The Blog of the Chillicothe Chesterton Society

Lepanto

2011-10-04T18:31:00.002-04:00

If the Chillicothe society were still meeting, we'd probably talk about Chesterton's poem, Lepanto. Might even listen to Christopher Check's great CD about the battle. We'd get to hear him recite the poem, too. Remember Lepanto, Oct 7, 1571. One of the great battles you've never heard of.

Meetings Suspended Indefinitely

2011-02-01T15:24:00.002-05:00

Since no one has attended the last 3 "meetings" of the Chillicothe Chesterton Society, there will be no further regularly scheduled meetings. I'll be more than happy to meet or talk with anyone about Chesterton and/or related topics, just give me a call or drop me an e-mail.

I'm thinking about trying to find some folks in Dayton, Columbus or Cincinnati who might be interested in reading and discussing Chesterton. I'll have a much larger population to try to draw from. Holding meetings in any of those locations would only mean an hour and a half drive once a month. That would be no problem.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Distributism, Where to Begin?

2010-11-17T09:12:00.002-05:00

Here's a suggestion on how to get started in supporting the idea of Distributism. It's from The Distributist Review.

November 17th Meeting to Feature "The Honor of Israel Gow"

2010-10-23T15:44:00.003-04:00

Why not join us for our November meeting where we will be enjoying a viewing of Chesterton's Father Brown story, "The Honor of Israel Gow?"

From a guy named Geoff Prewett's web site:

The Honor of Israel Gow: The death of a nobleman is investigated by Father Brown and the now private investigator Flambeau. The piles of snuff, candles with no sticks, and the manuscripts with the name of God removed are not dark evil, but merely Israel Gow, who was promised all the gold in the house taking only and exactly what he was given.

October 20 Meeting

2010-10-22T16:53:00.006-04:00

There were four of us at this month's meeting. As advertised, we listened to Christopher Check's "Lepanto: The Battle and the Poem." The talk is almost 75 minutes long, ending with a stirring recitation of Chesterton's poem Lepanto. Some of the folks took notes during what could easily be called a Mediterranean Catholic history lesson.

Dale Ahlquist's book was available for review.

G.K. Chesterton is Author of the Month at St. Peter Parish

2010-10-05T09:54:00.005-04:00

Here are the Chesterton books (top 2 shelves) currently in The Holy Family Library of St. Peter Parish. The collection of Chesterton works is just getting started. Eventually, the Library will have a full collection of Chesterton's Collected Works.

The books on the bottom 2 shelves are on loan for display purposes to The Holy Family Library from my library.

Uncommonsense Podcast 32, Chesterton and Public Schools

2010-09-18T08:21:00.005-04:00

The Chillicothe Chesterton Society and I get a mention in the latest Uncommonsense Podcast by Nancy Brown. Click the start button on the Podcast icon to the left.

September Meeting

2010-09-16T22:48:00.005-04:00

Well, we had our first meeting in the St. Peter Parish library, The Holy Family Library. Several folks attended, which was a nice change from the last couple of meetings which were held in our previous venue. We read a couple of essays aloud from What's Wrong With The World and then commented on them. I fielded a question on Distributism and felt fairly comfortable with my answer.

We agreed to read and discuss Lepanto at our next (October) meeting. We're going to use Christopher Check's "Lepanto: The Battle and the Poem" CD as a major part of the meeting.

Finally, the folks who manage the library have asked if we could put together a display having G.K. Chesterton featured as the "Author of the Month" and also put a notice about it in the Parish Bulletin.

Draft Article for the St. Peter's Parish Newsletter

2010-09-02T09:26:00.005-04:00

Chillicothe Chesterton Society

The Chillicothe Chesterton Society will now meet in the new Holy Family Library of St. Peter’s Parish Hall. While the previous meetings of the Society have been held at Schlegel’s Coffee House, all future meetings, beginning on September 15th, will be held in the new Library. Meetings are held on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, at 7 p.m. The meetings are scheduled for an hour.

The Chillicothe Chesterton Society is a group of people who are interested in the writings of British author Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 - 1936). Here is some information on Chesterton which is taken from the web site of the American Chesterton Society. This was written by the President of the Society, Dale Ahlquist.

Chesterton argued eloquently against all the trends that eventually took over the 20th century: materialism, scientific determinism, moral relativism, and spineless agnosticism. He also argued against both socialism and capitalism and showed why they have both been the enemies of freedom and justice in modern Society.

And what did he argue for? What was it he defended? He defended "the common man" and common sense. He defended the poor. He defended the family. He defended beauty. And he defended Christianity and the Catholic Faith. These don’t play well in the classroom, in the media, or in the public arena. And that is probably why he is neglected. The modern world prefers writers who are snobs, who have exotic and bizarre ideas, who glorify decadence, who scoff at Christianity, who deny the dignity of the poor, and who think freedom means no responsibility.

The Chillicothe Chesterton Society was formed a couple of years ago as a local Society of the American Chesterton Society. The goals of the national society and the local societies are the same: to reintroduce people to the writings of G.K. Chesterton. Last year, as part of that effort, St. Peter’s and the Society sponsored presentations by Dr. John C. Chalberg in “An Evening With G.K. Chesterton” and “Old Thunder: An Evening With Hilaire Belloc.” Fans of EWTN recognized Dr. Chalberg as portraying G.K. Chesterton on “The Apostle of Common Sense” and Kevin O’Brien, President and Artistic Director of The Theater of The Word, as having portrayed just about everybody: Belloc, Father Brown, Stanford Nutting, etc.

For more information on the Chillicothe Chesterton Society check out our blog at chillicothe-chestertonian.blogspot.com or find us on Facebook at Chillicothe Chesterton Society. There are links on those sites to the American Chesterton Society.

Subject for September 15, 2010 Meeting - What's Wrong With The World

2010-08-29T15:23:00.007-04:00

The 29th Annual Chesterton Conference has just ended (Aug 7, 2010). The Conference celebrated the 100th anniversary of Chesterton's book What's Wrong With The World. You can still see the Conference agenda here. You can read WWWTW at Project Gutenberg here. While it was not listed on the agenda, we had a great treat when G.K. himself made a special appearance. Yes, Chuck Chalberg (pictured above) attended the Conference and donned his wig, cape, hat, pince-nez and swordstick, as he provided a short visit from Mr. Chesterton. The crowd loved it.

At any rate, all that was simply to alert potential meeting attendees to the fact that the initial subject of discussion at the meeting will be selected essays from WWWTW. I'll suggest these three; The Emancipation of Domesticity, The Modern Slave, and Folly and Female Education. I'll have copies of those available. We can, of course, discuss anything and everything.

Society Meeting Location to Change

2010-08-28T15:01:00.016-04:00

Effective with the September 15, 2010 meeting, we'll be meeting in the newly created Library of St. Peter's Parish Hall. This (above) is a view of the Parish Hall from Water Street. However, here (below) is the entrance we'll be using. It's back the walkway on the side of the Hall. I'll have signs posted on the night of the meeting.

Here (below) is the newly painted, and as-yet-un-carpeted Library. Carpeting is scheduled for Monday, August 30.

Fr. Hahn will also allow us to publish a meeting notice in the Church Bulletin. I plan to contact Fr. Hummer at St. Mary's to see if he would be willing to do the same.

A Look at Knott Auditorium, Mount St. Mary's, Emmitsburg, MD

2010-08-01T20:00:00.007-04:00

Here's a couple of pictures of Knott Auditorium. It will be full of Chestertonians beginning this Thursday.

Emmitsburg, MD 21727

2010-07-31T20:43:00.003-04:00

After having dinner in Emmitsburg, at Otts pub, my wife and I drove out to Mount St. Mary's University. It's only a 5 minute ride. You can't miss it. It's quite visible from the road (Rt 15 South). The buildings are well marked and we drove right to Knott (Marion Burke Knott) Auditorium by following the signs. The auditorium is the site of the Chesterton Conference. There are some obviously older buildings further up the hill that are quite attractive. You can view a campus map here.

I found St. Joseph's Church right in Emmitsburg for Mass tomorrow. I couldn't find any pictures of the inside of the church. Maybe I'll take some tomorrow. Here's a drawing of the church from the church's web site.

ChesterTones to Perform at ChesterTen Banquet

2010-07-22T09:09:00.005-04:00

The about-to-be-formed Barbershop Quartet, The ChesterTones, will perform at the ChesterTen Banquet. Members of the quartet are: Kevin O'Brien (Lead), Bob Cook (Bass), Joe Grabowski (Tenor), and Don Brady (Baritone). All, of course, are Chestertonians. We've all been working on the music independently (Kevin, just since the first of this week). Our first time singing together will be a a yet-to-be-determined practice at the Conference. It should be exciting.

A Change of Opinions

2010-07-18T07:55:00.010-04:00

Lord Kitchener

The other matter is much more important. Though the reverse of vivacious, Kitchener was very vital; and he had one unique mark of vitality—that he had not stopped growing. “An oak should not be transplanted at sixty,” said the great orator Grattan when he was transferred from the Parliament of Dublin to the Parliament of Westminster. Kitchener was sixty-four when he turned his face westward to the problem of his own country. There clung to him already all the traditional attributes of the oak—its toughness, its angularity, its closeness of grain and ruggedness of outline—when he was uprooted from the Arabian sands and replanted in the remote western island. Yet the oak not only grew green again and put forth new leaves; it was almost as if, as in a legend, it could put forth a new kind of leaves. Kitchener, with all his taciturnity, really began to put forth a new order of ideas. If a change of opinions is unusual in an elderly man, it is almost unknown in an elderly military man. If the hardening of time was felt even by the poetic and emotional Grattan, it would not have been strange if the hardening had been quite hopeless in the rigid and reticent Kitchener. Yet it was not hopeless; and the fact became the spring of much of the national hope. The grizzled martinet from India and Egypt showed a certain power which is in nearly all great men, but of which St. Paul has become the traditional type—the power of being a great convert as well as a great crusader. It is the real power of re-forming an opinion, which is the very opposite of that mere formlessness which we call fickleness. Nor is the comparison to such an example as St. Paul altogether historically disproportionate; for the point upon which this very typical Englishman changed his mind was a point which is now the pivot of the whole future and perhaps of the very existence of Christendom. For many such Englishmen it might almost be called the discovery of Christendom. It can be called with greater precision, and indeed with almost complete precision, the discovery of Russia.

I guess I consider myself "an elderly military man." I joined the Air Force when I was 17, right out of high school. I served for 20 years. I've been "retired" for 28 years. That is, I retired from the Air Force in 1982. While I've held quite a few jobs since 1962, I think of myself as "retired Air Force", not retired from Battelle, Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, or NewPage, my last place of full time employment. No doubt that is because whatever I am today was pretty much formed by my 20 years immersion in the culture of the Air Force.

What's the point? Well, I guess there are several. First, I think the quote (in red above) is quite true, certainly it is for me. Next, every time I've seen this quotation it is referenced back to Utopia of Usurers. I recently read Utopia of Usurers; it's not in there. As the picture at the top of this post implies, the quotation is from Chesterton's book Lord Kitchener. My best guess on how this happened is that whoever made the first reference might have been using Volume V of the Collected Works. The standard reference says pg. 396, of Volume V, CW. And the quotation does, in fact, appear on page 396, but it's in Lord Kitchener. Utopia of Usurers starts on page 399. Who cares? Probably no one, unless you're reading Utopia of Usurers waiting to read the quote!

Finally, Chesterton says a change of opinion is almost unknown in an elderly military man. I don't think I've changed my opinions about much in the last 28 years, but I have about laissez-faire Capitalism. And that change of opinions was caused by the writings of Chesterton, Belloc and all the other Distributists I've been introduced to by the members of the American Chesterton Society.

See Any Resemblance?

2010-07-09T09:48:00.003-04:00

Again, my thanks to Ben Hatke for the great work!

Material Success, Something to Think About

2010-07-04T15:23:00.002-04:00

Material Success

The American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied only a little while. The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, señor."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution.

"You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But señor, how long will this all take?" To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

"But what then, señor?"

The American laughed and said that's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.

"Millions, señor? Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

-- Anonymous

You Never Know When Someone Might Be Paying Attention

2010-07-02T08:38:00.009-04:00

Yesterday I took a drawing of G.K. Chesterton (by Ben Hatke) to Hobby Lobby to have it framed. I asked the young girl (not as young as I thought, she's a college graduate) for help in choosing how to have it framed. She was very helpful, selecting a nice frame and some matting. As she was writing up the paperwork for the job, she asked me who the character in the drawing was. I told her it was G.K. Chesterton. She said: "I thought so." She continued: "You're the guy who sponsored the Hilaire Belloc presentation several months ago." I acknowledged that I had sponsored "Old Thunder." She said she enjoyed it. She then mentioned that she had recently graduated from Columbus College of Art & Design. I asked her if she had a web site for her work and she said yes. When I got home I checked out the site. The picture above is from the site. Here are the words that accompany the illustration:

New personal project, inspired by a line from The Everlasting Man by GK Chesterton. "The dark alien woman staring from her high lattice and hearing like the babble of a brook over a stoney street, the singing of little St Hugh" He was referring to the Medieval child martyr little Hugh, and the alien woman would've been a witch. Did a few character studies from Brian Froud and Alan Lee's book Faeries, just to have something to go from.

So, you just never know who your actions might affect.

I also gave her Ben Hatke's site, househatke.com, so she could check out his other work.

And here's the drawing I'm having framed.

Summer Break in Meetings

2010-06-23T09:10:00.017-04:00

Summer is here and most folks are taking their vacations. In light of that, we'll be taking a summer hiatus. Meetings will resume on September 15, 2010. If you've got the time and inclination, you might consider attending the upcoming Chesterton Conference. Here's an info card I received in the mail yesterday. It should be a great Conference. (Click on the agenda to enlarge it.)

As Nancy noted on the ACS Blog, there has been a change in one of the presenters:
Msgr. Swetland, from the host institution, can’t be there. He’s just taken a new job: President of Seton Hall University. Dr. William Marshner, a theology professor from Christendom College to speak instead on “What’s Wrong with Theology?” (He’s brilliant. It will be a great talk.)

T-Shirts for What's Wrong With The World, 29th Annual Chesterton Conference

2010-06-17T14:00:00.000-04:00

Here is the WWWTW T-Shirt. Once again, thanks to Ted Schluenderfritz for providing me the artwork. They should be available for sale at the Conference.

Watch This Space for Possible ChesterTen T-Shirts

2010-06-13T21:26:00.003-04:00

I hope to have some T-Shirts made up for the upcoming ChesterTen Conference. If they look OK I'll post some pictures of them here. Even if they don't look OK, I 'll still post the pictures. We all have different ideas of what's OK. Right?

June Meeting Cancelled

2010-06-13T20:51:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the late notice, but I will not be able to make the June meeting. So I supposed that means it's cancelled. I arrived home from Mt. Vernon, OH, the site of Barbershop Society's Apple Corps, to find that an uncle had died. So I'm leaving for Pennsylvania first thing Monday and probably will spend most of the week there.

ChesterTen Registration is Open.

2010-06-09T15:32:00.003-04:00

It seems strange to access the blog and not see Max Beerbohm's caricature at the top. It looks to me like Mr. Ted Schluenderfritz (the logo designer) might have gotten some of his inspiration from Max's caricature of Chesterton. Then again, maybe not.

IHS Press

2010-06-03T08:58:00.004-04:00

A Word From the Editors. IHS Press was launched in September of 2001 to bring back into print the classics of last century on the Social Teachings of the Catholic Church. IHS Press titles are sure to appeal to the Catholic reader who wants to know more about the wealth of information buried in the Church's Social Doctrine. And our titles will no doubt be a welcome and refreshing change for any socially-conscious reader who, in a search for a humane solution to modern social problems, is looking for a break from worn-out theories.

I thought I'd share the above information from IHS Press with others who might be interested in books dealing with Catholic Social Doctrine. IHS is a great resource. Of course, if the book was written by Chesterton, you might check with the American Chesterton Society first and buy it from them. You'd be supporting the ACS.

Latest Issue of Gilbert Has Arrived

2010-05-22T13:01:00.004-04:00

I've read about half of the latest issue. It's excellent, as usual. What I did find to be different, however, is that Sean Dailey's editorial, "Clarity on Torture," is available on-line at the Gilbert Magazine Page. In my experience, the Gilbert Magazine Page has been static and not updated to correspond to the current issue of Gilbert. Having at least part of Gilbert available on-line is great.

Meeting on Wednesday Evening, May 19, at Schlegel's

2010-05-17T22:30:00.002-04:00

Don't forget this month's meeting. 7 p.m. at Schlegel's Coffee House.

Distributism and "Just Price"

2010-05-02T22:32:00.003-04:00

I've been reading several books by Hilaire Belloc, who was one of the main proponents of Distributism. He mentions "just price" several times, but I've been unable to figure out exactly what that means to a Distributist. So... I asked one of the authors at The Distributist Review, Richard Aleman, for some help. Here's what he said:

Dear Bob,

You are most welcome. Yes, regarding the just price I recommend reading Dr Peter Chojnowski's article on the School of Salamanca. http://drchojnowski.blogspot.com/

Eric Gill described it most succinctly as,

1. A just price (i.e. price reckoned in terms of labour costs)...[W]hat we want is just price, i.e. price fixed by maker.

The idea was to create a production outlet (or retail/manufacturer combo) that would sell flexibly with the smallest profit margin, competing via the distinctive creations of the producer (in Gill's case, artist or craftsman). This would, as much as possible, elminate middlemen and price wars as every product would be an original work based on the unique creativity of the small business owner.

This is still the case in small shops in Europe. Take bakeries for example. They measure how ingredient and labor costs, bake on premises, and sell directly to the consumer. They never undersell competitors or have a need to widen profit margins as they stand (or fall) on the quality of their unique, various products.

I can also recommend Msgr. John A. Ryan's book "The Living Wage" which you may normally find on ebay or for free on archive.org (PDF). http://www.archive.org/details/livingwage00ryanuoft

Also, if you have not read them, I recommend two more books by Belloc: Economics for Helen and the book Usury. In this last Belloc defines productive property and lending alternatives without the use of token interest.

Keep in touch!

Pax Christi,
Richard

PS: Let me know when you are ready to study the guilds. I will email you some PDFs by Arthur Penty.

Uncommon Sense Podcast #23 Now Available

2010-05-02T09:53:00.003-04:00

Nancy Brown interviews Dale Ahlquist, President of the American Chesterton Society, in the latest Uncommon Sense Podcast. It contains lots of good info on the upcoming ChesterTen, this year's Chesterton Conference.

New Drawing of G.K. Chesterton

2010-04-24T20:13:00.006-04:00

I just received my newest drawing of G.K. Chesterton today. It was done by Ben Hatke. What a great job. I love it. Thanks for the great work, Ben.

Note I've said nothing about our last Chillicothe Chesterton Society meeting. I guess the shows by Chuck Chalberg (G.K. Chesterton) and Kevin O'Brien (Hilaire Belloc) provided enough Chesterton related information for a few weeks. No one joined me for the meeting. Oh well, after enjoying an excellent Schlegel's decaf, I just went over to St. Peter and joined the on-going choir practice. Maybe next month some folks will show up!!

Interesting Book

2010-04-19T09:15:00.002-04:00

I'm currently reading this book. How'd I end up here? Chesterton led me to Belloc. Preparing to attend "Old Thunder: An Evening with Hilaire Belloc" led me to Belloc's "Great Heresies", which led me to Cobbett's book. King Henry VIII, Cranmer, and Cromwell, the "tyrant and his ruffians." What nasty, nasty people. And what a different view of the Protestant Reformation.

Kevin O'Brien Caricature by Ted Schluenderfritz

2010-04-11T09:06:00.003-04:00

I posted this caricature on Facebook and Kevin said: "It looks more like me than I do." I thank Kevin for his dramatic evangelization via The Theater of The Word Incorporated and Ted for his clever artwork.

Chesterton's Lecture at St. Peter Parish a Success

2010-04-10T07:22:00.006-04:00

Last night Mr. G. K. Chesterton presented a lecture on Darwin. The lecture was presented at Chillicothe's St. Peter Parish Hall. About 35 people were in attendance. Mr. Chesterton noted that this was his third visit to America. He further noted that had Prohibition not been repealed he would not have returned to the United States. Mr. Chesterton is not a teetotaler. Although he has quipped that "We should thank God for beer and Burgundy by not drinking too much of them." While I can't recall that he specifically mentioned it, some of Mr. Chesterton's views on teetotalism may be found in his 1914 book, The Flying Inn. Mr. Chesterton gave the audience an insight to his early childhood, speaking fondly of his father, mother and siblings. He especially recalled his father's building him a toy theater and tellling amazing fairy tales.

While I can't recall all of Mr. Chesterton's statements made during the course of his lecture, here are a few of those that strike me as most memorable:

"Misers get up early in the morning; and burglars, I am informed, get up the night before."

"Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around."

"I would give a woman not more rights, but more privileges. Instead of sending her to seek such freedom as notoriously prevails in banks and factories, I would design specially a house in which she can be free."

"A modern vegetarian is also a teetotaler, yet there is no obvious connection between consuming vegetables and not consuming fermented vegetables. A drunkard, when lifted laboriously out of the gutter, might well be heard huskily to plead that he had fallen there through excessive devotion to a vegetable diet."

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die."

"Never let a quarrel get in the way of a good argument."

As you can see from the quotations, Mr. Chesterton departed from his prepared Darwinian Lecture notes quite frequently. At one point in the lecture he actually reclined on a sofa and spoke about drawing on the ceiling.

At the conclusion of his lecture, Mr. Chesterton answered question from the audience. All in all, a wonderful evening!

Above: Mr. Chesterton chats with members of the audience after his lecture.

See G. K. Chesterton on Friday, April 9, 2010

2010-04-05T12:45:00.001-04:00

Bishop Flaget Grade School Sees Theater of The Word Performance

2010-03-27T18:16:00.012-04:00

Bishop Flaget students sit on the gym floor as they await the start of The Great Adventure of The Faith.

Deadly Dark, (the villian in black) is flanked on his left by The Prince and on his right by The Guardian Angel.

AnyKid, (the hero in the red cape) receiving advice and guidance from The Prince and The Guardian Angel.

January/February Issue of Gilbert Has Arrived in Bainbridge, OH

2010-03-26T14:13:00.006-04:00

Here's the cover of the latest issue of Gilbert. It arrived in the mailbox today. It's another great cover by Gilbert Art Director, Ted Schluenderfritz. I think I'll suggest a contest for the ACS Blog to see who can correctly name all the folks caricatured on the cover. I recognize a few of them, but not all. I'll have to do some research.

Attention all Lurkers

2010-03-21T17:23:00.003-04:00

If you check out this blog occasionally (but have not made comments), and attend any of the up-coming Theater of The Word or History on Stage events, please say hello to me. I'd love to meet you. I'll be at all the events.

Theater of The Word to Perform at Bishop Flaget School March 26, 2010, at 9:30 a.m.

2010-03-18T10:06:00.012-04:00

From The Theater of The Word Promotional Material:

Quests, Obstacles, Virtues, and Vices—what will keep our young heroes from living the Great Adventure of the Faith? And what will they need for help? This interactive epic, starring the kids of your parish or church, will answer the question! The choices they make determine the very plot of the show—and the obstacles they encounter along the way.

In this updated and funny version of the allegorical drama Everyman, we take several volunteers from the audience, one of whom plays Anykid, the hero, who must make right choices to complete his quest. Other volunteer actors portray the allegorical figures Faith, Hope and Love, as well as the Seven Sacraments,Beauty, Truth, and Goodness. Each volunteer has a short poem to read at some point during the show.

When that dastardly villain, Deadly Dark, steals our hero’s Faith, Hope, and Love, our hero’s prince and guardian angel must help him to recover them—through three dangerous adventures: the Forest of Doubt, the Way of Despair, and the Valley of Tears. Along the way, our hero must ask for help from the Sacraments, must combat the Seven Deadly Sins, and must learn the value of Love and the necessity of depending on God’s grace.

A perfect combination of catechesis and entertainment! Your kids on stage with our professional actors—Faith, Formation and Fun!

This is scheduled to be perfomed on Friday, March 26 at Bishop Flaget School. Time is 9:30 A.M. The Chillicothe Chesterton Society is supporting this presentation.

March 17 Meeting

2010-03-18T09:07:00.005-04:00

It was a beautiful summer-like evening last night. Folks were sitting at the tables outside of Schlegel's. A photographer was taking pictures of a couple seated at one of the tables. I took it as an ill omen. Folks would be out playing in their yards or relaxing on their porches and not driving into Chillicothe to talk about Chesterton at Schlegel's. In fact, after waiting for only five minutes after the 7 pm start time, with no one other than me and Andrew (who was working and is the guy on the right in the picture) attending, I was about to leave the Coffee House and attend choir practice at St. Peter's. At 7:05, the member with the longest drive, Tim Binkley (the guy on the left in the picture), walked in the door. Tim drives down from Columbus, after work, to attend the meetings, and then has to drive about 50 miles to Lancaster, OH, to get home.

So, Tim and I discussed several things. Tim mentioned that he had tried to generate some interest in Chesterton at the Lancaster Catholic schools, and the public library, to no avail. I mentioned that when I requested that the Chillicothe Library allow me to post a notice of the Chillicothe Chesterton Society, my request was rejected. However, on a very positive note, The Chillicothe Gazette ran a very nice article on our up-coming one-man shows. For that, we are very grateful.

We then talked a bit about Kevin O'Brien's The Theater of The Word, Incorporated and Chuck Chalberg's History on Stage. Tim said he planned to attend both events. Since I had brought along the nine new Belloc books I recently bought, we talked a bit about Belloc and, of course, ChesterBelloc. Tim had not heard that term. Now he's heard of it. The hour flew by and before we knew it, the meeting was over. We both hope that the up-coming presentations will generate a little more interest in our Society. It would be nice to have a couple more folks join in our conversations.

Take a Look at This Before our "Old Thunder" Presentation

2010-03-13T12:01:00.009-05:00

I must confess, I did not know what The Great Heresies were. From Belloc's perspective and his book, they are: 1. The Arian; 2. The Mohammedan; 3. The Albigensian; 4. The Protestant; 5. The Modern. Three of them are still with us. If you want to learn more, read the book. It's available from TAN books, and/or attend the upcoming March 22, 2010 presentation of Old Thunder: An Evening With Hilaire Belloc. The presentation is a Theater of The Word production. Kevin O'Brien will portray Belloc. It should be an exciting evening. Here's Kevin as Belloc.

Gilbert ?????

2010-03-07T14:12:00.004-05:00

Who knows what the next cover of Gilbert will look like? Not me, but I've heard that it should be mailed out during the week of March 8th. I'll be checking my mailbox.

March/April Issue of The St. Austin Review

2010-03-07T14:05:00.004-05:00

From the ACS Blog:

Dear Fellow Chestertonian,

The March/April issue of the Saint Austin Review is hot off the press. It's another exciting, power-punching issue, filled to the brim with great articles. The theme of the next issue is "G. K. Chesterton: Fidei Defensor" and we've assembled a veritable cornucopia of Chestertonian delights for the delectation of our readers.

Belloc's Books Arrive

2010-03-05T09:07:00.004-05:00

My Belloc books arrived yesterday from TAN Books. I didn't notice them on the front porch until late. I've pretty much given up on the Post Office for any shipping requirements. UPS is much safer. And you can track the status of your orders on-line.

I've started on The Great Heresies, in anticipation of Kevin O'Brien's upcoming performance of "Old Thunder: An Evening With Hilaire Belloc". From the quick scan I did of the book, it looks like I'll be learning quite a bit of history from the Catholic perspective. I'm looking forward to it.

Standford Nutting of The Theater of The Word Incorporated

2010-03-01T09:45:00.005-05:00

Here's another episode of Standford Nutting. I think this is hilarious! Who knows, maybe we can get Kevin O'Brien to do a few minutes of Standford Nutting before or after his Old Thunder preformance.

This sketch is from Season 5 of The Apostle of Common Sense.

Watch The Apostle of Common Sense on Your Computer

2010-02-28T21:26:00.005-05:00

I finally was able to watch The Apostle of Common Sense on Sunday night at 9 p.m. on my computer. Fantastic. We recently gave up our satellite dish and went to a regular antenna. It's much easier on the budget! Here's the link for EWTN, the Eternal Word Television Network, the network which carries The Apostle of Common Sense. The Apostle of Common Sense is also shown on EWTN at 2 p.m. on Fridays.

Humor from EWTN and The Apostle of Common Sense

2010-02-25T19:28:00.003-05:00

Enjoy. We'll have Kevin O'Brien here in Chillicothe on March 23 at St. Peter Parish Hall. Why not plan to attend and see Kevin live. Kevin plays Stanford Nutting in this skit. Dale Ahlquist is the host.

Maybe some day we'll be able to host Dale Ahlquist for a visit.

Reflections of a Community College Professor

2010-02-21T09:29:00.004-05:00

Here's an interesting article by Professor John C. Chalberg. Dr. Chalberg is, of course "Chuck" Chalberg or as we Chestertonians know him, G.K. Chesterton. He portrays several other historical figures as well. We look forward to his presentation here in Chillicothe on Friday, April 9 at St. Peter Parish Hall.

New Promotional Video for The Theater of The Word Incorporated

2010-02-20T15:16:00.003-05:00

The Theater of The Word will be performing in Washington Court House (St. Colman Church)on March 22 and in Chillicothe (St. Peter Church) on March 23, then again in Chillicothe for Bishop Flaget students on Friday, March 26.

Caricature of Hilaire Belloc, by Ted Schluenderfritz

2010-02-19T23:29:00.004-05:00

I figured if we're going to host Mr. Belloc here in Chillicothe, we should at least have a caricature of him available for potential fans. And in keeping with the wishes of the person who commissioned this work and now owns it..... "As the image has already appeared on the Web, I would ask, if anyone wants to use it, that they acknowledge the artist - Ted Schluenderfritz - and the fact that it is in the private collection of the owner - the Owl - thank you!"

February 17 Society Meeting

2010-02-19T21:53:00.007-05:00

Well, Margaret and I had a nice meeting. The fact of my poor planning, Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, probably didn't help attendance. While we were waiting to see if anyone else was going to show up, Margaret got a little more work done on the Barbershop arrangement of the song the "Chestertones" Quartet hopes to sing at this year's Conference. While Margaret worked, I read a few pages from What's Wrong With The World. When we realized no one else was going to show up, we talked a bit about Margaret's recent appearance (as the lead) in a locally written and produced play, The Fall Collection. The play was presented at Ohio University, Chillicothe (OU-C). The OU-C theater is a very nice venue. (Just a thought now, maybe we could get them to present Chesterton's The Surprise.) We finished up taking turns reading from Dave Armstrong's new book The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G.K. Chesterton.

G.K. Chesterton to Appear in Chillicothe, Ohio, April 9, 2010

2010-02-11T19:55:00.005-05:00

Chuck has graciously extended his visit to Ohio to provide Chillicothe with a visit from G.K. Chesterton. Chuck portrays Chesterton on EWTN's The Apostle of Common Sense with host Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society.

Old Thunder: An Evening With Hilaire Belloc, Tuesday, March 23, 2010

2010-02-11T19:30:00.006-05:00

Don't miss this opportunity to see Kevin O'Brien live, in action. Kevin has been featured on EWTN several times. Sometimes as Chesterton's Father Brown, sometimes as a Bard in Chesterton's play, The Surprise, sometimes as St. Paul, and sometimes, even as hinself. He's a great actor.

Joseph Pearce, Converted by G.K. Chesterton

2010-02-09T08:45:00.008-05:00

Here's an interesting article on Joseph Pearce from the UK's Catholic Herald. (Note, however, for some reason a password is now required at the Catholic Herald, so the link to this article is from another web site.) Joseph is a Chestertonian and has spoken at several Chesterton Conferences. He's also one of the editors of the St. Austin Review. The St. Austin Review is:

The St. Austin Review (StAR) is the premier international journal of Catholic culture, literature, and ideas. In its pages, printed every two months, some of the brightest and most vigorous minds around meet to explore the people, ideas, movements, and events that shape and misshape our world.

G. K. Chesterton to Speak in Chillicothe, Ohio

2010-02-05T20:06:00.008-05:00

This YouTube clip was too good to pass up. Here's Chuck Chalberg (on the right) in action as G.K. Chesterton. Blachford is played by Kevin O'Brien.

Chillicothe's St. Peter's Catholic Church, with support from the Chillicothe Chesterton Society will be presenting an evening with G.K. Chesterton in the Parish Hall on Friday evening, April 9, 2010. As more information become available, we'll post it.

Theater of The Word Incorporated to Perform in March at St. Colman Catholic Church, Washington Court House, Ohio

2010-02-04T19:04:00.014-05:00

Kevin O'Brien's Theater of The Word Incorporated will be presenting Faith of Our Father: The Story of a Priest on March 22, 2010 at St. Colman in Washington Court House, Ohio. It is sponsored in part by the Chillicothe Chesterton Society. Kevin's troupe performed at St. Colman's last year, presenting The Journey of St. Paul.

For those of you not familiar with Kevin, he is a Chestertonian of the first order, he has appeared on EWTN as Hiliare Belloc, and stars in the recent DVD production of G.K. Chesterton's The Honour of Israel Gow, a Father Brown Mystery.

New Podcast Up, Uncommonsense #18

2010-02-03T18:30:00.001-05:00

There's a new podcast available, Uncommonsense #18. Click the "uncommonsense icon to the upper left to listen.

The New Issue of Gilbert Has Arrived

2010-01-26T08:22:00.004-05:00

Here's the latest Gilbert Magazine. It arrived on Monday, which is my Barbershop singing night, so I only had time to take a picture of the cover. Hopefully I'll get to read it tonight.

By the way, Uncommonsense Podcast #17 is out and available on the ACS web site Blog. In the Podcast Nancy interviews Richard Aleman, President of The Society for Distributism.

The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton The Very Best Quotes, Quips & Cracks from the Pen of G.K. Chesterton

2010-01-23T23:30:00.009-05:00

Here's what TAN Books has to say about this book:

The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton
The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G.K. Chesterton
By: Dave Armstrong

The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton. Beloved Catholic author Gilbert Keith Chesterton was a poet, a journalist, a mystery novelist, a people's theologian and, some would say, a prophet who only by looking at the world upside-down could see it clearly enough to predict its future.

He was also a wordsmith of the highest order, capable of making words dance with delight upon the page.

The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton is a unique collection of the pithiest and most profound sentences ever to spring from his pen. Editor and renowned apologist Dave Armstrong has scoured Chesterton's voluminous writings even the most obscure gathered together his choicest quotes, and meticulously organized them by topic. Sure to delight readers with its wit and charm.

Here's what the Editor of the book has to say about what was included in the book:

The selections must be single, complete sentences (not just portions of sentences; that is, a clause)

The aphorisms (almost by definition) must have a general application, even if specifics are mentioned.

Selected aphorisms must stand on their own as more or less complete thoughts or ideas.

I'd have to say Mr. Armstrong has achieved his objectives. The book's Index of Topics makes it easy to find things. Pick a subject and get the page number of the quote from the Index. Pretty handy! I'm sure I'll be using it frequently.

January Meeting Quite Successful

2010-01-23T15:44:00.013-05:00

Our January meeting was our best attended yet. We had 7 people, counting the Schlegel's customer who found our conversation so interesting that he joined us for the evening. Here are a couple of photos of the group. This is before our seventh person joined us, and Andrew Thurston was taking the picture. Next time I'll take the pictures.

Monthly Meeting on Wednesday, January 20 at 7 p.m.

2010-01-18T16:20:00.007-05:00

Don't forget the monthly meeting coming up this Wednesday, January 20th. I'll have a couple of books availble for your review. Here they are. The Apostle of Common Sense is by Dale Ahlquist, the president of the American Chesterton Society. It's an introduction to a few of Chesterton's books. The Romance of Orthodoxy is the newest Chesterton biography. Dr William Oddie is Chairman of the Chesterton Society. (That is THE CHESTERTON SOCIETY in the UK.)

Chesterton Images

2010-01-10T16:58:00.000-05:00

Dale Ahlquist on Chesterton's view of Distributism

2010-01-05T09:18:00.008-05:00

Within the last month or so I became Facebook Friends with Richard Aleman. Richard is the president of the Society for Distributism. I now get a lot of information on Distributism via Facebook. Here is an article by Dale Ahlquist (President of the American Chesterton Society) on Chesterton's views and thoughts about Distributism. The article appears as a Chapter in the book Beyond Capitalism and Socialism published by IHS Press.

December 16 Meeting of the Chillicothe Chesterton Society

2009-12-17T07:49:00.007-05:00

Andrew Thurston was the single attendee at last night's Chillicothe Chesterton Society Meeting. Andrew is always there because he works at Schlegel's on Wednesday nights. That means Andrew also won the membership to the American Chesterton Society. We didn't even have to draw names out of a hat! I'm not positive, but I think Andrew would attend the meetings even if he were not working. He has been reading the Chesterton books I've left at Schlegel's and has printed one off the Project Gutenberg web site.

Andrew also introduced me to Father Rick Terry, of the Chillicothe Anglican Fellowship (AMiA/Rwanda). Father Terry's church is just up the street from Schlegel's. (Father Terry had just stopped in for coffee) Father Terry and I talked a bit, he has read Orthodoxy, and I invited him to attend future Chesterton Society meetings if he has the time.

Before the meeting, I stopped in Book World, our local mom and pop book store. The Chesterton books they ordered in are still there. Unless there is a great rush to buy Chesterton books for Christmas presents, it would appear my library will be increasing some time in mid January.

And finally, I went Googling for "Chesterton on hope" and found this, from Heretics, Chapter XII, Paganism and Mr. Lowes Dickinson:

It is somewhat amusing, indeed, to notice the difference between the fate of these three paradoxes in the fashion of the modern mind. Charity is a fashionable virtue in our time; it is lit up by the gigantic firelight of Dickens. Hope is a fashionable virtue to-day; our attention has been arrested for it by the sudden and silver trumpet of Stevenson. But faith is unfashionable, and it is customary on every side to cast against it the fact that it is a paradox. Everybody mockingly repeats the famous childish definition that faith is “the power of believing that which we know to be untrue.” Yet it is not one atom more paradoxical than hope or charity. Charity is the power of defending that which we know to be indefensible. Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate. It is true that there is a state of hope which belongs to bright prospects and the morning; but that is not the virtue of hope. The virtue of hope exists only in earthquake and eclipse. It is true that there is a thing crudely called charity, which means charity to the deserving poor; but charity to the deserving is not charity at all, but justice. It is the undeserving who require it, and the ideal either does not exist at all, or exists wholly for them. For practical purposes it is at the hopeless moment that we require the hopeful man, and the virtue either does not exist at all, or begins to exist at that moment. Exactly at the instant when hope ceases to be reasonable it begins to be useful.

Advent and Christmas Wisdom From G. K. Chesterton

2009-12-13T17:36:00.009-05:00

In searching for Chesterton commenting on Advent, I came across this book. The site I found it on has a pdf file with the book's introduction. I clicked it and started to read it. As I read, I said to myself "at the end, I'm going to find Dale Ahlquist's name." But no, it's not by Dale, it's by Robert Moore-Jumonville, another Chestertonian who has spoken at the last three Chesterton Conferences.

If you're new to Chesterton, this is a great introduction. If you've read a little Chesterton, you'll probably just nod your head in agreement and smile.

Here's Robert's Introduction to the book.

If Gilbert Keith Chesterton came striding across the threshold of your fire-crackling Christmas party, you would most likely gape in wonder, then laugh, listen, and come to love him. He might remind you of Father Christmas grinning from ear to ear, except for the cigar clenched in his mouth.

At a towering six-foot-four and weighing three hundred pounds, Chesterton was energetic and alluring, a daunting giant,whom strangers soon realized possessed the heart of an elf. He played Christmas games with children, requesting colored tinsel to paste on his own cutout cardboard figures. His contagious laughter invited others to join him in his wit and repartee, his childlike innocence, and love of life. In him was a humor akin to humility: a humor that delighted in life but refused to take the enigma of being human too seriously, a joyous humor with a sane estimate of itself and others, a holy humor that lived lightly because it trusted God for maintaining the universe.

Born in London in 1874, and dying there in 1936, Chesterton seemed a comic figure to some, but his towering intellect matched his physical height. This was a man who could write a longhand essay while simultaneously dictating another to his secretary. Having studied art at the Slade School in London, Chesterton humbly claimed his main craft as journalism. But in addition to writing a weekly article for his entire adult life, Chesterton authored more than a hundred books and contributed essays to many more. Furthermore, he wrote capably and Christianly on almost every conceivable topic in almost every imaginable genre: literary criticism, poetry, novel, short story, biography, theology, apologetics, mystery—and the list goes on. Rather than journalist, he could be better dubbed a Christian cultural critic in the English “man of letters” tradition.

Chesterton delights many of his readers as a gracious person who fights for Christian truth, but never arrogantly, rather as a genius with an open mind, as a grateful person with deep devotion to God and commitment to stand alongside the common citizen. Perhaps you will come to find, as others before you, that Gilbert Keith Chesterton has walked into your life to make you laugh and think, to serve as your friend and mentor.

Robert Moore-Jumonville
Spring Arbor University
2007

Thanks to Fr. Hahn of St. Peter Catholic Church

2009-12-13T08:47:00.002-05:00

When seeking Father Hahn's support for the upcoming (March 2010) Old Thunder: An Evening with Hilaire Belloc presentation, I also asked him if he could put a notice in the Weekly Bulletin about the upcoming Dec 16 Chillicothe Chesterton Society Meeting. He has done that, and I thank him. We'd love to see one or two additional members of St. Peter's parish at the meeting!

Uncommonsense Podcast 12 Now Available

2009-12-09T22:20:00.007-05:00

The new Uncommonsense Podcast is now available. In it Nancy discusses Chapter One of William Oddie's Chesterton Biography. Just click on the icon to the left to listen. There is one copy of the book available at Book World, if you're so inclined.

Chesterton Books Arrive at Book World

2009-12-06T13:49:00.006-05:00

Book World has received most of the Chesterton Books I requested they order. So if you've just been waitng to be able to thumb through a Chesterton book before you buy it, you now have the opportunity do to so. Book World is located at:

16 West Water Street
Chillicothe, OH 45601-2421
(740) 772-5732

Support your local book store and other downtown businesses. Practice Distributism!

Uncommonsense Podcast

2009-12-05T21:45:00.008-05:00

Check out Uncommonsense podcast number 11. Nancy Brown spends a minute or so talking about the "Chill i coeth" (Chillicothe) Chesterton Society. A very nice notice for us! She mentioned Kevin O'Brien and his upcoming "Old Thunder" presentation. I sent her an e-mail thanking her and providing the correct pronunciation of Chillicothe. If you'd like to listen to the podcast, just click on the title of this post or click on the start button on the moving Uncommonsense Podcast icon.

Chillicothe Gazette Writes About the Chillicothe Chesterton Society

2009-11-27T14:20:00.003-05:00

I met Jona Ison, a reporter for the Chillicothe Gazette, by accident when I was substitute teaching at Paint Valley High School last week. I invited her to our (then) upcoming Wednesday night Chesterton Society meeting at Schlegel's. She was unable to attend, but did call me and invite me in to the Gazette for an interview. I spoke with her last Tuesday. Today, Friday, Nov 27, an article about the Chillicothe Chesterton Society appeared on the front page of the Gazette. I certainly hope it generates a little more interest in Chesterton and we get one or two new folks to attend our December meeting.

Great News

2009-11-26T07:05:00.009-05:00

I spoke with Fr. Hahn of St. Peter Catholic Church yesterday. He is willing to provide a venue for the Theater of The Word's presentation of Old Thunder: An Evening with Hiliare Belloc. The presentation is scheduled for March 23, next year, 2010. The exact time will be announced at a later date. Right now, we just want folks to get it on their calendar so we can have a good turn out for a great show!

Here is a preview of how Kevin O'Brien presents Hilaire Belloc. I'm not sure it's part of his Old Thunder presentation, but it gives you the flavor of it, I'm sure! The first man you see in the clip is Dale Ahlquist, the President of the American Chesterton Society. The guy (at minute 2:41) in the cape and holding the walking stick is actor/professor Chuck Chalberg. He portrays G.K. Chesterton on the EWTN series, G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense.

Selected Chesterton Books to Be Available at Chillicothe's Book World

2009-11-22T00:35:00.006-05:00

Chillicothe's Book World, located at 16 W. Water Street (740) 772-5732, will be ordering several books about Chesterton and several books written by Chesterton. They should have them available within a couple of weeks. I'll put up a post on the blog when they arrive. We're hoping that having them available for review, on the shelf, will generate some interest. We'll see.

Books about Chesterton:

G.K. Chesterton - The Apostle of Common Sense
by Dale Ahlquist

Chesterton and the Romance of Orthodoxy
By William Oddie

Books by Chesterton:

Orthodoxy

The Everlasting Man

Tremendous Trifles

Saint Thomas Aquinas / Saint Francis of Assisi

Father Brown of the Church of Rome

The Man Who Was Thursday

November 18th Meeting

2009-11-19T11:15:00.010-05:00

Well, another successful meeting. It's always a success when someone joins me for the meeting! In the picture above, it's me, Jim Maimone, and Tim Binkley. Andrew Thurston was gracious enough to take the picture. While Andrew has to work during the meetings, he is a member of the Chillicothe Chesterton Society, so maybe I'll never attend a meeting by myself, at least as long as Andrew continues to work at Schlegel's.

Jim Maimone attended his first meeting last night. When I asked Jim how he found out about the meeting, he said he had read about it in St. Peter's church bulletin. The notice in the bulletin was quite old, but Jim had saved it and finally had the opportunity to join us. I'll be asking St. Peter's to run the notice again. I may get yet another member!

We talked about Distributism. All of us are new to the concept so we've decided it will also be the subject of our December meeting. We'd like to know more about it. We've got lots of reading to do.

Since both Jim and Tim are new to Chesterton, I showed them some links we have on this blog. Using one of those links (YouTube) we listened to one of the few recordings of Chesterton. We all enjoyed it. Chesterton's self deprecating humor is refreshing.

And, finally, the big announcement. See the post below. Hilare Belloc will be visiting Chillicothe, Ohio in March of 2010.

An Evening with "Old Thunder" aka Hilaire Belloc

2009-11-19T10:40:00.002-05:00

Here's the announcement made last night at our monthly meeting. We're really excited about this!

While it's a way off at the moment, The Chillicothe Chesterton Society will be sponsoring Old Thunder: An Evening with Hilaire Belloc in 2010. Save the date. It will be Tuesday evening, March 23 at a venue which is yet to be determined. To learn a bit about Hilaire Belloc, just click his name.

Old Thunder: An Evening with Hilaire Belloc is a one man show presented by actor Kevin O'Brien, who is the founder of Theater of the Word, Incorporated.

Here's what G.K. Chesterton had to say about Belloc: [Belloc is] "the man who has made the greatest fight for good things of all the men of my time."

As the date approaches we'll make up flyers and provide some advertising for this event.

Exciting Announcement Due at Wednesday's Meeting

2009-11-15T14:37:00.006-05:00

What is it? Come to the next meeting on Wednesday at 7 p.m., November 18th at Schlegel's and find out! As usual we'll be talking about everything and, eventually, Distributism. The discussion will not be too deep, because I'm just learning about Distributism. I'll have a copy of Chesterton's The Outline of Sanity, and Belloc's The Servile State available for review. These two books were recommended to me by the President of the Society for Distributism. I'll also have my laptop and we'll take advantage of Schlegel's Wi-Fi so we can check out the sites providing information on Distributism.

Here's something else we might discuss. It's a quote from Chesterton.

"The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling. If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog." - Broadcast talk 6-11-35

Hmm! Was my recent vote against casinos consistent with Chestertonian thinking? Based on the above quote, I guess it wasn't.

2009-11-09T08:54:00.006-05:00

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)
“Who is this guy and why haven’t I heard of him?”

From the American Chesterton Society’s web site: Chesterton was equally
at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics,
philosophy, and theology. His style is unmistakable, always marked by
humility, consistency, paradox, wit, and wonder. His writing remains as
timely and as timeless today as when it first appeared.

Come learn a bit more about Chesterton at the next meeting of the
Chillicothe Chesterton Society. It will be held on Nov 18th at 7:00 P.M.
in Schlegel’s Coffee House located at 80 N. Paint St. Chillicothe, OH.
For more information call Bob Cook at 740-703-5651.

Theater of The Word Incorporated Coming to Washington Court House

2009-11-06T21:21:00.006-05:00

I recently received word from Kevin O'Brien that his theater company, The Theater of the Word Incorporated, has been booked for March 22, 2010 for St. Colman Parish in Washington Court House, Ohio. The company will be presenting Faith of Our Father: The Story of a Priest.

Written and produced for the Year of the Priest, this humorous and touching tale tells the story of Fr.Mike, a young priest recently appointed pastor at the suburban parish St. Somewhere. Thrust into the midst of parish politics, fundraising fiascoes, and the day-to-day challenge of caring for souls, Fr. Mike’s faith begins to falter . . . until a visit by an angel, as well as examples of great priests of the past, show him the true way of love and sacrifice. A funny, profound, and heartwarming story dedicated to those who dedicate themselves to us—our priests.

I'll blog more about this as the date grows nearer.

The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton

2009-11-05T09:55:00.004-05:00

I've just pre-ordered a new book of Chesterton "Quotes, Quips and Cracks" edited by Dave Armstrong. Here's his blog and the associated press release. Per Dave:

I'm really excited about this. The title is, The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips and Cracks from the pen of G. K. Chesterton. I selected all the quotations, and they are all single sentences. The material is copiously categorized and indexed in various ways, for ease of access.

G.K. Chesterton to be brought to life at MVNU

2009-11-01T17:39:00.013-05:00

I know this is a little early, but..... when you're a Chesterton fanatic like me, it's never too early to plan a trip to see something Chestertonian, especially if it's only a couple of hours away.

April 6, 2010

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – Educator and entertainer, Dr. John “Chuck” Chalberg will perform for MVNU’s Lecture/Artist Series on Tuesday, April 6, 2010 in the R.R. Hodges Chapel/Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Chalberg brings to life on stage several important historical figures and will portray G.K. Chesterton at Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU).

The event is free and open to the public.

Mount Vernon is about 100 miles northeast of Chillicothe. If I can generate some interest in the Chillicothe area we could possibly get Chuck to perform here.

Distributism, Chesterton's "The Outline of Sanity" is a Place to Start

2009-10-27T07:50:00.001-04:00

At the October meeting of the Chillicothe Chesterton Society we, both of us, decided we'd talk about Distributism at the November meeting. So I asked Richard Aleman, a Facebook Friend and the president of The Society for Distributism, to recommend a book to get us started. He and Sean Dailey recommended Chesterton's "What's Wrong With the World" and "The Outline of Sanity". They also recommended Hilare Belloc's "The Servile State". I've got the first two books and will have to order Belloc's. There are also a few blogs and web sites that have a lot of information. In fact I found it overwhelming, so I'm going to concentrate on the first two books as I get started learning about Distributism.

October 21st Meeting

2009-10-22T06:07:00.004-04:00

(Pictured above are, from left to right, Tim Binkley, Andrew Thurston, and Bob Cook)
A small, but dedicated, group gathered to discuss all things Chesterton. We began with Lepanto. I had loaned Tim my copy of Christopher Check's CD presentation of "Lepanto: The Battle and the Poem". He was able to listen to it on his drive to work. He said he found it fascinating. Mr. Check's presentation added significantly to his enjoyment of the poem. I'd have to agree. I've listened to the CD several times and always found something new and interesting. The CD is still available from St. John Fisher Forum.

We then talked about many different things: Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director, whose favorite philosopher is Chairman Mao; Charles Krauthammer's latest article in The Weekly Standard, Decline is a Choice; Nancy Brown's facebook post of the Silent Monks Singing Halleluia; a little about Handel and his composition, The Messiah; why people ususally stand for the Hallelujah chorus; (an aside from Wikipedia -- There is another story told about this chorus that Handel's assistant walked in to Handel's room after shouting to him for several minutes with no response. The assistant reportedly found Handel in tears, and when asked what was wrong, Handel held up the score to this movement and said, "I thought I saw the face of God."); and finally, Distributism. I know little, if anything about Distributism. I did know it was related to the Catholic social doctrine of subsidiarity. So we agreed that at out next meeting we would educate each other a bit on Distributism. We'll be using information gleaned from the references on Richard Aleman's facebook info page. We should learn a lot!

Leaving Chesterton books lying around sometimes attracts new readers. (There are several on the bookshelf at Schlegel's.) Here, Julie, displays the Chesterton book she's currently reading. While she didn't join us Wednesday evening, she has found she enjoys the Father Brown stories.

September Issue of Gilbert Arrives

2009-10-14T22:38:00.005-04:00

I found the current issue of Gilbert in my mailbox when I returned from work today. A nice way to end my workday and begin my evening. I noted a clever Clerihew on page 49.

Giacomo Puccini

Liked linguini

Had he filmed Tosca

He would have won an Osca.

I'll have this issue available for review at our next meeting, Wednesday, October 21, at Schlegel's Coffee House.

Remembering Lepanto

2009-09-21T21:30:00.000-04:00

How did G.K. Chesterton come to write the poem Lepanto?

2009-09-19T14:03:00.011-04:00

That is a question asked at our recent Chillicothe Society Meeting. While I had read the poem Lepanto in the book of that title, edited by Dale Ahlquist, I had forgotten the explanation related by Dale in his discussion of the poem. Here it is:

The man who was the inspiration for Chesterton's most famous fictional character was also the inspiration for Chesterton's most famous poem. That man was Father John O'Connor, the priest who was the model for Father Brown. In the spring of 1911, both Chesterton and Father O'Connor participated in a debate about war. The two friends were apparently on the same side in the debate. Chesterton argued that all wars are religious wars, and Father O'Connor gave a description of the battle of Lepanto that Chesterton said was "magnificent". It obviously stirred his fertile imagination. Father O'Connor later recalled;

I told of how Phillip the Second of Spain had been assembling his Armada to invade England and could only spare two ships to face the hundred galleys of the Porte, and how Don John of Austria, the only commander under whom Genoa would agree with Venice, burst the battle-line on a sinking ship after fighting through all the hours of daylight. And the story of the Pope's prayer all that day and his vision of the crisis of the action at three in the afternoon, with his vision of the victory of the Angelus. Thus, I take it, came Chesterton to write the imcomparable ballad of Lepanto (Father Brown on Chesterton, p. 85)

Successful First Meeting

2009-09-16T21:48:00.003-04:00

The September meeting of the Chillicothe Chesterton Society got off to a great start tonight, with three of us meeting at Schlegel's. We talked about Chesterton and everything else. Pictured above, from left to right, are Tim Binkley, Margaret Breidenbaugh, and Bob Cook. Tim is from Lancaster and Margaret resides, for the next few days at least, in Chillicothe. Tim is reading The Everlasting Man, Margaret is reading Orthodoxy, having recently completed reading several Father Brown stories. The subject for our October meeting will be Lepanto, the battle and Chesterton's poem. I'll post a bit more about Lepanto over the next few days.

Society Meetings to Resume September 16, 2009

2009-09-03T05:58:00.007-04:00

After a several month's long Summer hiatus, the regular monthly meetings of the Chillicothe Chesterton Society will resume on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 7 p.m. in Schlegel's Coffee House and Art Gallery. I'll have the most recent Gilbert Magazines available, and the books I've left at Schlegel's will be available, too. We can use this first meeting of the year to learn a bit about G.K. Chesterton as well as each other.

Looking ahead to October, the subject of the meeting will be Chesterton's poem, Lepanto. Never heard of the poem or the Battle? Just take a moment and read Wikipedia's entry about "one of the decisive events in the world."

I hope to see you at Schlegels. The libations are on me!

Yet Another Title to be Added to the Schlegel Collection

2009-08-21T09:32:00.004-04:00

In my continuing efforts to get Chillicotheans interested in G. K. Chesterton, I have left nine free copies of the Dover edition of Favorite Father Brown Stories on the bookshelf at Schlegel's Coffee House for taking/borrowing by interested readers. I have some Chillicothe Chesterton Society cards in them, so that if after reading the stories someone wants to join the Society (no dues) they'll have the necessary info available.

Dramatic Reading of Chesterton's "Manalive"

2009-08-19T20:24:00.014-04:00

I had the good fortune to be able to purchase a copy of Kevin O'Brien's dramatic reading of Chesterton's Manalive at the recent Chesterton Conference. Also, as you can see, Kevin was kind enough to autograph the CD cover for me. The really valuable autograph, however, is on the back side of the box. It says "Whatever" signed Stanford Nutting.

Kevin O'Brien's Comments on The Chesterton Conference

2009-08-19T15:54:00.002-04:00

Kevin O'Brien has some nice things to say, in the Saint Austin Review, about the recent Chesterton Conference held in Seattle, WA.

GKC Makes Cover of "The Weekly Standard"

2009-08-17T18:36:00.003-04:00

Imagine my surprise when I checked my mail box and found my latest issue of The Weekly Standard had a caricature of Chesterton on the cover! I immediately posted the info on my Facebook page on and Facebook's Chesterton Fan page. The article on GKC is by Chuck Chalberg. It's a review of William Oddie's new book, Chesterton and the Romance of Orthodoxy.

Dr. Oddie spoke at last year's Chesterton Conference, noting that he was working on a book. We now have the book. I guess I'll just have to get Oddie's book, right after I finish reading Maisie Ward's biography of Chesterton.

Clerihews, What are They?

2009-08-12T20:48:00.005-04:00

Per Wikipedia, Edmond Clerihew Bentley (10 July 1875 - 30 Mach 1956) was a popular English novelist and humorist of the early twentieth century, and the inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topics. And of course a very close friend of G. K. Chesterton.

A clerihew is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmond Clerihew Bentley. The lines are comically irregular in length, and the rhymes, often contrived, are structured AABB.

Here's one I wrote:

Gier Hasnes
About Chesterton he does obsess.
The stories of his quests are legion.
What else would you expect of the world’s greatest living Norwegian?

I hope to write more during this coming year and submit them for judging at the next Chesterton Conference Clerihew Contest.

2009 Chesterton Conference, Seattle, WA

2009-08-11T10:03:00.003-04:00

The 2009 Chesterton Conference was excellent, as expected. You can check out the Society Blog for great descriptions of each of the presentations. There are lots of pictures available, too. I've also posted my pictures of the conference on Facebook, so you can look at those, too. Among the many firsts at the conference, we had the World Premiere of The Honour of Israel Gow, A Father Brown Mystery, starring Kevin O'Brien. The Premiere was followed by a Q&A session with the cast and crew. And, of course, the DVD is available from the Chesterton Society, as well as EWTN.

New Title Added to Books at Schlegels

2009-07-31T11:57:00.004-04:00

I stopped by Schlegel's this morning and the owner, Liz Corzine, was there. I mentioned that I had put a few books by Chesterton on the bookshelf, and she was OK with that. I also added Joseph Pearce's biography of Chesterton to the shelf. Who knows, someone else might be interested in this "Apostle of Common Sense"!

Selected G.K. Chesterton Titles at Schlegel's

2009-07-25T12:46:00.004-04:00

In my continuing efforts to get Chillicotheans interested in G.K. Chesterton, I'm going to put seven of his less expensive paperback books on the bookshelf at Schlegel's. While I have not had this approved by Schlegel's owner, I suspect she will not object. All I ask is that the books be left at Schlegel's so that anyone wanting some light reading (except Orthodoxy) might have access to the books while they are enjoying a libation or one of Schlegel's delicious chicken salad croissants. Who knows, with the way things are going with the state budget, the books might not even be available in the Library. Finally, I've included my card in each book, so that if someone is interested in joining the Chillicothe Chesterton Society, they can get in touch with me.

Uncle Chestnut

2009-07-22T08:58:00.007-04:00

In reviewing the Chesterton Fan Page on Facebook, I came across a post by Paul Nowak, an author and freelance writer. Paul has written and published a book: The Inconvenient Adventures of Uncle Chestnut. The book, written at the 6th grade level, introduces children to the writings of G. K. Chesterton. As Paul says on his web site, "Uncle Chestnut draws primarily from Chesterton’s Tremendous Trifles and teaches the value of seeing everyday obstacles as exciting and unique adventures." Interestingly, I just finished reading Tremendous Trifles, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Call from "G.K. Chesterton"

2009-07-20T14:18:00.010-04:00

What a great day! I'm having one of my "retired" days, just playing on the Internet and avoiding mowing the lawn, and I get a call from G. K. Chesterton (Dr. Chuck Chalberg.) He called me thinking that the Chillicothe Chesterton Society might like to have him make a presentation as G. K. Chesterton sometime next year. I explained that the entire Chillicothe Chesterton Society consists of only me. I'm not having a lot of luck enticing folks to join. However, he is going to send me some info on his shows and I'll work with the local churches to see if we can generate some interest in having him stop down here to Chillicothe when he visits Mt. Vernon in April of next year. I'll be working very hard to make a visit from Chuck/G.K possible for next year. Here is Chuck's web site, History on Stage, if you'd like to check out all his talents. You can also hear Chuck on EWTN's Apostle of Common Sense, with Dale Ahlquist.

2009 Chesterton Conferfence T-Shirts

2009-07-19T06:36:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I received the 2009 Chesterton Conference T-shirts I ordered. They were only made possible by the assistance of Ted Schulenderfritz, Gilbert Magazine's art director. He provided the art work to Valarie Hornyak of HIGHPoint Outfitters located in Vermilion, OH.

A very limited quantity should be available for purchase at the Conference in Seattle.

What's Wrong With The World?

2009-07-09T10:44:00.012-04:00

Today I read an article in Catholic Online, which is also the source of the picture below. The title of the article is: Self Worship: The 'Sin of ME'. In reading the article, I thought of Chesterton's response to an invitation by The London Times to write an essay on the theme of "What's Wrong with the World?" Chesterton's response?

Dear Sirs,

I am.

Sincerely yours,

G. K. Chesterton

As noted in Wikipedia: "Typically, Chesterton here combined wit with a serious point - that of fallen human nature and humility."

The point of this post is to try to get you to read the Catholic Online article. For Chesterton purists, the "Quotemeister" at The American Chesterton Society has this to say about the validity of the "I am." quotation.

Chestertoons

2009-06-29T08:07:00.004-04:00

In reviewing the G K. Chestertons Fan page on Facebook, I came across a link to Chestertoons. As Nancy Brown says on today's ACS blog: "The audio, although it sounds old, is really Chuck Chalberg from the ACS tv show on EWTN (by permission), but I do think it adds to the presentation to have the graphics, and is another clever way to present Chesterton to the waiting world."

Hymns at Church

2009-06-25T09:00:00.001-04:00

I never could resist piling on. When I read Hymns at Church in the current issue of Gilbert, my fingers started to tingle. I just had to add my two cents. (Full disclosure, I'm a convert from the Episcopal Church) In my youth I sang in a paid church choir for several years. The choir was directed by Mr. Clifford Balshaw. He was an accomplished organist and choirmaster. To this day when I hear a good organist play something by Bach, I get chills up my spine. (See some of the organ pipes in the picture at right. The picture is from St. Stephens Church, Wilkes-Barre, PA, in the 1960s. ) St. Stephen's choir consisted of about 10-15 boys (sopranos) 4 women (altos) and about 8 men; four tenors and four basses. (There are now girls in the choir.) My brother also sang in the choir. I remember that rehearsals were about and hour long, twice a week. What little I know about singing and music I learned from Mr. Balshaw. I know he said many, many interesting things. We occasionally sang in Latin, so I learned how to pronounce a very limited amount of Latin. However the day he told my brother to sit up straight and "get out of his Cleopatra slouch", is one I'll never forget. My brother was embarrassed and so was I. After that we both kept our feet flat on the floor and sat up straight in our chairs.

But, to the point. I occasionally sing in our local church choir (St. Benignus in Greenfield, OH). Usually there are only two or three of us. On a good day their might be five of us. We usually sing in unison. I really don't care for most of the newer hymns in the Heritage Missal. Now for my rant on the newer hymns. Since when does a hymn to be sung by a congregation, the majority of whom can't read music, count time, etc. start with a rest, have triplets, and multiple notes floating around in the measure to accommodate words that make the rhythm change on every verse? I call them "hokey hymns". The choir director is not always amused. I just remind myself that no matter what I think about the hymns, we are helping in the liturgy. And, I'll always get to sing Barbershop on Thursday nights. Barbershop songs, of course, are not "Hokey". By the way, the choir director sings with the Sweet Adelines in Columbus, so I cut her some slack!

New Issue of Gilbert Arrives

2009-06-19T08:02:00.009-04:00

My new issue of Gilbert arrived yesterday. I, of course, immediately took it with me to Schlegel's. I relaxed with a decaf coffee and got to read several pages. I'm looking forward to reading the entire issue. I'm already planning to watch "The Maltese Falcon" again, after reading the movie review.

Saint Gilbert?

2009-06-09T06:17:00.003-04:00

The Catholic Herald (UK) notes that: "G K Chesterton's reputation for holiness will be boosted next month when leading scholars meet in Oxford to discuss his Cause." You can read the article at the Catholic Herald link above, or see some additional information at the American Chesterton Society's blog.