Nothing comes to us from a vacuum. Just as God used history and the Catholic Church to give us the Christian Bible as we know it today, so too God used history and the Catholic Church to give us the Nicene Creed that expresses the most fundamental beliefs about the Trinitarian God.

All communities of consecrated life share some elements that are necessary in order for the Church to recognize them as a community. However, individual communities also differ in regard to certain elements that give their communities the specific character that makes them who they are.