[The only line in the Apostles' Creed that caused consternation at Kings, when I first got people to recite it a little while back, was the affirmation of "the holy catholic church." Understandably, there were some who had never come across the idea that "catholic" means "universal" rather than "Roman", and thought we were suddenly affirming papal infallibility, prayers to Mary and who knows what else.

Well: we weren't, and neither is the Heidelberg Catechism. Rather, Heidelberg says, we affirm that Jesus Christ "gathers, protects and preserves for himself a community chosen for eternal life and united in true faith," and that we ourselves are now, and always will be, living members of it. In that sense, the catholicity and holiness of the Church is an enormously comforting doctrine, like so many features of the Creed. By being in the one Church, we are united, gathered, protected and preserved by Jesus. Safe, forever.]