What We Believe

To be Catholic means we believe in what Jesus taught his disciples and preached to the multitudes, which Jesus’ disciples, led by Simon Peter, handed down to their successors, to all the bishops, including our bishop, Msgr. Gerard de Korte, who are all led by Simon Peter’s successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

On Sundays we say the creed during Mass, which is a summary of the Catholic faith:

I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
We believe in one God, the Trinity, who consists of three distinct persons: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. God cares about us and wants to be like a Father to us. We are allowed to call this almighty God “Father”.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary…,
We believe in the second person of the Trinity, Jesus the Christ, born of the Holy Virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit (the Third person of the Trinity). In Jesus, God descended from heaven and became man. He ate and drank with us and suffered with us. When we suffer, He knows what it’s like because Jesus suffered too.

… suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead.
We believe that Jesus was put to trial and was tortured under Pontius Pilate, that he was crucified, died, buried and rose again to save us. He came down to us to do for us what we couldn’t do ourselves, thereby healing the rift that was created when Adam and Eve fell to sin. He loves us so much that he willingly died for us.

He ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
We believe Jesus when he shows us that death isn’t the end. We believe He lives and pleads for us. We believe He will come again to make a final judgement.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church…,
We believe in the third Person of the Trinity, we believe he protects our church from schism and from straying from the Truth. We believe it is through him that the Church is able to remain one holy church.

… the communion of saints…,
We believe that those who lived before us and died in the faith are in Heaven, praying for us. We believe they are still connected to us despite the fact they are far away. We are connected to them because they left us a great heritage and great examples on how to live a Christian lifestyle. We cherish our relatives who are far away.

… the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.
We believe we always get a new chance after falling; we may stand up and try again. We believe death is not the end.

Amen.
This is what we believe.