+J.M.J.+


by Monsignor Charles M. Mangan
Catholic Online

Nihil Obstat: Richard J. Schuler
Imprimatur: + Harry J. Flynn, D.D.
Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
(From the 2001 edition)
Preface

What do Catholics believe and why do they believe it?

The answers to these questions are not just a matter of life and death; they are the essential answers for time and eternity.

The author of this brief pamphlet, Msgr. Charles M. Mangan, a priest of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who works in Rome as an official of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, is a highly respected spiritual author and lecturer. His experience has led him to appreciate what people need and indeed want to know about God, about Jesus Christ and about Hs Church.

It is my fervent hope that, through this brief presentation, thousands will be led to the Church founded by Jesus Christ or indeed to a deeper appreciation of it—and that they will thus come to everlasting life.



The Most Reverend John Patrick Foley, D.D.
President
The Pontifical Council for Social Communications
Vatican City
Memorial of Saint Mary Faustina
Memorial of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos
October 5, 2006

Introduction


This little work was first published with the title, A New Opportunity: A Brief Summary of Catholic Teaching (Saint Paul, Minnesota: The Leaflet Missal Company, 2001) and is now reprinted with permission.

Special thanks to Paul Welvang of The Leaflet Missal Company, who gave permission for the reprinting of this text.

The title of this booklet comes from a line in the Gloria of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: “Tu solus Dominus”—“You alone are the Lord.” These words are addressed to Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity Who became man through the power of the Holy Spirit in the chaste womb of the Ever-Virgin Mary for the praise and honor of His Heavenly Father and for our salvation.

Jesus Christ alone saves us. Our response to His unspeakable goodness is simple: “Praised be Jesus Christ!”

The short text is meant to present some of the teachings of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. This work is deliberately brief and designed to introduce or represent the Truths of the Catholic Faith in summary form.

I would like to remember two men who taught me about Jesus Christ Our Lord and the glories of the Catholic Church by what they said and how they lived: my Father, Joseph Anthony Mangan (+October 14, 2006), who cooperated with my Mother in granting physical life to me and for providing access to the spiritual life contained in the Sacraments of the Church; the Most Reverend Paul Vincent Dudley, D.D., the Sixth Bishop of Sioux Falls (+November 20, 2006), who ordained me to the Holy Priesthood of Jesus Christ.

Requiescant in pace. May they rest in peace.

Monsignor Charles M. Mangan
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
December 8, 2006



Three in One

1. The Most Holy Trinity is the Supreme Being Who is God—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is Catholicism’s foundation.

2. The Holy Trinity—eternal, perfect, limitless—always existed, exists now and will exist always.

3. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are three distinct and equal Persons. God is Three in One.

4. The Father is not greater than the Son and the Holy Spirit. Each is a different Person, but equal in majesty.

5. God has created, redeemed and made us holy. His love brought us into being, restored us to health when we had sinned and sanctified us.

6. God wants us to be happy on earth; He shows us the path to happiness: knowing and obeying His holy plan. His will alone is our joy and salvation.

7. By obeying His plan, we prepare to see Him “face to face” in Heaven. Experiencing the Blessed Trinity in Paradise is the ultimate happiness.

8. Love connects the Father, the Son and ...