This book is a compilation of articles originally written for The Catholic Response, a bi-monthly Catholic publication.... The book is divided into seven main sections: 1. Chapters One and Two form a general introduction to the Fathers of the Church, as well as to the early heresies and schisms to which they ardently responded. 2. Chapters Three to Nine focus on the contributions of the first seven Ecumenical Councils that established a firm doctrinal and devotional foundation for the united Church of the first Christian millennium. 3. Chapters Ten to Twenty-One seek to unpack the thought of select Fathers, situating each Father in chronological order, with particular attention paid to his cultural and historical background. 4. Chapter Twenty-Two deals with the formation of the Catholic Canon of the Bible, highlighting too its relation to the Jewish, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Canons. 5. Chapters Twenty-Three to Twenty-Six are focused on early key Christian writings and their portrayal of the four marks of the Church (one, holy, catholic and apostolic) and her unique role in human history as the universal sacrament of salvation. 6. Chapters Twenty-Seven to Thirty continue to explore early Christian writings on certain essential Catholic doctrines, namely atonement for sin, the Petrine primacy, episcopal authority and ecclesial communion and charity. 7. Chapter Thirty-One serves as the capstone for the entire book, much as Chapter Eight on "Mary in the Mystery of Christ and the Church" served as the capstone of the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium. This chapter is focused on Patristic Marian doctrine and devotion, including two of the most venerable Marian prayers in our Christian patrimony: the Sub Tuum Praesidium and the "Akathist" Hymn.--from the Foreword.