1. WHERE DO CATHOLICS FIND THE BASIC TRUTHS OF THEIR LIVES?

2. BASIC DOCTRINES
The Catholic Church is the Mystical Body of Christ
by Fr. William G. Most
Speaking of full membership in the Church, Pius XII, in his Encyclical on the Mystical Body,
said it is the society of those who have been baptized, and who profess the faith of Christ, and
who are governed by their bishops under the visible head, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome.
The Church came into being when Christ died on the Cross, but it was formally inaugurated on
Pentecost, when He sent the Holy Spirit as He had promised. St. Paul speaks of all Christians as
members of Christ, so that with Him, they form one Mystical Body (Cf. 1 Cor 12:12-31; Col
1:18; 2:18-20; Eph. 1:22-23; 3:19; 4:13). St. Paul did not use the word Mystical. It was
developed more recently to bring out the fact that this union is unique, there is no parallel to it. It
is not the same as the union of a physical body, nor that of a business corporation.
The Church, the Mystical Body, exists on this earth, and is called the Church militant, because its
members struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil. The Church suffering means the
souls in Purgatory. The Church triumphant is the Church in heaven. The unity and cooperation of
the members of the Church on earth, in Purgatory, in Heaven is also called the Communion of
Saints. When St. Paul uses the word "Saints" in opening an Epistle, he does not mean they are
morally perfect. He has in mind Hebrew qadosh, which means set aside for God, or coming
under the covenant. Being such means of course they are called to moral perfection. But of
course, not all have reached it in this world.
The word "Saint" in the modern sense means someone who has been canonized by the Church in
recent times, or was accepted as such by the Church in earlier times. If a person is shown to have
practiced heroic virtue--beyond what people in general do - in all virtues, the title "Venerable" is
given; with two miracles by that one's intercession, the title is "Blessed"; two more miracles can
lead to canonization and the title of Saint.

The Marks or Identifying Characteristics of the Church

by Fr. William G. Most
We often speak of the four marks of the Church: one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic. We do not
mean that these are distinctive enough to prove the Catholic Church is the only Church of Christ.
But they do help.

Christ established only one Church. "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5).
Presently we will speak of the relation of members of other churches to the Catholic Church.
We say the Church is holy, not in the sense that all members are holy--far from it. But her
Founder gave it all the needed means to make people holy.
The Church is Catholic because it is universal: "God wills all to be saved, and to come to the
knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). It aims to take in all persons, in fulfillment of the
command of Christ in Matthew 28:19.
We say the Church is apostolic because it goes back to the Twelve Apostles chosen by Christ
Himself. The Pope and Bishops have their authority in succession from the Apostles. The Pope is
the visible Head as Vicar of Christ, Christ is the invisible Head. We know Christ intended His
Church to last until the end of time, because He explicitly said: "Behold, I am with you all days
until the consummation of the world" (Matthew 28:20). Again, many of His parables make this
clear, such as the parable of the net in which the good will be separated from the evil at the end,
or the parable of the weeds in the wheat, with the same idea.
There can be, and are, bishops validly ordained who are not in union with the Pope. These are
called schismatics, and lose many graces by their rejection of the Head of the Church.
Vatican II taught that just as Peter and the Apostles formed a sort of college, with Peter as the
head, so in a somewhat similar way, the Pope and the Bishops also form a college (LG chapter
3). This relationship is called collegiality. However Vatican II also taught in that same chapter
that the Pope can even, if he so wishes, give a solemn definition of doctrine without consulting
the Bishops, and that He has immediate authority over everyone in the Church, including each
Bishop.
The Church is also called the People of God, that is, those who come under the new and eternal
Covenant (cf. Exodus 19:5; Jeremiah 31:31-33). St. Paul in Romans 11:17-18 pictures Christians
of his day--and so also today--as being engrafted into the tame olive tree, which stands for the
original People of God, into places left empty by the fallen branches, Jews who rejected Christ.
The Hierarchical Constitution of the Church
by Pedro Rodriguez
The following words of Pope Paul VI can serve as a short synthesis of the will of Christ for the
constitution and makeup of his Church:
'Christ promised and sent two elements to constitute his work, to extend in time and over all the
world the kingdom founded by him and to make of redeemed mankind his Church, his mystical

body, in expectation of his second and triumphal return at the end of the world. These elements
are the apostolic college and the Spirit. The apostolic college works externally and objectively. It
forms, one might say, the material body of the Church and gives her a visible and social
structure. The Spirit works internally, within each person and within the community as a whole
animating, vivifying and sanctifying. These two agents, namely the apostolic college whose
successor is the sacred hierarchy, and the spirit of Christ, which makes the Church Christ's
ordinary instrument in the ministry of the word and the sacraments, work together. On Pentecost
morning they are seen in a marvelous harmony at the beginning of Christ's great work.'[6]
For the remainder of this article we will be concerned with the first of these two elements.
The Catholic Church teaches as a doctrine of faith that Christ gave the Church, in his apostles, a
hierarchical structure of an episcopal nature and that within the hierarchy and the Church he
established a primacy of authority in the successor of St. Peter.
HIERARCHICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH
'All the faithful, from the Pope to the child who has just been baptized share in one and the same
grace.'[7] Nonetheless, when it is affirmed that the Church is a hierarchical society we are in
substance saying that in spite of the 'radical or fundamental equality' which is to be found among
the People of God, the Church has structures, features and differentiations by virtue of which she
is a society in which there is a 'functional inequality.'[8] That is to say: not all the faithful have
the same function or mission. For this reason Pope St. Pius X could say that 'the Church is
essentially an unequal society, that is, a society composed of two types of people: shepherds and
sheep.'[9]
This hierarchical structure is not the result of socio-political influences but stems from the will of
Christ. This has been stated solemnly by both the Council of Trent and Vatican I,[10] but it is
Vatican II which has given a detailed summary: 'The Lord Jesus, having prayed at length to the
Father, called to himself those whom he willed and appointed twelve to be with him, whom he
might send to preach the kingdom of God (cf. Mark 3:13-19; Matthew 10:1-42). These apostles
(cf. Luke 6:13) he constituted in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of
which he placed Peter, chosen from amongst them (cf. John 21:15-17). He sent them first of all
to the children of Israel and then to all peoples (cf. Romans 1:16), so that, sharing in his power,
they might make all peoples his disciples and sanctify and govern them (cf. Matthew 28:16-20;
Mark 16:15; Luke 24:45-48; John 20:21-23) and thus spread the Church and, administering it
under the guidance of the Lord, shepherd it all days until the end of the world (cf. Matthew
28:20).[11]
Here we have the hierarchical principle of the Church established in the persons of the apostles.
The Council goes on to say that this structure, which is of divine origin, is a constitutive part of

the Church for all time, not just for the beginnings of the Church but for today as well. This is so,
she says, by virtue of the principle of apostolic succession. 'That divine mission, which was
committed by Christ to the apostles, is destined to last until the end of the world (cf. Matthew
28:20), since the gospel, which they are charged to hand on, is, for the Church, the principle of
all its life for all time. For that very reason the apostles were careful to appoint successors in this
hierarchically constituted society.'[12] The Council then explains in great detail and attentive to
historical reality, to factual history in the words of Pope Leo XIII, how this transmission of
authority and ministry was made 'to the bishops and their helpers, the priests and deacons.' This
whole procedure, we are told, must be related to the will of Christ: 'He willed that the successors
(of the apostles), the bishops namely, should be the shepherds in his Church until the end of the
world.'[13] And finally, the Council solemnly declares: 'The sacred synod consequently teaches
that the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the
Church, in such wise that whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ (Luke
10:16).[14]
'This divinely instituted hierarchy, which is composed of bishops, priests and ministers'[15]
received the mission which Christ had entrusted to his apostles. 'With priests and deacons as
helpers, the bishops received the charge of the community, presiding in God's stead over the
flock of which they are the shepherds, in that they are teachers of doctrine, ministers of sacred
worship and holders of office in government.'[16]
The sacrament of order is the way established by Christ for perpetuating in his Church this
essential hierarchy[17] to which he has given the power of mission with its threefold office of
teaching, sanctifying and ruling the faithful. 'The holders of office, who are invested with the
sacred power, are, in fact, dedicated to promoting the interests of their brethren so that all who
belong to the People of God, and are consequently endowed with true Christian dignity, may,
through their free and well-ordered efforts towards a common goal, attain salvation.'[18]
The Magisterium or Teaching Authority of the Church
by Fr. William G. Most
By the Magisterium we mean the teaching office of the Church. It consists of the Pope and
Bishops. Christ promised to protect the teaching of the Church : "He who hears you, hears me;
he who rejects you rejects me, he who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me" (Luke 10. 16). Now
of course the promise of Christ cannot fail: hence when the Church presents some doctrine as
definitive or final, it comes under this protection, it cannot be in error; in other words, it is
infallible. This is true even if the Church does not use the solemn ceremony of definition. The
day to day teaching of the Church throughout the world, when the Bishops are in union with each
other and with the Pope, and present something as definitive, this is infallible. (Vatican II, Lumen
gentium # 25). It was precisely by the use of that authority that Vatican I was able to define that

the Pope alone, when speaking as such and making things definitive, is also infallible. Of course
this infallibility covers also teaching on what morality requires, for that is needed for salvation.
A "theologian" who would claim he needs to be able to ignore the Magisterium in order to find
the truth is strangely perverse: the teaching of the Magisterium is the prime, God-given means of
finding the truth. Nor could he claim academic freedom lets him contradict the Church. In any
field of knowledge, academic freedom belongs only to a properly qualified professor teaching in
his own field. But one is not properly qualified if he does not use the correct method of working
in his field, e.g., a science professor who would want to go back to medieval methods would be
laughed off campus, not protected. Now in Catholic theology , the correct method is to study the
sources of revelation, but then give the final word to the Church. He who does not follow that
method is not a qualified Catholic theologian. Vatican II taught (Dei Verbum # 10): "The task of
authoritatively interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on [Scripture or
Tradition], has been entrusted exclusively to the living Magisterium of the Church, whose
authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."
The Church and Salvation
by Fr. William G. Most
The Church is sometimes called the universal sacrament of salvation. That use of the word
sacrament is broad, not strict. It is true in as much as the Church is the divinely instituted means
of giving grace to all. But the Church is not a visible rite - it rather confers these visible rites
which we call the seven Sacraments.
From the fact that the Church is God's means of giving grace, is it is clear that there is no
salvation outside the Catholic Church. This truth has even been defined by the Church more than
once, e.g., in the Council of Florence in 1442. However we must take care to understand this
teaching the way the Church understands it. We just saw that the Church claims the exclusive
authority to interpret both Scripture and Tradition. So one like Leonard Feeney who interprets
the teaching on the necessity of the Church his own way is not acting like a Catholic theologian
at all. The Holy Office, on August 8, 1949, declared that L. Feeney was guilty of this error.
Because of his error, he rejected several teachings of the Magisterium, saying they clashed with
this definition - but they clash only with his false interpretation, given in private judgment.
Pius IX (Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863) taught: "God... in His supreme
goodness and clemency, by no means allows anyone to be punished with eternal punishments
who does not have the guilt of voluntary fault." Vatican II (Lumen gentium # 16) taught the same:
"They who without their own fault do not know of the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but yet
seek God with sincere heart, and try, under the influence of grace, to carry out His will in
practice, known to them through the dictate of conscience, can attain eternal salvation." Pius XII

had said (Mystici Corporis Christi) that one can "be related to the Church by a certain desire and
wish of which he is not aware", i.e., by the desire to do what God wills in general.
Precisely how does this work out? We saw on our very first page that St. Paul insists (Romans
3:29) that God makes provision in some way for all. We saw that one of the earliest Fathers, St.
Justin Martyr (Apology 1:46) said that some, like Socrates could even be Christians because they
followed the divine Word. Now St. Justin also said that the Divine Word is in the hearts of all.
Then we notice in St. Paul's Romans 2:14-16 that "The gentiles who do not have the law
[revealed religion] do by nature the things of the law; they show the work of the law written on
their hearts." And according to their response, they will or will not be saved.
Clearly, it is this Divine Word, or the Spirit of Christ, the Divine Word, that writes the law on
their hearts, i.e., makes known to them what they should do. If they follow that, although they do
not know that that is what they are following, yet objectively, they do follow the Logos, the
divine Word. And so St. Justin was right in calling them Christians. We can add that St. Paul in
Romans 8:9 makes clear that if one has and follows the Spirit of Christ, he "belongs to Christ."
But, to belong to Christ is the same as being a member of Christ, and that is the same as being a
member of the Church. Not indeed by formal adherence, but yet substantially, enough to satisfy
the requirement of substantial membership. Indeed, Vatican II even wrote (LG # 49): "All who
belong to Christ, having His Spirit, coalesce into one Church."
So, St. Paul was right: God does take care of them; St. Justin was right too: they can be
Christians without knowing it. Otherwise, God would be sending millions upon millions to hell
without giving them any chance at all, if they lived far from places where the Church was
known, e.g., in the western hemisphere before 1492.
That fact that salvation is possible in this way does not mean that there should be no missions or
attempts to bring back the Protestants. Richer and more secure means of salvation are to be had
with formal explicit adherence to the Catholic Church. Therefore we need to make every effort.
In regard to Ecumenism, it is good to keep in mind a rule from Vatican II, in its Decree on
Ecumenism (# 11): "It is altogether necessary that the complete doctrine be clearly presented.
Nothing is so foreign to true Ecumenism as that false peace-making in which the purity of
Catholic doctrine suffers loss, and its true and certain sense is obscured."
3. WHY IS THE CREED IMPORTANT
Creeds: Summary of the faith
From its earliest days, the Church used brief summaries to describe an outline of its most
essential beliefs.
These summaries are called "creeds", from the Latin credo, meaning "I believe." They are also
called "professions of faith," since they summarize the faith that Christians profess.

The Catholic Church uses two very old creeds regularly as a part of its liturgy and other prayers.
There are a number of other Catholic creeds as well.
The older Apostles Creed is brief and simple. It is considered to be a faithful summary of the
Apostles' teaching. It is the ancient baptismal symbol of the Church at Rome. (See Catechism,
194.)
The longer Catholic Nicene Creed contains some additional language explaining our belief in the
Trinity.
Another ancient & traditional creed is commonly called the Athanasian Creed, since it was
originally attributed to St. Athanasius, who died in 373 A.D. (This creed is no longer officially
attributed to him.) It is also called the Quicumque vult, after its first words in Latin. This
beautiful creed contains a detailed meditation on the nature of the Trinity.

4. HOW DOES THE CREED RELATE US TO CHRIST?

Outline: tenets of Catholicism
Like the Catechism, we'll use the articles of the Apostles Creed as our outline for describing the
essential tenets of Catholicism. Of course, this short outline provides only the barest essentials of
the Catholic Christian faith.
For your reference, I'll add cross-references to the numbered paragraphs of the Catechism of the
Catholic Church for each point.
I believe in God

God exists. There is only one God. He has revealed himself as "He who Is". His very
being is Truth and Love. Even though he has revealed himself, he remains a mystery
beyond understanding (Catechism, 178, 199, 200, 230, 231)

God is at the same time one, and three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the
central mystery of Christianity. (178, 261)
o See the article on the Athanasian Creed & read that creed's beautiful meditation
on the nature of the Trinity.

Man responds to God's revelation by faith: believing God and adhering to his will. (176)

Faith is necessary for salvation. (183)

What God has revealed through Scripture and Sacred Catholic Tradition (what Christ
taught to the Apostles) has been reliably written & handed down to us through the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. (96 & 97)

the Father almighty

God the Father is the first Person of the one God, the Trinity.

We dare to call God Father only through the merits of Jesus. He taught us to call God
Father. (2798, 322, 742)

We can call God Father only because of our union with his Son, Jesus. Through union
with Jesus, we become adopted sons and daughters of God the Father. This is
called divine filiation, and is the essence of the Good News. (422, 742, 1110, 1279, &
Pope John Paul II, "Crossing the Threshold of Hope")

God is Father because he is the first origin of all things, and because of his loving care for
all of us as his children. (239)

God is almighty because he is all powerful. The Catholic liturgy says, "God, you show
your almighty power above all in your mercy and forgiveness" by converting us from
our sins and restoring us to his friendship by grace. (277)

creator of heaven and earth

God created everything in existence, material & immaterial. (317, 320, 338)

"The world was made for the glory of God." He freely chose to create to show forth &
communicate his "glory" his unlimited love and goodness. (293)

Heaven exists; it is the immaterial dwelling place of God. (326, 2802, 1023-5)

God upholds & sustains creation, is actively involved in its unfolding and development in
time, and is the loving master of the world and of its history. (301-5, 314)

We can perceive God's work of creation through the apparent order & design in the
natural world. (286, 299)

This belief in God as the first cause of all creation is compatible with various scientific
theories and investigations of the secondary causes of development in the natural world.
(283-4, 306-8)

God deliberately created man, male and female, in his image and likeness and placed him
at the summit of creation. Man alone was created for his own sake, and alone is called to
share in God's own life. We are not a product of blind chance. (295, 355-6)

God created man as male & female: equal in value & dignity,different in nature,
and complementary in purpose. (369-372)

While the creation accounts in Genesis may use symbolic language, it teaches profound
truths about creation, man, the fall, evil, and the promise of salvation. (289, 389-90)

The devil, a fallen angel, is real. He is the ultimate source of all evil. (391-5, 413-15)

Adam, as the first man, freely chose disobedience to God, resulting in the loss of man's
original holiness and justice, and brought about death. We call this state of
deprivation original sin. (416-19)

The victory of salvation won by Christ is greater than our loss due to sin. (420)

The question of evil is a profound mystery. Every aspect of the Christian message is in
part an answer to the question of evil. (309)

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

Jesus is the second Person of the one God, the Trinity. (422-4, 468)

Christ's divine sonship is the center of the apostolic faith. (442)

The title "Lord" indicates that Jesus is God himself. (446, 455)

Jesus is the "Christ," the Messiah prophesied about in Scripture in the Old Testament. His
coming brought about the promised liberation of Israel and mankind from the bonds of
evil and death. (422-4, 430-3, 436, 438-9)

Christ is the perfect, full & definitive Revelation of God. After him, there will be no other
public Revelation. (73)

He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

Jesus, the Word of God, became man to save us by reconciling us with the Father, so that
we might know God's love, to be our model of holiness, and to make us "partakers of the
divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). (457-60)

Belief in the Incarnation (the Son of God come in human flesh) is the distinctive sign of
the Christian faith. (463)

Jesus assumed human form in the womb of the Virgin Mary, his mother. The conception
of his human body was accomplished by the action of the Holy Spirit, and not by natural
generation from man, although he is truly conceived of Mary's flesh. (456, 466, 484-6,
488, 496-8)

Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, as written in Scripture. (423)

Jesus is fully God, and fully man. As God, he has always existed with the Father and the
Holy Spirit. At a specific point in history, he assumed human form and became man. He
retains both of these natures fully, even now in heaven. (464, 467, 469-70)

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell.

Through his suffering and death, Jesus redeemed man once & for all, freeing him from
slavery to sin, evil, and death. It is for our sins that he died. (571-3, 619, 1019)

"Jesus freely offered himself for our salvation. Beforehand, during the Last Supper, he
both symbolized this offering and made it really present: 'This is my body which is given
for you.'" (621)

As a true man, Jesus fully experienced death. (624-7, 629)

Jesus did not abolish the Law of the Old Testament, but fulfilled it with perfection,
revealing its ultimate meaning and redeeming the transgressions against it. (592)

The phrase "descended into hell" means that, after dying, Jesus's human soul united to his
divine person descended to the "realm of the dead" to bring salvation to the souls of the
just who had already died. This opened heaven to them. (636-7)

On the third day he rose again.

The Resurrection was a real, historical event. It is the basis for our faith in all Jesus
revealed to us. Jesus rose from the dead, body and soul, early on the Sunday morning
after his death. He walked the earth for a brief time, and there were many witnesses of his
appearances. (638-9)

At the same time as the Resurrection was an historical event, it remains at the heart of the
mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. (647)

After the Resurrection, Jesus's authentic, real body also possesses new properties of a
glorious body. (645)

The Resurrection is the principle and source of our own future resurrection. (655)

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Christ's Ascension into heaven is a definitive entrance of Jesus's humanity into God's
heavenly domain. (665)

The Ascension gives us hope that we, too, may enter into heaven, body and soul, and be
united with Christ forever. (666)

Jesus Christ, as the one true mediator between God and man, intercedes for us constantly
before the Father and assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit. (667)

He will come again to judge the living and the dead

There will be an end of time, and an end of this world. As the book of Revelation attests,
it will come about after one final assault by the powers of evil before the final triumph of
Christ's kingdom. (680)

At the end of time, Christ will return (the Second Coming) on Judgment Day where he
will judge the living and the dead, each according to his works and according to his
acceptance or refusal of grace. (681-2)

I believe in the Holy Spirit

God the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the one God, the Trinity. (685)

The Holy Spirit has been working for our salvation with the Father and the Son from the
beginning. But now, in these "end times" since the Incarnation, God can embody this
divine plan in mankind "by the outpouring of the [Holy] Spirit: as the Church, the
communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life
everlasting." (CCC 686)

The Holy Spirit does not speak of himself or on his own. He simply reveals Christ to us
and disposes us to welcome and receive Christ in faith. His mission is the same as that of
the Son: to unite us to the Son so we may be adopted by the Father. (687, 689-90)

"The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she transmits, is the
place where we know the Holy Spirit." We know him in the Church through the
Scriptures he inspired, Tradition in which he acted, the Magisterium he assists, the liturgy
& sacraments through which he acts to sanctify and bring us into communion with Christ,
prayer as he intercedes for us, charisms he uses to build up the Church, the signs of
apostolic life, and "in the witness of saints through whom he manifests his holiness and
continues the work of salvation." (688)

"The Holy Spirit, whom Christ the head pours out on his members, builds, animates, and
sanctifies the Church. She is the sacrament of the Holy Trinity's communion with men."
(747)

the holy Catholic Church

The Church is the place where the Spirit flourishes. (749)

"'The Church' is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local
communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws
her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ's Body."
(752)

Everything the Church is, it is only because of Christ. It depends entirely on Christ. It
shows forth Christ's light, spreads Christ's Word, and continues Christ's work. The
Church Fathers used the moon as an image of the Church: all its light is reflected from
the sun. (748)

Christ instituted the Church to be the great sacrament of our salvation through Christ's
own continuing action. He gave the Church its definite structure, with Peter at its head,
and conferred on it his own divine authority. He promised to remain with it until the end
of time, and to send his Spirit to guide it and teach it in all truth. By all his actions, Christ
prepared and built his Church. (775-6, 763-8)
o My article on Church authority takes a detailed look at the Scriptural basis for
this.

"The Church is in history, but at the same time she transcends it. It is only 'with the eyes
of faith' that one can see her in her visible reality and at the same time in her spiritual
reality as bearer of divine life." (770)

The union between Christ and his Church is that of the bridegroom and his bride, which
is a great mystery. (772)

The "four marks of the Church" are that it is one (through union in Christ), holy, catholic
(she proclaims the fullness of the faith and is sent out to all peoples in all times), and
apostolic (built on the foundation of the Apostles and is governed by Christ).

Unity with the Bishop of Rome (the Pope, successor to Peter) is the point of our unity
with the universal Church, and with Christ himself: Peter is "the rock" on which the
Church is founded. (880-85, 896)

As the one who through her faith & charity brought salvation into the world through her
role as mother of Christ, Mary is the model of the Church. She is the spiritual mother of

all members of Christ's Body, the Church. This role is inseparable from her union with
Christ and flows directly from it. (963-4, 967)
the communion of saints

The communion of saints is the Church, past, present & future; living & dead; on earth,
in purgatory, and in heaven. (946, 954-5)

We are a communion in two related senses: a communion of holy persons (sancta) only
because we have shared a communion of holy things (sancti), namely, the sacraments,
and above all else, the Eucharist. (948, 950)

As we pray for each other on earth, so continues the Church in heaven. Those saints in
heaven, being more closely united to Christ, more effectively intercede for us. Thus we
can ask the saints in heaven to pray for us, and we can also all pray for the holy souls
being purified in Purgatory. (954-9)

In this solidarity among all men, living & dead, every act done in charity will profit all,
and every sin will harm the whole communion. (953)

the forgiveness of sins

Only Christ forgives sins; the priests and sacraments are simply the means through which
Christ acts to accomplish this. (987, 986)

In the Apostles Creed, faith in the forgiveness of sins is linked to faith in the Holy Spirit,
the Church, and the communion of saints. When Christ gave the Holy Spirit to his
Apostles, at the same time he gave them the power to forgive sins. (976)

"Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of the forgiveness of sins: it unites us to Christ,
who died and rose, and gives us the Holy Spirit." (985)

the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting

This final pair of articles in the creed speaks of the complete fulfillment of our salvation
at the end of time. Christ will raise our dead bodies, changed into a spiritual body like
Christ's own glorious body (after his Resurrection), and reunite them to our immortal
souls. God created man as a unity of body & soul, and that is how we will live in eternity.
(988-1001, 1052)

Christian life is already a participation of our body & soul in Christ's death and
Resurrection, through baptism. This dignity demands that we respect our bodies & those
of others. (1002, 1004)

There are two judgments: the particular judgment of each person immediately when he
dies, when the immortal soul receives its definitive reward or punishment. Then at the
end of time, the Last Judgment will take place with all souls reunited with their glorified
bodies. Then we will all know the ultimate meaning of creation and all of salvation, and
will see our part in it, for good or ill, and receive the consequences of our own life's
work. (1038-41)

After the Last Judgment, the righteous will reign forever with Christ, glorified in body &
soul. The universe itself will end & be renewed in a new creation, a great mystery that
Scripture calls "a new heaven and a new earth." This is the full and definitive reign of the
Kingdom of God in the heavenly Jerusalem, where God will make his dwelling among
men. (1042-44)

Hell is real, a place of great suffering especially in that those in hell are forever
separated from God. Although God wants to save all men, he created us with free will out
of love, and allows us to reject him and choose death instead of life. (1033-37)

Amen

Amen is a Hebrew word related to the word for "believe". It expresses solidity,
trustworthiness, faithfulness. "Amen" expresses both God's faithfulness towards us and
our trust in him. (1062)

"Thus the Creed's final 'Amen' repeats and confirms its first words: 'I believe.' To believe
is to say 'Amen' to God's words, promises and commandments; to entrust oneself
completely to him who is the 'Amen' of infinite love and perfect faithfulness. The
Christian's everyday life will then be the 'Amen' to the 'I believe' of our baptismal
profession of faith: 'May your Creed be for you as a mirror. Look at yourself in it, to see
if you believe everything you say you believe. And rejoice in your faith each day.'"
(1064)

"Jesus Christ himself is the 'Amen.' He is the definitive 'Amen' of the Father's love for us.
He takes up and completes our 'Amen' to the Father: 'For all the promises of God find
their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God.'"
(1065)

5. WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPAL FUNCTIONS OF THE CREED?

Baptismal
The first creeds were probably in the context of baptism. A creed offered the candidates
the opportunity to make the profession called for in Romans 19: 9-10. At first the form
of words would vary, but familiar patterns soon began to develop, using a Trinitarian
question and answer format.
Instructional

Because of the baptismal profession of faith, creeds soon came to serve as the syllabus
for catechetical instruction in Christian doctrine. All candidates were expected to acquire
and display some understanding of the profession of faith they would make. A sincere
commitment was coupled with intellectual apprehension.
Doctrinal
The rise of heresies helped to expand the first creeds into the more developed
formulas. A phrase like maker of heaven and earth was probably inserted to counteract
the Gnostic separation of the true God from the creator, while the reference to the virgin
birth and the stress on Christs death safeguarded the reality of Jesus human life and
ministry. The Arian heresy produced additions (notably of one substance with the
Father) designed to express Christs essential deity. These modifications gave the creeds
a new function as key to the proper understanding of Scripture and as tests of orthodoxy
for the clergy.

Liturgical

Being used in baptism, creeds had from the very beginning, a liturgical function. It was
seen, however, that profession of faith was a constituent of all true worship. This led to the
incorporation of the Nicene Creed into the Eucharist, first in the East, then in Spain, and finally
in Rome. Placing the creed after the reading of Scripture made it possible for believers to
respond to the Gospel with an affirmation of faith.