Letter 11: To my reverend brother,

To my reverend brother, The question of the Creed in the liturgy is one that has been before us since the council, and I want to offer my thoughts on the specific point you raised. The decision of the Third Council of Toledo to introduce the recitation of the Nicene Creed in the Mass — before the Lord's Prayer at every Sunday liturgy — was made specifically to address the Arian legacy. The Arians denied the full divinity of Christ; the Creed affirms it; the weekly recitation of the Creed in the liturgy is therefore a specific pastoral response to a specific history. In a kingdom where that history is still living memory, I believe the decision is correct. The people who were baptized in the Arian church and who have converted to Catholicism benefit from the regular, public, communal confession of the faith they have accepted. The children being raised in the faith will be formed by it. The theological content of what we believe needs to be heard regularly, not left to occasional instruction. On the specific form of the Creed: the Toledo liturgy as we use it has developed a distinctive character that I believe serves our people well. The elaboration of the text, the musical tradition that accompanies it, the specific forms of participation — these are the product of centuries of adaptation, and they should be preserved carefully. Your brother in the faith