What is Catholics United for the Faith?
Catholics United for the Faith (CUF) is an international lay apostolate, i.e. an association of lay Catholics committed to spreading the kingdom of Christ throughout the world, founded in 1968 in response to the Second Vatican Council Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity (Apostolicam Actuositatem) in order to support, defend and advance the efforts of the teaching Church.
Vatican II declared that “The Church was founded to spread the kingdom of Christ over all the earth for the glory of God the Father, to make all men partakers in redemption and salvation, and through them to establish the right relationship of the entire world to Christ,” adding “Every activity of the Mystical Body of Christ with this in view goes by the name of ‘apostolate’” (Apostolicam Actuositatem 20).
The Council taught that every Catholic, whatever his state or vocation, has an obligation to observe in the apostolate of the Church, declaring that “through Baptism and Confirmation all are appointed to this apostolate by the Lord Himself,” and that “even when occupied by temporal affairs, the laity can, and must, do valuable work for the evangelization of the world…the whole laity must cooperate in spreading and in building up the kingdom of Christ.” (Lumen Gentium 33 and 35).
Guiding Principles
The guiding principles of CUF are embodied first of all in the official teachings of the Magisterium of the Church, i.e. the bishops teaching in union with the Pope, and in particular in the Vatican II Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity. It is the firm policy of CUF never to deviate from the teaching of the Magisterium, whether in matters of doctrine or of discipline, since only in this way can we guarantee the absolute fidelity of CUF to the Pope and bishops, and thus the Church, and thus to Christ.