The Church is the society founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ, formed of living men, with its code of rules, its executive officers, its ceremonial observances. She is supernatural in her origin, in the purpose at which she aims, and in the means at her disposal. She is the society of those whom Christ has redeemed from the world. By these means of grace — the light of revealed truth, the sacraments, the perpetual renewal of the Sacrifice of Calvary — the Church carries on the work of sanctifying the elect.

Its inward life is found in the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the gifts of faith, hope, and charity, the grace communicated by the sacraments, and the other prerogatives by which the children of God differ from the children of the world.