A Tree with History - from today's T&G

This is a link to an interesting story in the T&G today on the "Whipping Tree" in Harvard:

http://www.telegram.com/article/20100430/NEWS/4300549/1116

A historical curiosity for some, it hearkens back to a time when religion and culture were deeply interwoven in Worcester County.

ARTICLE FOR GILBERT MAGAZINE - APRIL, 2010

MARCH CHESTERTON MADNESS

Chestertonians in Central Massachusetts were thrice blessed last month. Beginning on March 20, Dale Ahlquist returned to Worcester as the keynote speakers the the 10th annual Catholic Men's Conference giving locals a preview of his talk on What's Wrong with the World for the ACS conference in Emmitsburg, Marland, this August. The Catholic Men's conference was sold out with approximately 1300 attendees. Dale spoke at the Worcester Men's Conference three years ago and was voted the most popular conference speaker of all time. Copies of What's Wrong with the World literally flew off the table after Dale's talk. Fr. Mitch Pacwa and Msgr. Stuart Swetland also spoke at the Men's Conference this year, familiar faces on EWTN along with Dale's.

Later that evening, Chestertonians were again treated to some erudite discussion of our hero as the local Worcester Chesterton Society (which began to meet July 2009) hosted Dale for more lively discussion of What's Wrong with the World along with libations, dinner, song and autographs at the Webster House -- so named because Daniel Webster gave a fiery speech at that establishment in 1832. (We're not exactly sure he spoke at the restaurant but he did speak at the Republican Convention in Worcester in 1832.) Our private room was full that evening, and the normal number of 12 members grew to about 25 to share in the fun. The Worcester Chesterton Society meets the second Saturday of the month at the Webster House but broke with time-honored tradition when Dale was in Worcester. Our blog is gkcsw.blogspot.com for Gilbert subscribers in Massachusetts.

Our joy was made complete when later that same week, on March 25, the Worcester Chestertonians, in conjunction with the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at the College of the Holy Cross, celebrated the 80th Anniversary of the visit of Gilbert Keith Chesterton to America and the College of the Holy Cross by inviting Rev. Ian Boyd, C.S.B., and Dermot Quinn, Ph.D. Fr. Ian Boyd is the president of the G.K. Chesterton Institute for Faith and Culture at Seton Hall University. Dr. Quinn is founder and editor of the Chesterton Review and professor of History at Seton Hall. Gilbert Magazine interviewed Fr. Boyd in the June 2005 issue. During his visit, G.K. filled Worcester's Mechanics Hall for his talk on "Some Heresies of Our Mass Production."

Chesterton wrote that this visit was the high point of his second trip to America. He was a friend of the Rev. Michael J. Earls, S.J., of Holy Cross college. Chesterton stopped by the school on Dec. 9, 1930, his second trip to America, when he was greeted on the steps of the Dinand Library by seven students dressed in the attire of literary figures of the past, such as Dante and Chaucer. Speaking in front of the entire college on a frigid afternoon, Chesteron delivered a speech and was adopted as an Honorary Crusader by the student body. He said, "Thank you for this very great honor, and I accept it with all my heart. I'm not much of a Crusader but at least I'm not a Mohammedan." Later while reciting Joyce Kilmer's poem "Trees" Chesterton planted a white cedar in front of O'Kane Hall on the campus. That tree, dubbed the Chesterton Tree, died once or twice since 1930; however, a replacement tree still stands on that very spot. Happily, the original news reel of GK's visit can be viewed on You Tube.

In anticipation of the speaking event at the College, Mark Savolis head of archives, set up two display cases of Chesterton memorabilia, including rare books by GKC and photos of GK's visit to Holy Cross. The exhibit was co-curated by Robert Dornfried, class of 2011, and Rebecca Camargo, class of 2012. Viewers in the library's reading room got to glimpse a collection that is usually in the wine cellar of the college. That evening, in the Rhem Library (which was SRO), 125 fans were treated to the verbal tapestry woven by Fr. Boyd and Professor Quinn, as well as by our very own Msgr. Thomas Sullivan, Treasurer and co-founder of local Chesterton society and Holy Cross alum. We learned of the intellectual and cultural climate of Worcester USA in 1930, demonstrating the value of Chesterton not only to his contemporaries but also to our own times. These talks will be available by podcast at http://www.holycross.edu/crec/listen_learn.

Outside the Rhem library that evening, fans hovered about not one but two tables of Chesterton books and memorabilia. Gloria Garafulich Grabois, Assistant Director of the G.K. Institute for Faith and Culture, was signing up new subsribers to the Chesterton Review, while local G.K.C. society members, Candace Jaegle and Ed Thomas, sold books and merchandise for the American Chesterton Society. And so, as the evening drew to a merry close, we Worcester fans went home with copies of the Chesterton Review and the scholars from Seton Hall went home with Chesterton refrigerator magnets.

In conclusion, March Madness in Worcester, Mass., demonstrated clearly an excitement for Chesterton's ideas 80 years later to all kinds of folks right in our own back yards.


4/26/10
by Candace Jaegle, Historian and Tony Zamarro, President; edited by Msgr. Thomas Sullivan, Treasurer
Worcester Chesterton Society

On Infidels

I've been somewhat obsessed lately with a Bob Dylan album that was released in 1984 called Infidels. I must admit that I thought I was past my Bob Dylan phase, but, sincerely, I have always found the man fascinating. Someone who can reach the heights of fame that he has, while, really, defying categorization, is amazing to me. So, I'm listening to this album every day now, and I can't completely explain why. Let me share some lyrics with you:

From License to Kill:

Now, they take him and they teach him and they groom him for life
And they set him on a path where he's bound to get ill
Then they bury him with stars
Sell his body like they do used cars. [...]

Now, he's hell-bent for destruction, he's afraid and confused
And his brain has been mismanaged with great skill
All he believes are his eyes
And his eyes, they just tell him lies.

From Union Sundown:

Well, you know, lots of people complainin’ that there is no work.
I say, “Why you say that for
When nothin’ you got is U.S.–made?”
They don’t make nothin’ here no more,
You know, capitalism is above the law.
It say, “It don’t count ’less it sells.”
When it costs too much to build it at home
You just build it cheaper someplace else.

Talk about shades of Distributism...

This album dates to just after Bob's 'Born Again' period when he was frequenting Vineyard churches. Bob had a conversion in an Arizona hotel in the late seventies. He had a fever, and he describes an experience where he felt that Jesus was in the room with him, touching his arm. Bob's conversion had foreseeable consequences in the circles he was wont to travel in at the time. He is remembered as having said from the stage:

Years ago they ... said I was a prophet. I used to say, "No I'm not a prophet" they say "Yes you are, you're a prophet." I said, "No it's not me." They used to say "You sure are a prophet." They used to convince me I was a prophet. Now I come out and say Jesus Christ is the answer. They say, "Bob Dylan's no prophet." They just can't handle it.

Some of the responses of his pop-music contemporaries were pretty humorous. During his born-again period Dylan recorded a overtly religious song called Gotta Serve Somebody, with the refrain: "It may be the Devil, or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody." John Lennon responded by recording a song called Serve Yourself, with obvious connotations.

Here's some more lyrics from Infidels. From the song I and I:

Been so long since a strange woman has slept in my bed.
Look how sweet she sleeps, how free must be her dreams.
In another lifetime she must have owned the world, or been faithfully wed
To some righteous king who wrote psalms beside moonlit streams. [...]

Think I’ll go out and go for a walk,
Not much happenin’ here, nothin’ ever does.
Besides, if she wakes up now, she’ll just want me to talk
I got nothin’ to say, ’specially about whatever was.

The fascinating thing to me is simply that someone is saying things like this in a place where Dylan is (or was). I don't know that it is Chestertonian, per se, because I think that Chesterton came from a Truth-seeking perspective, primarily. But here is someone in the dizzying heights of fame, exploring issues of comparable gravitas.

Sometimes I get the feeling that Bob has gotten lost in the inevitable tangle of relationships and confusion that defines so much of modern life. Here is Bob recently on faith:

Here's the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don't find it anywhere else. Songs like "Let Me Rest on a Peaceful Mountain" or "I Saw the Light"—that's my religion. I don't adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I've learned more from the songs than I've learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.

I suppose we'll have to let Bob sit content where he is, for now. But his career is testament to the complicated web that grace can weave through any life - especially when one is open to the Truth.

On Chat Rooms and Civility

This paper exists to insist on the rights of man; on possessions that are of much more political importance that the principle of one man one vote. I am in favor of one man one house, one man one field; nay I have even advanced the paradox of one man one wife. But I am almost tempted to add the more ideal fancy of one man one magazine... -G.K.'s Weekly, April 4, 1925

I think a lot about public discourse. Evidently, some other people do, too. Recent articles on discourse have appeared in The Wall Street Journal and our own Worcester Telegram.

I'm a regular poster on the Worcester Telegram's comment section. I find the discussion spirited, and refreshingly open - although ironically most comments are made anonymously. I find it a strange yet attractive dichotomy. The conversation is robust, but secretive. I post under a pseudonym on the site, for better or worse. To be honest, I don't want a potential future employer Googling my name and discovering that I'm involved with (gasp!) public discourse.

Chesterton once said something to the effect of the following: "Polite men in our modern society are encouraged never to argue about religion and politics, but these are the only things that are truly worthy of argument." Chesterton's view is rife with optimism about the possibilities of dialogue, and the opposite view is rife with pessimism about the same.

My experience in the comments section of the Telegram have given me reason to hope. It is almost like a digital Speaker's Corner, forcing a debater to hone his arguments and rhetorical skill. It may be just my imagination, but I also get the feeling that there are a lot of eyes watching - many more eyes than fingers reaching for keyboards to respond. There are few places today where many people are coming together to 'converse' about politics and/or religion. By converse, I mean also those who are merely listening to the reporter speak about the issue, whether on television or in the news, or online. The news media is not hesitant to jump into political and religious discussions, and the media is rarely impartial.

G.K. was no stranger to controversy, and he used his weekly publication to weigh in on the issues of the day. Reading some of his discourses in Masie Ward's biography, one is reminded of the dialogue seen every day on the T&G comment pages. If I had the time, I'd even find an example. But I will say that I think Chesterton would be entirely at home in the blogosphere, or on the Comments pages of his local news organ.

But there is the confounded anonymity - so many modern commentators lament the lack of accountability on blogs and web chats, an anonymity that, in theory, leads to all sorts of viciousness and backbiting. I'm reminded of Chesterton's story The Ball and the Cross, which ends with an atheist and a Catholic locked up in an insane asylum. Their crime was that the Catholic had challenged the atheist to a duel for desecrating an image of Our Lady and the atheist had accepted. The world could only imagine that they were insane to take such a thing so seriously. The modern world has long had a low opinion of those who dare to argue about politics, and an even lower opinion of those who dare to argue about religion. Is it more admirable to take up these debates openly? Absolutely. Does the anonymity of the participants detract from the ideas they are discussing? I'm not sure.

May Meeting Agenda

Dearest Chestertonians,

We cannot help but extend our most sincere gratitude to James Woodruff for his presentation last Saturday on the subject of "Chesterton and Edmund Burke". His presentation was thorough and erudite, as well as entertaining. I didn't see a single Chestertonian fall asleep for his whole talk (I was watching). It also sparked some lively discussion on politics, history, and topics in between. The complexity of these issues tempts us to oversimplification - and discussion leads to understanding. As Chesterton said, politics is one of two things worth arguing about. Thanks for provoking the argument, James.

Speaking of arguments, the agenda for our May meeting will focus on the current health care debate in the United States. I have selected some readings related to the topic and have attached them to this email in pdf format. However, I don't want to limit the discussion to the ideas included in the attached documents. Since Chesterton wasn't available for comment on the health care legislation, we are forced to infer his ideas from other writings. Any light that can be shed by Chestertonians (present or no) on this topic will be most welcome. Here's to a hearty debate.

The writings I have selected come from three sources: Chesterton, Dale, and the Distributist Review. They are marked either as GK, Dale, or DR, resepctively. They ar all fairly short - less than ten pages each.

We'll be meeting at our normal time and place - May 8th at 7PM, at the Webster House Restaurant in Worcester.

Other notes:

• Last year we met bi-monthly during the summer, taking off June and August. It has been suggested that we switch to taking off July and August instead, as these are the times that most people are away for summer vacation. Please let me know via email, or in person, if you have a preference for either arrangement.
• Please keep abreast of developments in the Society via our website: http://gkcsw.blogspot.com. Daily perusal will ensure that you never miss a moment of the excitement that membership provides.
• Speaking of membership, we have two types. Honorary members come to meetings and sometimes pay for their own dinners. Honorable members also sometimes pay for their own dinners and have paid their dues of $25 per year. Of which type are you?

Best always,

AFZ

Prez.

Audio from 'Chesterton in America' Talks at Holy Cross

Hat tip to Monsignor Sullivan for passing along this link to audio from the 'Chesterton in America' talks given by the Chesterton Institute and co-sponsored by the Chesterton Society of Worcester and the Center for Religion, Ethics, and Culture:

http://www.holycross.edu/crec/listen_learn/

Enjoy. They are absolutely worth the listen.

On Thinking Local First

I'm fully sold on Chestertonian economics (sorry, pun fully intended). Chesterton's economic theory was called Distributism, and briefly stated it is the theory that the means of capital production should be distributed amongst as many people as possible. Chesterton compared Distributism to monogamy - just as we all should fully possess our spouses, but we should limit ourselves to a single one, so we should own our property but desire not to possess our neighbor's rightful share.

It is a sane and responsible ownership - man is custodian of his own domain, pruning, tending, and bringing forth the fruits thereof. In the process of this ownership he is realizing his destiny as a steward of creation.

Distributism has had a rough time of it in certain circles. Richard John Neuhaus once proposed that if Chesterton were alive today he would bend to the realities of modern economics and renounce Distributism. Chestertonians replied that modern economics only demonstrate the problems that Chesterton foresaw - the concentration of vast amounts of wealth in a small minority, the intrusion of commercial interests into politics, and the common man's lack of power in the face of commercial interests. As such, they claim that Chesterton would not renounce Distributism, but rather he would even more urgently repeat the call for the distribution of capital to the Common Man.

How would we, if we were so inclined, put into practice the principles of Distributism? The most straightforward way to be Distributists is to vote with our dollars for small, independent merchants whenever we are able. Practically, it is very difficult to make all of our purchases at small, independent businesses. But it is possible to make some, and to incrementally take back some of the ground that has been given up to large, corporate entities.

In Worcester, some local independents have organized to promote the value of thinking local. Worcester Local First is a network of over 200 locally owned and operated businesses in the City of Worcester (full disclosure, I work for Worcester Local First). Other organizations have sprung up throughout North America. Although a lot of these organizations are motivated by a progressive ethos against big business (in a podcast promoted by the national umbrella organization, a speaker calls for a return to 'The Spirit of Stonehenge'!), there is much to be admired in their organization and efforts towards encouraging what they call 'Local Economies'.

In this they are Chestertonian. As with all things, Chesterton sought to return power to the Common Man, who he saw as the guarantor of Common Sense.

For more on Distirbutism, check out the following resources:

http://chesterton.org/gkc/distributist.html - The American Chesterton Society's Distributist page
http://distributism.blogspot.com/ - The Distributist Review Blog