Thursday 28th March 2024

Home » Featured Today » Currently Reading:

A Book Review… A Thorough And Understandable Treatment Of The Faith

June 29, 2020 Featured Today No Comments

By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY

Donal Anthony Foley reviews This Is the Faith: A Complete Explanation of the Catholic Faith, by Canon Francis Ripley (TAN Books, 484 pages, Kindle and paperback).

This is the Faith by Canon Francis Ripley (1912-1998), an English priest, is a substantial paperback which was originally published in 1951. It is a comprehensive treatment of the teachings of the Church which started out as a series of talks given over a period of three years to non-Catholic inquirers about the faith.
Canon Ripley was well-qualified for this work since he was the superior of the Catholic Missionary Society, and a very zealous, intelligent, and dedicated priest, who was also much involved with the work of the Legion of Mary and a personal friend of its founder, Frank Duff.
In writing this book, the author wanted to get across to potential converts the idea that the Catholic Church is indeed the one, true Church, founded by Christ. Given the very much changed social conditions over the years and the situation post-Vatican II, it has been updated by Tan Books, but the essence of the original text remains.
This is the Faith comprises forty chapters covering all aspects of the Catholic faith, from the existence of God, through such topics as sin, the Commandments, Church doctrine, the papacy, the sacraments, devotions, and the Four Last Things.
Canon Ripley had a very methodical way of dealing with his subject matter, and frequently quotes from the Bible to back up his arguments. Each chapter begins with a mini-catechism section covering essential points of Christian doctrine. In the first chapter, after looking at the nature of God, the author then goes on to point out that given that nature, that God is the eternal, unchanging, utterly perfect and self-existent being, and one who has also created us and is our Father, and loves us with an unfathomable love, then we have an obligation, and more than an obligation, to love Him in return.
This in turn implies duties we have toward God, which include adoration, contrition for our sins, thanksgiving for all He has done for us, and supplication for all the graces we need.
Subsequent chapters follow the same type of approach, all the time focusing on the essentials of Catholic teaching, but in a such a way that the ideas put forward are reasonably easy to follow and understand. The author also uses incidents from the lives of the saints and Church history to bring home important points in a practical way.
It is plain that the book was written in an earlier and very different time, even though fewer than seventy years have elapsed since it was first published. An example of this is the point made by the author that Catholic churches are full at Mass times on Sundays, not because believers only attend Mass because they are forced to, but because people have been consistently taught that it is their duty to attend Sunday Mass.
While most churches may not be empty these days on Sundays, certainly Mass attendance is, generally speaking, well down on what it was in the fifties, and likewise the obligatory nature of Sunday Mass is not emphasized as much as it used to be.
The author always has the underlying, but very necessary, motive of bringing home to the reader the essential nature of religion and belief in God, and the duty to act on that belief. And so, for example in speaking of religion in general, he says:
“Religion matters more than anything else in life. It is the one supremely important thing. It must occupy the most important place in every person’s life — and actually, in the life of every nation as well.”
As Canon Ripley points out, the sources of our faith are the Church and the Bible, but even here, it is the Church that has given us the Bible, since it was compiled by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He demonstrates that the Gospels are true history and that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and so we can, and should have, complete trust in its teachings.
The importance of prayer is emphasized by the author, who says, “Prayer is absolutely necessary for salvation. Man must dispose himself for justification: otherwise he cannot be saved. He must therefore turn to God in some way.”
The same is true of faith, which, although it is a supernatural gift, requires a correspondence on our part, made up of prayerfulness, humility, and living a morally upright life, amongst other things.
Canon Ripley deals at some length with sin and the Commandments of God, devoting four chapters to the latter topic. In looking at the Ten Commandments, he goes into detail about exactly which sins transgress against a particular one of the Commandments. So for example, with the Fifth Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” he lists willful murder — which is one of the sins crying to Heaven for vengeance — quarreling, giving scandal or bad example, and giving vent to anger, hatred, or revenge, as all being sins against this Commandment.
The importance of belief in the Church as a visible organization founded by Christ, the Son of God, is emphasized by the author, as is the fact that no other religious body has been able to demonstrate heroic holiness on the part of so many of its members, from all walks of life, who have been sanctified within the Church.
Canon Ripley notes that if the Church had just been a human organization, she would have shared the fate of all other such organizations, that is gradual dissolution and death, but rather, “the Church is not an organization; She is the continuance of the work of a divine Person: She will never fail simply because Christ can never fail.”
The importance of the office of the Pope is likewise emphasized by Canon Ripley, given that any body, religious or otherwise, needs a central authority; and he shows how the papacy was established by Christ with an infallible head.
There is also a useful chapter on the Commandments of the Church, and the centrality of the sacraments is underlined by the fact that the author devotes twelve chapters to them. He is at pains to emphasize the importance of receiving the sacraments if we are to live truly Christian lives.
Regarding marriage, he notes that the word “matrimony” comes from two Latin words, matris and munus, and actually means the “duty of motherhood” — and so, as he says, the very word indicates God’s purpose in instituting marriage.
The final chapters of the book deal with devotion to our Lady and the saints, and death, judgment, Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell, and there are also two useful chapters on the devotional life a Catholic should lead, as well as chapters on the Reformation and on Catholic social principles.
In sum, This Is the Faith is a very thorough, understandable, and well-sourced volume. The typeface is large and easy to read, with many of the main points in bold for emphasis.
It would make an excellent refresher for any believer who wants to renew his understanding of the faith, or as a text for someone who would like to know more about Catholicism in general, or is thinking of becoming a Catholic.

  • + + (Donal Anthony Foley is the author of a number of books on Marian Apparitions, and maintains a related website at www.theotokos.org.uk. He has also written two time-travel/adventure books for young people, and the third in the series is due to be published next year — details can be seen at: http://glaston-chronicles.co.uk.)
Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Abortion Advocates No Longer Consider It “A Necessary Evil,” They Celebrate Killing Babies

Last week, Kamala Harris became the first vice president in U.S. history to make a public visit to an abortion clinic. Though the Democratic party’s support for abortion is nothing new, Harris’ Planned Parenthood appearance does illustrate how that support has become a flagrant celebration of abortion as a public and personal good, essential to both “freedom” and to “healthcare.” At the appearance, Harris proclaimed,  It is only right and fair that people have access…Continue Reading

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)