Self-help ✦ Penny’s Take
This is the Faith
Francis J. Ripley · 1999
74/100
👍 Worth It
Within its intended audience — adults entering or deepening Catholic faith — Ripley's book is thorough, clearly written, and drawn from real pastoral experience answering real questions. The comprehensive doctrinal sweep in one accessible volume is genuinely useful for RCIA programs and Catholic homeschoolers. The pre-Vatican II framework and the absence of ecumenical engagement are real limitations for anyone outside that traditional Catholic formation context.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: explicitly and comprehensively Catholic in doctrine; pre-Vatican II perspective; presents Marian devotion, papal authority, and sacramental theology as settled truth; not suitable as a neutral introduction to Christianity for non-Catholics. We still scored it 74; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety88
substance78
craft75
originality58
accuracy72
hype75
age-fit80
human-eye72
Penny’s verdict74
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