I’ve purchased several Emmaus Road books and quite enjoyed them. Emmaus Road is a CUF apostolate.

I recently read where Scott Hahn’s St. Paul Center may take over Emmaus Road publishing. Saw that once and can’t find anything more about it.

The Emmaus Road site indicates CUF is still the publisher/owner.

I did notice that Lay Witness which is the bi-monthly publication of CUF only has issues through May of last year. I was going to buy several newer ones but nothing is listed. Is CUF still publishing Lay Witness?

Thanks for any info you might have.

CUF is still around. I’m not sure about the status of the magazine, though. At some point in the past, Dr. Hahn was a member of their Board, but I haven’t heard anything about the St. Paul Center taking over the Emmaus Road. I would be surprised to see that happen. Emmaus Road does publish a couple of Hahn’s books as well as the Letter & Spirit Journal, which is one of the St. Paul Center’s big ongoing projects.

CUF has been around since 1968, so I sure hope they stick around. They are really the pioneers in the field of lay Catholic apologetics apostolates. They were basically founded in order to respond to the blowback from Humanae Vitae.

 

[Tobias2]

CUF is still around. I’m not sure about the status of the magazine, though. At some point in the past, Dr. Hahn was a member of their Board, but I haven’t heard anything about the St. Paul Center taking over the Emmaus Road. I would be surprised to see that happen. Emmaus Road does publish a couple of Hahn’s books as well as the Letter & Spirit Journal, which is one of the St. Paul Center’s big ongoing projects.

CUF has been around since 1968, so I sure hope they stick around. They are really the pioneers in the field of lay Catholic apologetics apostolates. They were basically founded in order to respond to the blowback from Humanae Vitae.

I actually found the fundraising letter I received from the St. Paul Center authored by Scott Hahn saying they are in the process of taking over Emmaus Road publications. It also said the nature of CUF is changing so I am curious what that means. Emmaus Road was a major outreach for CUF.

The CUF website mentions none of this but its like it has not been updated in a half year or more as Mike Sullivan is listed as President but he left the organization last fall and was replaced by Andrew Jones.

I used to get appeals from CUF every so often but have not had one in a long time now.

 

[commenter]

CUF deserves a lot of credit. They were in there to affirm, defend and advance the Catholic Faith from 1968 on, and for many years they were about the only ones in most forums, and in many cities. It was a thankless task: they took on the “catechetical establishment” at a time when most laity had not heard there was such a thing.

They had to deal with some people moving over to SSPX or other groups on the Right. They consistently refused to attack bishops or the pope, even when actions were taken usually by bureaucrats that they accurately saw would harm the Church. They knew attacking Pope Paul or Bishop X would do more harm than good to the larger cause. But they also provided laity with both spiritual formation, and the specific data they needed to redress some abuses in a charitable, non-spectacular way.

This always left some members unsatisfied, who wanted a press conference or bold public confrontation to announce that Bishop A was undermining Christian faith, which the Church’s media enemies would love to see. Instead, CUF avoided making points, tried to make slow, measureable progress instead - always low key.

In recent years it disappeared in my city, and nationally seemed at times to be undecided on how it fits in today. The difference between 1968 and today is that most local dioceses are less of a problem for orthodox Catholics, but the secular environment is much harsher against Catholics.

I would ask a prayer for those who over the years took low paying jobs, or no pay at all, to work in CUF. If ever there was a small group that did valuable work and never got appreciated, this is it.

 

[Tobias2]

CUF deserves a lot of credit. They were in there to affirm, defend and advance the Catholic Faith from 1968 on, and for many years they were about the only ones in most forums, and in many cities. It was a thankless task: they took on the “catechetical establishment” at a time when most laity had not heard there was such a thing.

They had to deal with some people moving over to SSPX or other groups on the Right. They consistently refused to attack bishops or the pope, even when actions were taken usually by bureaucrats that they accurately saw would harm the Church. They knew attacking Pope Paul or Bishop X would do more harm than good to the larger cause. But they also provided laity with both spiritual formation, and the specific data they needed to redress some abuses in a charitable, non-spectacular way.

This always left some members unsatisfied, who wanted a press conference or bold public confrontation to announce that Bishop A was undermining Christian faith, which the Church’s media enemies would love to see. Instead, CUF avoided making points, tried to make slow, measureable progress instead - always low key.

In recent years it disappeared in my city, and nationally seemed at times to be undecided on how it fits in today. The difference between 1968 and today is that most local dioceses are less of a problem for orthodox Catholics, but the secular environment is much harsher against Catholics.

I would ask a prayer for those who over the years took low paying jobs, or no pay at all, to work in CUF. If ever there was a small group that did valuable work and never got appreciated, this is it.

I agree about the pioneering work it did. The Faith Facts and Emmaus Road outreaches were great.

I am still curious why they gave up Emmaus Road and what is changing about the apostolate. Educating the laity was and is critical.

I’ve sent an e-mail via their website asking about Lay Witness and the current status of CUF. If I get a reply I will post it here. Not sure the website is being worked. Like I said it still shows Sullivan as President and has archived LW only through May of last year.

 

[Joe_5859]

Now I have to go check my latest issue of “Breaking the Bread.”

 

[commenter]

I agree about the pioneering work it did. The Faith Facts and Emmaus Road outreaches were great.

I am still curious why they gave up Emmaus Road and what is changing about the apostolate. Educating the laity was and is critical.

I’ve sent an e-mail via their website asking about Lay Witness and the current status of CUF. If I get a reply I will post it here. Not sure the website is being worked. Like I said it still shows Sullivan as President and has archived LW only through May of last year.

I would guess that they, like other ministries, are going through a financial crunch. Keep in mind they did much good work quietly. For instance, the mid managers in a diocesan education department try to impose a sex education program that goes against Church teaching. Parents feel this is probably wrong, but don’t know exactly how it violates Church teaching, nor how to redress the problem. CUF provides documentation not only about the doctrinal aspect, but also Canon Law and practical info. Parents utilize this info, and sometimes prevent a bad program from being implemented, or make it less bad in a compromise.

This is the kind of work that is done “under the radar”. CUF does not get any public credit, no spectacular confrontation against the bishop; thus, they don’t get the attention of the big donors. But this is what is needed.

 

[Tobias2]

I would guess that they, like other ministries, are going through a financial crunch. Keep in mind they did much good work quietly. For instance, the mid managers in a diocesan education department try to impose a sex education program that goes against Church teaching. Parents feel this is probably wrong, but don’t know exactly how it violates Church teaching, nor how to redress the problem. CUF provides documentation not only about the doctrinal aspect, but also Canon Law and practical info. Parents utilize this info, and sometimes prevent a bad program from being implemented, or make it less bad in a compromise.

This is the kind of work that is done “under the radar”. CUF does not get any public credit, no spectacular confrontation against the bishop; thus, they don’t get the attention of the big donors. But this is what is needed.

Certainly some of it may be financial. Catholic ministries seem to have a harder time raising funds than do Protestant ministries. There is a Catholic radio station in my area. 8 million people in the listening audience potentially and yet they never make their fundraising goals at pledge time. There are several Protestant stations here and they seem to exceed their pledge goals.

Dr. Hahn mentioned them changing the nature of their work and maybe that is part of what the new President came in to do. Driven in part by financial concerns maybe. Selling off Emmaus tells me CUF is really changing their focus. That was their crown jewel.

Hopefully someone will reply to the e-mail I sent them. In the past I’ve gotten same-day replies from CUF but not this time. Doing a google search turns up nothing current.