The Church…guards [this preaching
and faith] with care, as dwelling in but a single house, and similarly believes
as if having but one soul and a single heart, and preaches, teaches, and hands
on this faith with a unanimous voice, as if possessing only one mouth.
-St. Irenaeus of Lyon
The Church carries with her a creed, for communion “in faith
needs a common language of faith, normative for all and uniting all in the same
confession of faith” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 185).
In one brief formula, gathered from the Scriptures and summarizing the whole of
the Good News, the people of the Church are able to declare their one love for
the one Truth in Jesus Christ.
The word “formula” might seem off-putting, and earthily out
of place when it comes to things above this world. The Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church
explains why this formula is necessary, though:
Without fixed forms, the content of
the faith would dissipate. That is why the Church attaches great importance to
definite sentences, the precise wording of which was usually achieved
painstakingly, so as to protect the message of Christ from misunderstandings
and falsifications. Furthermore, creeds are important when the Church’s faith
has to be translated into different cultures while being preserved in its
essentials, because a common faith is the foundation of the Church’s unity (25).
We call these forms, “professions of faith,” “creeds,” or
“symbols of faith,” and they stand as points of reference for catechesis (CCC,
187).
