What makes a Catholic being a Catholic?
How to identify a Catholic?
What does a Catholic belief?
Nicene Creed. Two Creeds at present so named must be distinguished:
(1) The Nicene Creed properly so called, issued in 325 by the Council of *Nicaea (q.v.) and known to scholars as N. This Creed was drawn up at the Council to defend the Orthodox Faith against the *Arians and includes the word ‘*Homoousios’. Compared with later conciliar Creeds it is relatively short, concluding with the words ‘And in the Holy Spirit’. Appended to it were four anathemas against Arianism, which came to be regarded as an integral part of the text. It was probably based on the Baptismal Creed of *Jerusalem (H. *Lietzmann), not, as older scholars held, through a misunderstanding of a statement of *Eusebius of Caesarea, on that of Caesarea in Palestine (F. J. A. *Hort).
(2) In common parlance, the ‘Nicene Creed’ more often means the considerably longer formula which bears this title in the *Thirty Nine Articles and is in regular use in the Eucharistic worship of the Church, both in East and West. It is also known as the ‘Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed’, and is referred to as C. It differs from N. in that, inter alia, (1) the second section on the Person of Christ is longer; (2) the phrase in N. ‘from the substance of the Father’ (ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρός) as an explanation of ‘Homoousios’ is wanting; (3) the third section contains an extended statement on the status and work of the Holy Spirit; and (4) after this follow assertions of belief in the Church, Baptism, the Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Life, Also it has no anathemas. Since the time of the Council of *Chalcedon of 451 it has been regarded as the Creed of the Council of *Constantinople of 381; but the earliest authorities connecting it with that Council date from c. 449–50. Furthermore the Creed is found in St *Epiphanius’ Ancoratus, which was written in 374; its occurrence here would be decisive evidence that it was not drawn up by the Council if its position in this treatise were established, but there are grounds for believing that N., not C., originally stood in the text here. The most likely theory is that the Creed, though not drawn up by the Council of Constantinople, was endorsed by it in the course of its (unsuccessful) deliberations with the *Pneumatomachi (so A.M. Ritter, followed by J. N. D. Kelly). Its origin is unclear, but it is probable that it was the Baptismal Creed of Constantinople.
What are the Catholic values?
social justice The responsibility of a community and its members to promote the COMMON GOOD by respecting the human rights and dignity of all, overcoming sinful inequalities and unjust discrimination, and building SOLIDARITY with our neighbor, recognizing our mutual interdependence. (See also PEACE)
social teaching The Church’s teaching as it applies to contemporary social issues, based largely on a series of papal ENCYCLICALS beginning with Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum in the late 19th century. The social teaching of the Church is rooted in the dignity of the human person, the principle of SOLIDARITY, and principles of JUSTICE and PEACE. (See also SOCIAL JUSTICE)
solidarity A key principle of CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING that acknowledges all persons are part of the human family. Solidarity calls us to work for peace and justice through friendship and social charity in order to establish true unity with all peoples. It also requires that we share in the responsibility of caring for the needs of other people, communities, and nations.
subsidiarity Principle of Catholic SOCIAL TEACHING according to which those in higher authority should respect the rights and appropriate autonomy (self-governance) of those having less authority. The term often comes into play when balancing the authority of a national government with the claims of individuals, families, local communities, and states, so as not to detract from the initiative, FREEDOM, and responsibility of the latter.