Faith of Our Fathers
JAMES GIBBONS, Cardinal Archbishop of Baltimore, occupies a unique position in American life. No other churchman of this country has been so well known and so generally esteemed by all classes. It is quite true that no other private citizen has exercised more or better influence on the development of our national life and spirit. He was ordained priest on June 30th of the eventful 1861. During the years of the war he was occupied in parish duty in Baltimore, work which he executed with his characteristic zeal and success. In other countries, especially in Europe, he was popularly and admiringly known as "the American Cardinal," and it was frequently observed both here and abroad that he has done more than all others to make America known and understood by the world. During his missions in North Carolina and Virginia he preached regularly to more non-Catholics than Catholics, many of whom had been educated in mistrust of the Mother Church and her ministers,but of those who had once heard him there was none to find fault with the attitude and spirit of Bishop Gibbons.  From his experience working with non-Catholics, Archbishop Gibbons wrote Faith of Our Fathers. The book was a popular exposition and defense of the Catholic doctrine, and is the masterpiece of its kind in English. Over a million copies have been sold, and the demand for it is as great today as when it was first published. It has been translated into twelve languages. Written for non-Catholics who wish to know the truth concerning the Catholic Church, it has probably made more converts than it contains words. The clearness, logic, and charity of the book, and its perfect adaptation in matter and manner to those for whom it was written are the chief sources of its appeal. James Garton, was a former protestant minister until he discovered the truth of the Eucharist. His two year search for the truth of the ancient faith of the early church fathers and Apostles, brought him back to the Catholic Church which he was baptized into as an infant. He decided to revive this work of Archbishop Gibbons and provide a resource website to help others also find the truth of the Catholic Faith.