The Confession of Faith of the Polish National Catholic Church was first adopted in 1913 at Provincial Synods convened at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Passaic, New Jersey and Chicopee, Massachusetts. The Third General Synod convened at Chicago, Illinois adopted the Confession in 1914 and it has not been modified since.
I BELIEVE in Almighty God, the cause of all existence, in a Being who permeates the universe and is the source of its life and development both material (physical) as well as spiritual and moral. In relation to man, God reveals Himself through his creative power. His inexpressible wisdom. His provident influence on the formation of the destiny of individual man, nations, states, and all of humanity. In a more particular way, God as the Spirit of Life, Light and Goodness, influences chosen spirits of nations, who in a given epoch of human development, are the creative agent in the building of God’s Kingdom on earth. This direct influence of God – is not limited to one nation, to one epoch, but is directed to all nations and. times – for the purpose of stimulating life, progress and the attainment of the highest degree of culture by individual nations, states and all mankind; it is the outpouring of Divine forces acting upon humanity and the benefiting from these forces by individuals, nations, states and all mankind.
I BELIEVE in Jesus Christ, the Savior and Spiritual Regenerator of the world.
I BELIEVE that Christ the Lord, was the Emissary of God, of one substance with Him, and as to humanity born of the humble woman Mary. I believe that this Nazarene Master revealed His Divine mission on earth through His life, an unsurpassed ideal of goodness, wisdom and self-sacrifice for others, especially for sinful and disinherited people; that by His work, teaching and sacrificial death, He became the glowing ember of a new life, of mankind, taking its beginning and deriving its strength and fullness in knowing God, loving Him and fulfilling His Holy Will.
I BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, rules the world in the natural as well as in the moral order, that all the laws of the universe, as well as those by which the soul of individual man and humanity as a whole are guided, are an emanation of the will, goodness and righteousness of the Divine Being.
I BELIEVE that from the Holy Spirit flows grace, that is an invisible power which brings it to pass that, when a man cooperates and works in harmony with it, he becomes better, more perfect, better fitted for his tasks, a participant in the peace of heart and soul, until one day, through union with God in Eternity, he finds infinite bliss and the fulfillment of his own being.
I BELIEVE in the need of uniting all followers of Christ’s religion into the one body of God’s Church, and that the Church of Christ, Apostolic and Universal, is the representation of this Divine community of mankind, which the Savior proclaimed for the realization of which all noble minded peoples labored, are still laboring and for which the soul of man yearns, desiring truth, light, love, justice and consolation in God.
I BELIEVE that the Church of Christ is the true teacher of both individual man as well as of all human society, that it is a steward of Divine Graces, a guide and a light in man’s temporal pilgrimage to God and salvation; in so far as the followers and members of this Church, both lay and clerical, are united with the Divine Founder through faith and life proceeding from this faith.
I BELIEVE that every true Christian should take an active and vital part in the spiritual life of the Church, through the hearing of the Word of God, through the receiving of the Holy Sacraments, through fulfilling the laws and regulations established by Christ and His Apostles, as defined and given to us by the Church.
I BELIEVE that all peoples as children of one Father, God, are equal in themselves; that privileges arising from differences in rank, from possession of immense riches or from differences of faith, sex and race, are a great wrong, for they are a violation of the rights of man which he possess by his nature and the dignity of his divine origin, and are a barrier to the purposeful development of man.
I BELIEVE that all people have an equal right to life, happiness and those ways and means which lead to the preservation of existence, to advancement and salvation, but I also believe, that all people have sacred obligations toward God, themselves, their nation, state and all of humanity.
I BELIEVE in the ultimate justice of God, in a future life beyond the grave, which will be a continuation of this temporal life and which, as to its condition and degree of perfection and happiness is dependent on our present life, but above all on the state of our soul in the final hour before death.
I BELIEVE in immortality and everlasting happiness in eternity in union with God of all people, races and ages, because I believe in the Divine power of love, mercy and justice and for nothing else do I yearn, but that it may be to me according to my faith.