Upon This Rock

This book represents the fruits of many years of prayer, work and meditation by Fr Edwin Gordon. The first part - Upon This Rock - with a foreword by Canon Francis Ripley - provides a catechetical programme of instruction and is fully referenced to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is published together with a series of meditations with Our Lady on the Catholic truths made manifest in the Rosary, including the Luminous Mysteries. A Catechism of the Holy Rosary - with a preface by His Eminence Marcelo Cardinal Gonzalez Martin, the former Primate of Spain. The beauty of this book is that it is both food for the soul and the mind. The catechetical material is presented in such an appealing yet striking manner that the truths it contains are absorbed very easily - this is certainly not a dry catechetical text. But it also illustrates that despite modern educational trends, there is no substitute for a good knowledge of the teaching of the Church, and equally, that belief in the truths of Catholicism is not just a question of logical reasoning, it is also a matter of faith. Fr Edwin Gordon was born in Gibraltar, spending the duration of the Second World war in Tangiers, where he was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers. Moving to Bristol in 1945, he studied law at university and was ordained priest in 1962. Working as a priest in parishes for many years, he served in the 1970s as spiritual director of the English College at Valladolid, Spain. Fr Gordon became blind in the 1980s, continuing to run a small rural parish until his retirement in 2002. He has published many articles, given talks to students, conducted retreats and taught at Catholic summer schools.