From Dale Ahlquist: G.K. Chesterton Should be Numbered Among the Saints

G.K. Chesterton Should Be Numbered Among the Saints Statement from Dale Ahlquist, President, Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (August 5, 2019 – Feast of Our Lady of the Snows) On August 1, 2019, at the 38th Annual Chesterton Conference, held this year in Kansas City, I read to the 500 attendees the following letter from Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton, England, a man who has always shown me the greatest kindness and respect:

How Chestertonian is the American Chesterton Society?

For Dale Ahlquist and co.

Following my post Friday on the Chesterton Society's attack on Trump and discussing Dale' Ahlquist's support for allowing certain people living in adulterous situations to return to Communion, several Facebook Friends chimed in with interesting comments. I think what they have to say is worth sharing.

A lawyer friend said that "the saying [Dale mentioned] that the exception proves the rule means the opposite of what Dale suggests it means."

Just goes to show that being a fan of Chesterton doesn't necessarily mean you are as clear a thinker or as precise in your use of language.

Chesterton, Dale Ahlquist, and the Civil War in the Church

I'm a great fan of G.K. Chesterton and the American Chesterton Society. Let me amend that statement. I am a great fan of Chesteron and was a great fan of the Society. Dale Ahlquist, its founder, has done a splendid job bringing Chesterton to a modern culture that knew little about him. If Chesterton isn't yet a household word, there are many in the last two decades who have come to know him through Dale's work and programming on EWTN. I congratulate him for that.

Unfortunately there's a "but." The first problem for me was the Society jumping on the hate-Trump bandwagon. Up to that time I belonged to the Society, had attended several of their annual conferences, and subscribed to Gilbert, the Society's magazine. I did not renew my subscription, however, after the Society's taking sides that would have, if successful, guaranteed Hillary Clinton's election. After several anti-Trump articles, the final straw was a suggestion from one of their main writers to enter Chesterton's name on the ballot as a write-in. What insanity! So I did not renew my subscription and have no plans to attend another conference.