The 2009 English Chesterton Conference

The July 4 Chesterton conference held in Oxford, England "went very well indeed," Martin Thompson of the English Chesterton Society tells me. Attendance was roughly eighty to one hundred, he said, which is pretty good, trust me -- the lack of attention paid to Chesterton in England underscores the truth of Christ's words, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country."

As I previously reported, the purpose of this conference was to discuss Chesterton's holiness -- with an eye toward eventually, some day, maybe even in our lifetimes, opening his Cause for sainthood. This idea is not without controversy, as I've also reported. Aware of this, "We decided(wisely I think) not to make it a debating forum at the conf.," Martin says. "It was strictly an academic investigation. The next step will be for the speakers and other theological heavyweights to compile a letter to the Bishop asking for a meeting."

The papers deliverd at the conference are going to be compiled and published in a book. Cool! Check the English Chesterton Society webpage for updates on that.

Also, you can read William Oddie's opening remarks here.

An excerpt:

Chesterton’s intellect was entirely suffused by his faith; his heart was filled by a hope that welled up from his unfailing gratitude for the gift of life. As for his charity, we can say that Schopenhauer was one of the very few exceptions that prove the rule: nowhere in general do we see it more clearly than in his love for his intellectual opponents. He was, as I have said, like the saints of the early Church, a controversialist. He was a controversialist because he hated heresy: but he had an extraordinary capacity for loving the heretic: he might have come to love Schopenhauer if they had actually met, as he did frequently meet Shaw and Wells: he might even have cheered him up. In controversy, no matter how fierce, as Belloc wrote after his death, “...he seemed always to be in a mood not only of comprehension for his opponent but of admiration for some quality in him.... it was this in him which made him, with other qualities, so universally beloved.”

Amen. Keep praying for Chesterton's Cause.