As I was taught, the word “catholic Church” in the Nicene creed meant “universal Church” rather than referring specifically to the Roman Catholic Church. For it was created at the time before the separation of the Christian church into eastern and western factions, one in Constaninople and the other in Rome. And this was at St. Joseph’s College of Indiana back in the mid-1960’s.
This creed was first formulated at the First Ecumenical Council, held at Nicea, located in what is now Turkey, in 325, as a response to the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. It was revised at the Second Ecumenical Council, held at Constantinople in 381 as a response to the Macedonian or Pneumatomachian heresy, which denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit.