We believe in one God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  This one and only God is the creator of all things visible, like this universe in which we live, and all things invisible, like the pure spirits we call angels.  God also creates the spiritual and immortal soul in every human being.

We believe the only God is absolutely one in His essence and all His perfections: His omnipotence, knowledge, providence, will, and love.  He is perfect Being, the One Who Is, as He revealed to Moses (Exodus 3:14), and He is perfect Love, as the apostle John teaches (1 John 4:8).  'Dwelling in light inaccessible' (1 Timothy 6:16), God is above every name, every thing, and every created intellect.

God alone gives us full knowledge of God by revealing Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each one and the same divine being.  The mutual relations which constitute the Three Persons are the blessed inmost life of God, infinitely beyond all we can conceive.  Very many believers testify with us to the unity of God, even though they do not know the mystery of the most holy Trinity.

Human beings are created in God's image.  We are given the capacity by grace to know and love God, and we're called to share eternally in the life of the Trinity: on earth in the obscurity of faith, and after death in eternal light. 

We believe in the Father who eternally begets the Son.  We believe in the Son, the Word of God, who is eternally begotten by the Father.  And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated Person who proceeds from the Father and the Son as their eternal love.  We should always venerate unity in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity.

In the Three Divine Persons, co-eternal and co-equal, perfect life and beatitude superabounds. 

We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, the Eternal Word, one in substance with the Father, born of the Father from all eternity.  Through the Son all things are created.  The Son united to Himself a human nature from the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, and became a man.  His divine and human natures are united in a single Person, the divine Son of God.

Our Lord Jesus Christ dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.  He proclaimed and established God's eternal kingdom and made the Father known to us.  He gave us His new commandment to love one another as He loved us.  He taught us the way of the beatitudes: poverty in spirit, meekness, suffering borne with patience, thirst after justice, mercy, purity of heart, will for peace, persecution suffered for justice's sake. 

He suffered under Pontius Pilate - the Lamb of God bearing the sins of the world - and He died for us on the cross, saving us by His sacrifice.  He was buried and, of His own power, rose on the third day.  By His resurrection, He also raised us up to share in divine life, the life of grace.  He ascended into heaven and will come again, this time in glory, to judge the living and the dead.

Each and every human being will be judged according to his merits by Christ.  Those who have responded to the truth and love of God will go to eternal life.  Those who have refused them to the end will go to the fire that is not extinguished.  And Christ's Kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is Lord and Giver of life, who is adored and glorified together with the Father and the Son.  He spoke to us through the Old Testament prophets.  He was sent to us by Christ after He rose from the dead and ascended to the Father.  He illuminates, vivifies, protects, and guides the Church.  He purifies the Church's members as they cooperate with His grace.  His action penetrates the to our inner soul and enables us to respond to the call of Jesus: 'Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect' (Matthew 5:48).

We believe that God established our first parents Adam and Eve in the grace of holiness and justice, so that they knew neither evil nor death.  By transgressing God's commandment, Adam and Eve lost this grace and became captive to the power of the devil.

We believe that all have sinned in Adam (Romans 5:12).  This means the original offense of Adam caused human nature itself, common to everyone, to fall to a state in which it bears the consequences of that offense. 

The offense of Adam and Eve changed human nature for the worse.  It is this fallen human nature, stripped of the divine life of grace, injured in its natural powers, and subject to the dominion of death, which is transmitted to all human beings by propagation.  It is in this sense that every human being is born in sin.

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, by His sacrifice of the cross, His resurrection, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, cleansed us from original sin and all the personal sins committed by each one of us.  In the union of the divine and human natures in Christ, human nature has been restored to the life of grace.  By the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, human nature is regenerated and filled once more with the divine life.  In accordance with the words of St. Paul, 'where sin abounded, grace did more abound' (Romans 5:20).

We believe that Mary, who remained ever a Virgin, is the Mother of the Incarnate Word, our God and Savior Jesus Christ.  By reason of this singular choice by God, and in consideration of the merits of her Son, she was redeemed in advance and preserved from the state of original sin.  She was filled with the gift of grace from the moment of her conception.

Joined by a close and indissoluble bond to Christ's Incarnation and Redemption, the Blessed Virgin Mary was at the end of her earthly life raised body and soul to heavenly glory.  Joined in resurrection with her risen Son, she anticipates the future state of all the just. 

We believe that the Blessed Mother of God, the New Eve and Mother of the Church, continues her maternal role  in heaven toward all Christ's members.  She cooperates with the birth and growth of divine life in the souls of all the redeemed.

We believe in one Baptism instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and the regeneration of human nature to the state of grace.  Since everyone is born deprived of divine life, Baptism should be administered even to little children who are not yet guilty of any personal sin, so that they may be reborn 'of water and the Holy Spirit' to the divine life in Christ Jesus, which He gives as a free and unmerited gift.

We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, built by Jesus Christ on that rock which is Peter (Matthew 16:18).  The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, with both human and divine elements.  The Church is a visible society with a hierarchical structure, and a spiritual community of grace.  The Church is a pilgrim on earth, and also filled with heavenly blessings.  The Church continues the work and sufferings of Christ through history, and  also bears the hope of glory and perfection beyond time. 

The Church is holy, though she is composed of sinners, because the Church has no other life but that of God's grace.  It is by living from the Church's life that her members are sanctified.  It is by removing themselves from the Church's life that they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of the Church's sanctity. This is why the Church suffers and does penance for the offenses of her children, so that they will be healed through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Founded upon the Twelve Apostles, the Church is the heir of the promises God made to the twelve tribes of Israel.  The Church lovingly venerates the Scriptures written by Israel and by the Apostles, and hands on their ever-living word from century to century.  Assisted always by the Holy Spirit, the Church has the charge of guarding, teaching, explaining, and spreading the truth God revealed to the patriarchs and prophets, then fully in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe all that is contained in the word of God written in the Bible or handed down in Tradition, which the Church proposes for belief as divinely revealed, whether by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal teaching authority of the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter.

We believe in the infallibility of the successor of Peter when he teaches as pastor and teacher of all the faithful.  This infallibility is also assured to the worldwide body of bishops when they exercise with the Pope the teaching authority of ecumenical councils.

The Lord Jesus forms, purifies, heals, and sanctifies His Church by means of the Sacraments.  The Sacraments flow out from the fullness of divine life found in Christ.  By the Sacraments the Church makes her members participants in the Death and Resurrection of Christ and in the grace and life of the Holy Spirit. 

The Sacraments of initiation are Baptism, Confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist.  The Sacraments of healing are Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick.  The Sacraments of service are Marriage and Holy Orders.

We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest who represents the person of Christ by the power received through the Sacrament of Orders, is the sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars. 

We believe that just as the bread and wine, consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper, were changed into His body and blood which were to be offered for us on the cross, so also the bread and wine consecrated by the priest are changed into the body and blood of Christ enthroned gloriously in heaven.

We believe that Christ is truly, really, and substantially present in the Eucharist, while continuing to appear to our senses as bread and wine.  The reality itself of bread and wine are changed into Christ's body and blood.  The properties of bread and wine which our senses perceive are left unchanged.  This mysterious change is called by the Church 'transubstantiation.'

After the Consecration at Mass, the bread and wine cease to exist, and it is the adorable body and blood of Jesus that from then on are really before us.  This is as the Lord has willed it, in order to give Himself to us as food, and to associate us with the unity of His Mystical Body.

The Eucharistic presence of Christ does not multiply or divide the existence of Christ glorified in heaven.  Christ's presence is not multiplied or divided, but is made present in the many places where Mass is celebrated.  Without leaving heaven, He is made present before us by the Eucharist.

The Eucharistic presence of Jesus remains after Mass in the Blessed Sacrament, which is reserved in the tabernacle as the the living heart of each of our churches.  It is our sweet duty to adore in the Blessed  Sacrament the One whom our eyes cannot see: the Incarnate Son of God.

We believe the fullness of the truth and the means of salvation which Christ willed for His Church are fully present in the Catholic Church.  We recognize the existence, outside the Catholic Church, of numerous elements of truth and sanctification.  We believe in the action of the Holy Spirit, who stirs up in us a love of unity.  We hope that Christians not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church will one day be reunited together in one flock with one shepherd.

Christ makes Himself present for us in the Church, and so we believe the Church is necessary for salvation.  Those who through no fault of their own do not know Christ and His Church, but sincerely seek God, can obtain salvation if they endeavor to do God's will as they recognize it through the promptings of their conscience and under the influence of His grace.

But too often people are deceived by the Evil One.  Exchanging the truth of God for a lie, they choose to serve creatures rather than the Creator.  There are many who live and die in this world without God and without hope, and are exposed to final despair.  And so the Church continues to 'preach the Gospel to every creature' (Mark 16:16) and seeks to procure the salvation of all.

We believe that the Kingdom of God, begun now in the Church, consists in an ever more profound knowledge off Christ, an ever stronger hope in eternal blessings, an ever more ardent response to the love of God, and an ever more generous bestowal of grace and holiness among human beings.  Therefore, God's kingdom cannot consist only in the progress of civilization, science, economics, or technology. 

But the love of God and neighbor impels us to concern ourselves with the material welfare of people.  We contribute freely and generously to the welfare of our earthly city.  We promote justice, peace, and brotherhood among all people.  We give aid to others, especially to the poorest and most unfortunate.  We desire to be present to all people, to bring them the light of Christ, and to gather them to Him.  We do this with ardent expectation of the return of our Lord and His eternal Kingdom.

We believe in eternal life.  We believe that the souls of those who die in the grace of Christ are the People of God in the eternity beyond death.  Some must be purified in purgatory, and some enter immediately into paradise.  Death will be finally and definitively conquered on the day of Resurrection when these souls will be reunited with their bodies.

We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Mary in eternity form the Church of Heaven.  They see God as He is (1 John 3:2).  In different degrees, they are associated with Christ in exercising His divine rule over earth.  They intercede for us and help us in our weakness by their ongoing fraternal care.

We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ - those on earth, in purgatory, and in heaven.  All together, these form the one Church.  In this communion, God and His saints are ever listening to our prayers, as Jesus told us: 'Ask and you will receive' (Luke 10:9-10).  Thus it is with faith and hope that we look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.