“The Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.” That is the first sentence of our first reading this month. I love that line. It’s amazing to me how Chesterton can pack so much into a sentence of less than 20 words. We could easily spend at least a half hour discussing this sentence alone!

We will complete our reading of Chesterton’s The Catholic Church and Conversion this month. Find attached a copy of Chapter 5, The Exception Proves the Rule, and a copy of Chapter 6, A Note on Present Prospects. Chapter 6 is very short, we shouldn’t have any problem covering it as well as Chapter 5.

And just for fun, HERE is a link to the third story in The Club of Queer Trades, “The Awful Reason of the Vicar’s Visit.” Let’s see where this leads. This story is a lot of fun. They all are.

And now, since we are finishing up the current book, we need to pick a new book for our next meetings. I propose for that Chesterton’s Autobiography. A nice paperback copy of the book (with several pages of pictures) is published by Ignatius Press. I’ll ask Tish to get a few copies for us in the bookstore. It is also available online – HERE and other places. And here are the first two sentences of the book to peak you interest:

Bowing down in blind credulity, as is my custom, before mere authority and the tradition of the elders, superstitiously swallowing a story I could not test at the time by experiment or private judgment, I am firmly of opinion that I was born on the 29th of May, 1874, on Campden Hill, Kensington; and baptised according to the formularies of the Church of England in the little church of St. George opposite the large Waterworks Tower that dominated that ridge. I do not allege any significance in the relation of the two buildings; and I indignantly deny that the church was chosen because it needed the whole water-power of West London to turn me into a Christian.

HERE is a very short essay by Dale Ahlquist (actually “Lecture 73” from his “Chesterton University” on the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton website) on Chesterton’s Autobiography.

We had a great Chesterton Event last Saturday at St. Stephen’s with Dale Ahlquist and Chuck Chalberg. I think I can say without contradiction that a good time was had by all. We’ll take a short break and then start to think about another event next year.

“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.”
– G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man