This Is the Faith: A Complete Explanation of the Catholic Faith

Canon Francis J. Ripley, also known as Fr. Francis Joseph Ripley, was an English priest born in 1912 at Lancashire. He became a Jesuit novitiate in London after graduating from a local Catholic grammar school with honors. After being convinced that his vocation was not with this order, he was ordained in 1939 following his studies at the archdiocesan seminary of Upholland. There he earned first prize in dogmatic theology for three years in a row. Father Ripley is the author of Terrible as an Army, The Diary of a Small Town Priest, Souls at Stake (with Frank Duff), Letters to Muriel, and This Is the Faith, his most famous work which was composed of a series of twice-weekly talks he had been giving for non-Catholics. These talks lead to hundreds of conversions over a period of several years. In 1980, he was named a Canon of the Archdiocese of Liverpool. He served with the Catholic Missionary Society and Royal Air Force before his death on January 7, 1998.