1. THE CHURCH

The Church is the extension of the Incarnation down through the centuries, the continuation of the Redeemer's work, the portrait of Christ, the prolongation of Pentecost, the body of Christ.

The Church is a mother.  We must love her as a mother and abandon ourselves into her arms with filial trust.

The Church is holy in her teachings, her sacraments, and her laws.  She is the mother of holiness and the communion of saints.

The Church is one in faith, communion, government, and means of salvation.  She is the family of God, the city of God.  She is one but she is also diversified.  Not to recognize the variety of her charisms and functions is an attack on her unity.  She is one in charity based on truth, truth that must not be betrayed or hushed up.

The Church is the infallible teacher, unchanging in her fidelity to the deposit of the faith, dynamic in her fidelity to the Spirit.  As spouse of the Lamb, she is a Queen, who, even at the price of one's life and at the sacrifice of one's ideas, must be obeyed if one wishes to obey Christ.  But charity is her law, love is her life.  He who does not love and does not forgive is not in the Church.