The Church is an object of faith. In the
Apostles' Creed we pray: "I believe in God, the Father ... in Jesus Christ, his
only Son - in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of
saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life
everlasting." We must believe in the Church! The Apostles' Creed does not say
that the Church is an organization that helps us to believe in God, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. No, we are called to believe in the Church with the same faith
we believe in God.
Often it seems harder to believe in the Church
than to believe in God. But whenever we separate our belief in God from our
belief in the Church, we become unbelievers. God has given us the Church as the
place where God becomes God-with-us.