The work of the Church is a work of reconciliation, of restoring men to God, by whom they were made and to whom they must return. It is the work of Christ, ‘for he is our peace, who hath made both one … breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh’ (Eph. 2, 14). He came into the world that he might redeem it; he died for the world that it might live for God.

And through the centuries the Church, which is the Body of Christ, continues his work of healing: bringing back the alien to the household of God, forgiving his sins, feeding his soul, teaching him the truth that alone can set him free, and at last preparing him for the destiny of heaven. And of all the evils which pervert that work of healing, heresy, the choice of a lie instead of the redemptive truth of Christ, is the deepest and most dangerous. For it is at last the choice of slavery, the return to the desert of alienation: and its fruits we know.