A catalyst and a method for selectively reducing nitrogen oxides with ammonia are provided. The catalyst includes a first component of copper, chromium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, iron, niobium, or mixtures thereof, a second component of cerium, a lanthanide, a mixture of lanthanides, or mixtures thereof, and a zeolite. The catalyst may also include strontium as an additional second component. The catalyst selectively reduces nitrogen oxides to nitrogen with ammonia at low temperatures. The catalyst has high hydrothermal stability. The catalyst has high activity for conversion of nitrogen oxides in exhaust streams, and are not significantly influenced by the NO/NO2 ratio. The catalyst and the method may have special application to selective reduction of nitrogen oxides in exhaust gas from diesel vehicles, although the catalyst and the method have broad application to a wide range of gas streams that contain nitrogen oxides. The temperature of exhaust gas from diesel vehicles is low, and the exhaust gas generally has a high NO/NO2 ratio. Both the low temperature and the high NO/NO2 ratio are challenging for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts.