A NEW YEAR OF CHESTERTON!

There was a cozy gathering of Chestertonians last night at the rectory. There was a fire in the fireplace and refreshments provided by Mr. A. It was a larger group than expected because there were a number of cancellations. Somebody had a daughter get married the same weekend as a meeting (again) and somebody's sister came in from out of town for one night the same night as a meeting (again) and somebody else said they had an emergency but we know it was because he did not read the first book. (If it was serious I hope all is Okay.)

Welcome to our newest member even though his name is not Matt, John, or Mike. I suppose we can start to branch out a little bit.

The next meeting will be January 29th at the rectory. We will be discussing the second "book" of our book. If you need a copy please see the previous post.

Merry (almost) Christmas!

December meeting UPDATE

There was no date that everyone could agree on as good for our December meeting (herding even this few Chestertonians is like herding cats), but the least worst date seems to be December 18. Therefore, we will meet December 18 at 7:00 PM in the rectory. We'll start The Napoleon of Notting Hill. I haven't seen it even, but I imagine we can get through chapter 1 before then. The text is available on Project Guttenberg in multiple formats here, or you can purchase it through Amazon (yes, I realize the irony of directing a bunch of budding Distributists to that website).

December meeting

It is now time to decide when we will hold the December meeting of the St. Sebastian Chesterton Society. Since we had a road trip for the November meeting (details on Fr. V's blog here), we couldn't conveniently decide on a date. Not all of us have Magic Phone. Possible dates are 12/4, 12/11, and 12/18. We must also decide what the topic will be. I've been hankering for a novel, and when I mentioned this to Matt A, he responded:

Two of Chesterton's novels that I really enjoyed are The Napoleon of Notting Hill and The Flying Inn. The first is a celebration of localism, which features a futuristic London that is broken up into shires. Adam Wayne, the hero of the novel, defends Notting Hill and specifically Pump Street against the threat of take-over by big government types. It's a funny, thought-provoking read. The Flying Inn is also set in a futuristic England in which Islam has taken over and outlawed alcohol. The heroes of the story take kegs of booze around England in a cart (hence the name!), allowing the faithful to drink their fill. Another funny novel, but it raises serious questions about the aggressive nature of Islam and its clash with Christianity. Some of Chesterton's depictions of how Islamic leaders changed the laws in England are positively eerie in light of modern events.

The Man Who Was Thursday is another popular novel, though I did not are for it as much.

So, any other ideas? Please post comments or email the group and we will decide that way.

Ahlquist on Local Radio

Via Mr. Macik, Headmaster of the Lyceum:

Tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. on 1220 WHK, I will be a guest on ‘From the Median, A Report from the Frontline of the Prolife Movement” hosted by Molly Smith as she interviews Dale Ahlquist. See the information below if you would like to listen to the program.

See this link for scheduling information.

November Meeting / Road trip

At the last meeting of the St. Sebastian Chesterton Society, the voting members present decided to hold the November meeting at the Lyceum event on November 12 at 7:30 PM (details in this flyer. If you are interested in attending, please email me (mattwyszynski1{at}gmail{dot}com)by October 19 so that I can arrange for tickets.

This Just In....

Dale Ahlquist announces:

Attention!

The 31st Annual G.K. Chesterton Conference will be Aug. 2-4, 2012, at the Silver Legacy Hotel (and Casino) in Reno, Nevada.

It will be the 100th anniversary of Chesterton’s novel, Manalive.

To celebrate, we will be showing the world premiere of the movie, “Manalive”, directed by Joey Odendahl and starring Mark Shea and Kevin O’Brien.

Featured speakers are Dale Ahlquist and Joseph Pearce

And also: Mark Shea and Kevin O’Brien. And Joey Odendahl himself.

We will also have Jason Jones, the producer of the movie “Bella”.

Julian Ahlquist will be speaking on “Chesterton and Aristotle”

Ralph Wood of Baylor University will be speaking on his new book “Chesterton and The Nightmare Goodness of God.”

The theme of the conference will be a pivotal line from Manalive: “Break the Conventions. Keep the Commandments.”

Playing a major role in the hosting duties will be the Chesterton Society of Nevada, led by Sharon Parker. We’re hoping to have the Bishop of Reno say Mass for us at the Cathedral, which is only two blocks from the hotel in downtown Reno. The area features lots of wonderful things to see and do, including beautiful Lake Tahoe, historic Virginia City, a variety of art galleries, family friendly activities (safari zoo, water park, Exploratorium), and a monastery and a convent. That’s right. What did you think you’d find in Reno?

It will be the best conference we’ve ever had.

We’re going to establish the schedule very early and make registration available very early and publicize the event very heavily for the coming year. But let’s start getting the word out right now.

Dale Ahlquist

President, American Chesterton Society

Dale Alquist in NE Ohio

I just received word that Dale Alquist will be in the area on Saturday, November 12. More information is on this flyer.

October Meeting

At next month's meeting, we will again be discussing distributism and continuing with G.K.'s The Outline of Sanity. Our readings are available in this pdf. We'll meet October 2 at the rectory at 7:00 PM.

Chesterton Conference in Rochester

The Rochester Chesterton Society is holding a conference on October 1, 2011. More information can be found at their site.

September meeting

We finally finished Orthodoxy. While it was an enjoyable ride, I think we're all relieved to have finished.

Our September meeting will be the fourth (the Sunday before Labor Day) at 7:00 PM in the rectory. We'll start wrestling with distributism. Matt A. selected the two readings. The first is an intro to the theory found at this link. The second is the first chapter from G.K.'s book Outline of Sanity. I've made a pdf that is available at this link.
UPDATE 9/1/11: As Mike H said a week ago, the first link did not work. It is now fixed. Sorry!

August meeting

The July meeting was a great success, though fewer members than normal were able to attend.

The next meeting will be held August 7 at 7:00 PM at the rectory. We will be reading the last chapter of Orthodoxy. Since we'll be finishing the book, please come with suggestions for the next month's reading.

July Meeting

July's meeting will take place Sunday, July 17 at 7:00 PM in the rectory. We'll be discussing Chapter VIII of Orthodoxy, "The Romance of Orthodoxy".

Passion Thursday Mass at St. Sebastian

Fr. Pfeiffer, one of our own Chestertonians, celebrated Mass in the Extraordinary Form on Passion Thursday, 2011. This is the Mass that Chesterton knew and loved.

All the children of the parish school assisted. Thanks to school mom Kelley Sassano for these great pics!

May meeting

May's meeting will be held May 15 at 7:00 PM. We'll continue with Orthodoxy. The chapter for May is "The Paradoxes of Christianity".

April Meeting

Sorry for the late post. The next meeting is Sunday, April 10 at 7:00 PM. We'll be discussing chapter 5 of Orthodoxy.

March Meeting

The February meeting of the society was a success; we welcomed two new members. The discussion was lively, but we all agreed that two chapters of Orthodoxy was too much to cover in an hour.

The next meeting is scheduled for March 13 at 7:00 at the rectory. We'll be discussing chapter 4 of the work.

Sad news in Chillicothe

The Chesterton Society of Chillicothe has suspended its meetings because of lack of membership. The founder is thinking about meeting in Cincinnati or in Dayton. If you're from those areas and interested in starting a Chesterton Society, please contact Bob Cook.

2011 Chesterton Conference

This year's annual Chesterton Conference will be held in St. Louis August 4-6. More information at this link.

February meeting

The January meeting of the Society was a great success. We welcomed two new members to the group and spent an enjoyable evening discussing the first chapter of Orthodoxy.

The next meeting will be February 20 at 7:00 PM and we will discuss chapters two and three of the book.