The December 9th Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

Advent Greetings WPA Chestertonians and Friends!

This coming Friday, December 9th will be the next gathering of the Western PA Chesterton Society. This will be our traditional December meeting… which means a seasonally appropriate extra dose of conviviality and festivity, with a Chesterton-sized dose of reflection on one of Gilbert's favorite subjects... the Incarnation.

This year we will be re-enacting the verbal portions* of a presentation that took place in 2009 at Fordham University. The event was paradoxically called  "Chesterton and Christmas: A Serious Affair", and was described as " ...an homage to Chesterton's love for Christmas through conversations, poetry, and choral music." 

Here is an excerpt from a promotion for the original event:

Among the many ways in which one can prepare for Christmas, an especially beautiful one is by spending some time with the poems of G.K. Chesterton. Like him, we also live in a time of ideologies in which, as Chesterton says, "the darkness is noisy with systems." Here "systems" could be paraphrased as "abstractions." Our age, like Chesterton's, tries to dominate and shape reality according to a sticky web of prejudices, but stubbornly refuses to experience reality as it is given to us. For this reason, it is always refreshing to go back to Chesterton, who has been perhaps the greatest defender of simple human experience in the English-speaking world. All his work expresses a deeply realistic attitude, a passion for life as it is, not as we we would like to imagine it. This was certainly also at the root of his faith because Chesterton clearly recognized that only the Christian proposal fully values and rescues concrete humanity, with both its great desires and also its deep shortcomings. Chesterton's realistic and intelligent religiosity is well-displayed in his poems, which we have the great fortune of presenting in this unique Christmas celebration.

*(We will definitely have a reading of the poetry and conversation portions of the event, but I must admit that the originally excellent choir will not be in attendance. We'll do our best to make do in their absence!)

The "script"  for the evening is available HERE on the internet as a pdf. document .  Please print it and bring with you to the meeting. You do not need to do the reading before the meeting...just bring it along. We will read it together Friday evening.

We will meet at the Community Center in the Village of Middle Lancaster for after-dinner refreshments and beverages along with the readings, and poetry. 

The doors will open at 7:30 pm for a potluck of festive treats, with the discussion beginning shortly thereafter. Please note the adjusted start time... for the December meeting only. This will allow plenty of time for each of us to have had dinner before coming to the meeting.

Please bring a contribution to the festivities. Any desserts, fruits, cheeses or beverage contributions will be appreciated. Coffee, teas and paper products will be provided. Please email me early this week to let me know if you will attend, and what you plan to bring to the meeting. This will allow me to keep in communication with you in the event of a need for further details.

The meeting will wrap up sometime around 10:00 pm.

As usual...Our meetings are held in the Village of Middle Lancaster, at the Lancaster Township Community Center located on Kings Alley and Community Center Drive, in Butler County PA. Kings Ally is off of Rt. 19 approx. 4.5 miles north of Zelienople, and just north of the Zion Lutheran Church and just south of East Lancaster Road. (The Community Center is a former one room school house, adjacent to the ball fields at Bauder Park.) 

...and as always, feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments.

November 11 Meeting of the WPACS

Greetings Fellow WPA Chestertonians and Friends,

We will be meeting next Friday evening, November 11 for our last installment in our series on Distributism.

At this meeting we will consider, "Applied Distributism: What could this look like in my household?" 

Pre-reading is optional, but you may find it helpful to familiarize yourself with the readings. However, no matter whether you can pre-read or not... please print** these and bring them along with you to the meeting, or bookmark them for easy access on a digital device to bring to the meeting. Remember that there is NOT wi-fi access at the Community Center.

** I strongly suggest that you copy and paste them to a separate document so that you may reformat the text and avoid printing an inordinate number of pages.**

http://distributistreview.com/solitude/

http://distributistreview.com/two-difficulties/

http://distributistreview.com/fun-in-the-field/

http://distributistreview.com/chesterton-and-the-pickpocket/

http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/cho/cho_08parallel.html

The following two articles linked here are included as supplements for your own enrichment. I think they are each worthy of consideration, but I don't think we will have time to delve into them on Friday.

http://distributistreview.com/mondragon-and-the-global-economic-meltdown/#at_pco=smlwn-1.0&at_si=57f1ef83b17da6d4&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=0&at_tot=1

http://distributistreview.com/awkward-accurate-name/

Our December meeting will be on December 9th, and in keeping with our tradition for December meetings, we will have special festivities that evening. We will allow time to discuss and plan for this at our meeting this Friday. 

As usual...

Our meetings are held in the Village of Middle Lancaster, at the Lancaster Township Community Center located on Kings Alley and Community Center Drive, in Butler County PA. Kings Ally is off of Rt. 19 approx. 4.5 miles north of Zelienople, and just north of the Zion Lutheran Church and just south of East Lancaster Road. (The Community Center is a former one room school house, adjacent to the ball fields at Bauder Park.) The doors open at 7:00pm for pot luck refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting wraps up sometime around 9:30pm.

Please consider bringing something for the refreshment table, and as always, feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com if you have and questions or comments.

Friday October 14, 2016 Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

Greetings Fellow WPA Chestertonians and Friends,

We will be meeting on Friday evening, October 14 for our next installment in our series on Distributism.

At this next meeting, we will take a look at "How Does Distributism Work". We will include a peek at some of Distributism's philosophical underpinnings, some examples of it in action, and consider some of the common criticisms. We will read together the following 4 essays by different contemporary Distributists, and conclude by reading aloud an essay written by G.K. Chesterton in 1927. It will benefit our discussion if you can read these ahead of time. However, no matter whether you can pre-read or not... please print these and bring them along with you to the meeting. **(I suggest that you copy and paste them to a separate document so that you may reformat the text and avoid printing an inordinate number of pages.)**

http://distributistreview.com/an-introduction-to-distributism/

http://distributistreview.com/common-good-private-good-and-personal-dignity/

http://distributistreview.com/the-butcher-the-baker-the-candlestick-maker/

http://distributistreview.com/utopia/

http://distributistreview.com/new-dark-ages/

Also,it is worth mentioning that the full texts of the early twentieth century papal encyclicals relating to Distributism [i.e., Rerum Novarum (Pope Leo XIII,1891), Quadragesimo Anno (Pope Pius XI,1931) and Divini Redemptoris (Pope Pius XI,1937)], are viewable and printable at http://www.papalencyclicals.net. Reading these can be very enlightening when looking at the context for Chesterton's Distributism.

The following additional links are to essays that I heartily recommend for contextual reading as well as a further treatment of the issues related to Catholicism and authentic Social Justice:

http://distributistreview.com/social-justice-pius-xi/ 

http://distributistreview.com/socialism-capitalism-materialism/

These links may also be of interest:

https://prezi.com/qut8zgwuuvke/social-encyclicals-centesimus-annus/ 
https://prezi.com/jrxo2jme4qum/social-encyclicals-caritas-in-veritate/

In November, we will consider, "Applied Distributism: What could this look like in my household?" We will look at a number of essays written by GKC in his own newspaper, "G.K.'s Weekly".The links will be forthcoming.

At all the meetings in the this series, we will strive to be clear about the definition of terms we will need to use.... terms like subsidiarily, solidarity, the Common Good, Catholic Social Teaching, distributive justice, goods, usury, capital, property, socialism, democracy, liberal, conservative, radical... you get the idea. These terms would need to be clearly defined for the purpose of meaningful dialog (AKA avoiding a brawl at the meeting), so please keep the pursuit of clear definitions in mind as you do your exploring.

I will post updates to this which will include more details and suggestions...in the coming weeks.

As usual...

Our meetings are held in the Village of Middle Lancaster, at the Lancaster Township Community Center located on Kings Alley and Community Center Drive, in Butler County PA. Kings Ally is off of Rt. 19 approx. 4.5 miles north of Zelienople, and just north of the Zion Lutheran Church and just south of East Lancaster Road. (The Community Center is a former one room school house, adjacent to the ball fields at Bauder Park.) The doors open at 7:00pm for pot luck refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting wraps up sometime around 9:30pm.

Please consider bringing something for the refreshment table, and as always, feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com if you have and questions or comments.

The September 9th Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society.

Greetings Fellow WPA Chestertonians and Friends,

We will be gathering on September 9th, which is two weeks from the posting of this announcement.

September marks the beginning of a new academic year for the students in our communities, and for the "life-long learners" in the WPA Chesterton Society we will spend our Autumn "semester" (the series of meetings from September through November) learning about that somewhat elusive, always intriguing economic theory of Chesterton's; Distributism. It is my hope that we will each personally engage in the process of understanding this fundamental expression of Chesterton's philosophy. 

PLEASE NOTE: With this series of meetings we will slightly deviate from our usual format. In short, there will be some homework, how ever, ... it will be self-directed (and self-corrected) homework. In short, ownership [for the learning process] will be widely distributed. Each month, in addition to the few essays I will select for us to read and discuss at the meetings, I will select a theme for the meeting, and ask you to do some on-your-own reading and exploration into that aspect of Distributism. Use the internet. Take notes. Copy an article. Maybe even buy a book. Then, come prepared to share your research and resources. In addition to reading and discussing the selected readings for the meeting, we will allot time for each of you to share the results of your personal investigation.

In order to help you accomplish this, I will be posting suggested articles and essays for you to read as jumping off points, as well as providing links to good websites where you can browse and sift through the information to find the materials that will pique your interest in this topic. Some of the basic good links to keep handy over the coming months are below:

http://distributistreview.com
http://www.catholicsocialteaching.org.uk
http://www.thomasstorck.org


For the September meeting, we will examine "The Context for Distributism". This will include a basic introduction to Distributism, as well as discussion of where this idea came from and its historical context. 

The following three essays will be our selections for the September meeting. They are the first three essays in The Hound of Distributism, edited by Richard Aleman.  The Hound of Distributism is an excellent collection of essays by various Distributists, and I would recommend it as a basic survey book. The following three essays are the only ones of its content that are viewable on the internet for free. Print and digital copies of the entire book are readily available for purchase from various sources. If you choose not to purchase a copy of this book, then you will probably want to figure out how to read these online at the meeting. I DO NOT BELIEVE THEY ARE PRINTABLE in the free version format and you will find it helpful to have a viewable copy of these essays at the meeting. 

What's Wrong with the World (And How to Fix It)
by Dale Ahlquist

Towards a Description of Distributism
Dr. William E. Fahey

On a Tiresome Word
by G.K. Chesterton

The following link is to an essay that I strongly recommend for your contextual read outside of the above linked essays that we will discuss at the meeting:  http://distributistreview.com/social-justice-pius-xi/

I would also mention that the full texts of the papal encyclicals relating to Distributism are linked on the Distributist Review webpage. They can be very enlightening when looking for a context for Distributism, or to at least be skimming through over the next few months.

This link may also be of interest: https://prezi.com/ohkc6_kxrble/cst-basic-principles/

In October we will take a look at "How Does Distributism Works". We will include a peak at some examples of it in action, and consider some of the common criticisms of it.

In November, we will talk about "Applied Distributism: What does it mean for my household?" 

At all the meetings in the this series, we will strive to be clear about the definition of terms we will need to use.... terms like subsidiarily, solidarity, the Common Good, Catholic Social Teaching, distributive justice, goods, usury, capital, property, socialism, democracy, liberal, conservative, radical... you get the idea. These terms would need to be clearly defined for the purpose of meaningful dialog (AKA avoiding a brawl at the meeting), so please keep the pursuit of clear definitions in mind as you do your exploring.

I will post updates to this which will include more details and suggestions...in the coming weeks.

Also, mark you calendars for the annual ROCHESTER Chesterton Conference on September 24, 2016. This  one day conference is hosted at St John Fisher College by our friends, The Rochester Chesterton Society. This year the theme is "--isms", and the usual excellent line up of speakers promises not to disappoint. There will be more info at the meeting and in the coming weeks.

As usual...

Our meetings are held in the Village of Middle Lancaster, at the Lancaster Township Community Center located on Kings Alley and Community Center Drive, in Butler County PA. Kings Ally is off of Rt. 19 approx. 4.5 miles north of Zelienople, and just north of the Zion Lutheran Church and just south of East Lancaster Road. (The Community Center is a former one room school house, adjacent to the ball fields at Bauder Park.) The doors open at 7:00pm for pot luck refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting wraps up sometime around 9:30pm.

Please consider bringing something for the refreshment table, and as always, feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com if you have and questions or comments.

The August 12, 2016 Meeting of the 
WPA Chesterton Society

Greetings Fellow WPA Chestertonians!

Fresh from our conference, we will be meeting this Friday evening for full post-conference reporting from the group members who attended, as well as the reading of some Father Brown mysteries by G.K. Chesterton. We will read "The Crime of the Communist" and, if we have time "The Insoluable Problem", both viewable (and printable) here. Scroll down to The Scandal of Father Brown , and you will see the links to the titles. 

Next month, we will begin our fall semester of Distributism studies. More information will be shared at the meeting this Friday.

Please consider bringing a refreshment contribution to the festivities! Food and beverages for our potluck refreshment table are always appreciated and enjoyed. Paper products and utensils are provided. 

As usual, our meeting will be held in the Village of Middle Lancaster, at the Lancaster Township Community Center located on Kings Alley and Community Center Drive, in Butler County PA. Kings Ally is a right turn off of Rt. 19N, approx. 4.5 miles north of Zelienople, just past the Zion Lutheran Church. (The Community Center is a former one room school house, adjacent to the ball fields at Bauder Park.)  The doors will open at 7:00pm for a pot luck of refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting will wrap up around 9:30pm.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com

July 8, 2016 Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

Greetings Fellow WPA Chestertonians,

Please see the annual Chesterton conference information below. August 4 will be here before we know it!

Our meeting this month will feel like the first Friday instead of the second Friday, since July begins on a Friday this month. This will only add to the feeling that summertime is speeding by faster than the fuse on a firecracker! 

We will we will discuss Chesterton's novel Manalive for our July 8th meeting. Buckle your seat belts ..we will discuss the novel in full, in one meeting.

If you don't have a copy of the book, it is available as a soft cover print copy from the American Chesterton Society's website (www.chesterton.org), and in print from numerous booksellers. For those of you with e-readers it is available in digital format for free on the internet.

Please consider bringing a refreshment contribution to the festivities! Food and beverages for our potluck refreshment table are always appreciated and enjoyed! Paper products and utensils are provided. As usual, our meeting will be held in the Village of Middle Lancaster, at the Lancaster Township Community Center located on Kings Alley and Community Center Drive, in Butler County PA. Kings Ally is a right turn off of Rt. 19N, approx. 4.5 miles north of Zelienople, just past the Zion Lutheran Church. (The Community Center is a former one room school house, adjacent to the ball fields at Bauder Park.)  The doors will open at 7:00pm for a pot luck of refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting will wrap up around 9:30pm.

Looking ahead, please mark your calendar for the 35th Annual American Chesterton Society Conference on August 4-6, 2016. This year's conference will be in our own area, on the campus of Slippery Rock University. Registration and complete conference schedule is now available under the "events" tab on the ACS webpage, www.chesterton.org.

Conference Update: Our WPA Chesterton Society will be hosting an information table at the conference, where we can greet conference attendees  and provide them with helpful information about the area and about our group. We are also helping with the coordination of a number of details and publicity in these weeks leading up to the conference. If you are willing to join the team of group members helping with these endeavors, please email me so that I can keep you informed and include you in any "conference planning committee" email communications that might occur between now and the conference. 

Our next monthly meeting will be either August 12 or 13...details and place, yet to be determined.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com

...in Western PA !!

June 10, 2016 Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

June 10, 2016 Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

Greetings Fellow WPA Chestertonians,

At our June 10th meeting, in honor of those we know who are completing a school year or graduating from various institutions, we will explore what Chesterton had to say on the topic of Education. This will be a BYO meeting...please bring a Chestertonian* essay you find, or a quote or snippet of Chesterton's writing on the topic of Education, to share with the group. If you find more than one piece that compels you, bring them all along. Feel free to email me if you need some suggestions about where to find material on this topic. Considering the number of our group who are passionate about Education, I think we can expect a rollicking discussion!

*(by Chestertonian, I mean that this could include pieces written by associates of Chesterton, as well as the man himself)

As decided at our April meeting, we will we will read Chesterton's novel Manalive for our July 8th meeting. You might want to get a copy and start now, since we will discuss the novel in full, in one meeting.

If you don't have a copy of the book, it is available as a soft cover print copy from the American Chesterton Society's website (www.chesterton.org), and in print from numerous booksellers. For those of you with e-readers it is available in digital format for free on the internet.

Please consider bringing a refreshment contribution to the festivities! Food and beverages for our potluck refreshment table are always appreciated and enjoyed! Paper products and utensils are provided.

As usual. our meeting will be held in the Village of Middle Lancaster, at the Lancaster Township Community Center located on Kings Alley and Community Center Drive, in Butler County PA. Kings Ally is a right turn off of Rt. 19N, approx. 4.5 miles north of Zelienople, just past the Zion Lutheran Church. (The Community Center is a former one room school house, adjacent to the ball fields at Bauder Park.)  The doors will open at 7:00pm for a pot luck of refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting will wrap up around 9:30pm.

Looking ahead, please mark your calendar for the  35th Annual American Chesterton Society Conference on August 4-6, 2016. This year's conference will be in our own area, on the campus of Slippery Rock University. Registration and complete conference schedule is now available under the "events"  tab on the ACS webpage, www.chesterton.org.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com

...in Western PA !!

May 13, 2016 Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

May 13, 2016 Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

Greetings Fellow WPA Chestertonians,

At our upcoming May 13th meeting... (that's this Friday!)...we will complete our discussion of Nancy Carpentier-Brown's much anticipated biography of Frances Chesterton, The Woman Who Was Chesterton.

Our discussion will resume  with Chapter 8, and continue through Chapter 10 to the end of the book. We will give some time and consideration to the Epilogue and "Extras" that follow Chapter 10.

At our June 10th meeting, in honor of those we know who are completing a school year or graduating from various institutions, we will explore what Chesterton had to say on the topic of Education. This will be a BYO meeting...please bring a Chestertonian* essay you find , or a quote or snippet of Chesterton's writing on the topic of Education, to share with the group. If you find more than one piece that compels you, bring them all along. Feel free to email me if you need some suggestions about where to find material on this topic. Considering the number of our group who are passionate about Education, I think we can expect a rollicking discussion!

*(by Chestertonian, I mean that this could include pieces written by associates of Chesterton, as well as the man himself)

As decided at our April meeting, we will we will read Chesterton's novel Manalive for our July 8th meeting. You might want to get a copy and start now, since we will discuss the novel in full, in one meeting.

 
If you don't have a copy of the book, it is available as a soft cover print copy from the American Chesterton Society's website (www.chesterton.org), and in print from numerous booksellers. For those of you with e-readers it is available in digital format for free on the internet.

Please consider bringing a refreshment contribution to the festivities! Food and beverages for our potluck refreshment table are always appreciated and enjoyed! Paper products and utensils are provided.

As usual. our meeting will be held in the Village of Middle Lancaster, at the Lancaster Township Community Center located on Kings Alley and Community Center Drive, in Butler County PA. Kings Ally is a right turn off of Rt. 19N, approx. 4.5 miles north of Zelienople, just past the Zion Lutheran Church. (The Community Center is a former one room school house, adjacent to the ball fields at Bauder Park.)  The doors will open at 7:00pm for a pot luck of refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting will wrap up around 9:30pm.

Looking ahead, please mark your calendar for the  35th Annual American Chesterton Society Conference on August 4-6, 2016. This year's conference will be in our own area, on the campus of Slippery Rock University. Registration and complete conference schedule is now available under the "events"  tab on the ACS webpage, www.chesterton.org.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com

...in Western PA !!

April 8, 2016 Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

April 8, 2016 Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

Greetings Fellow WPA Chestertonians,

At our upcoming April 8th meeting... (that's this Friday!)

...we will continue discussing Nancy Carpentier-Brown's much anticipated and newly released biography of Frances Chesterton, The Woman Who Was Chesterton.

Our discussion will resume  with Chapter 5, and continue through Chapter 7.
We will wrap up the remaining chapters 8-10 at our May meeting.

If you don't have a copy of the book, it is available as a soft cover print copy from the American Chesterton Society's website (www.chesterton.org) or from TAN books (www.tanbooks.com), and in print or digital (Kindle) format from Amazon.

Make sure to check this blog or on one of our Facebook locations if there is any question about the weather on the night of the meeting. I will post changes or cancellations no later than 5:00PM on the meeting day.

On a special note: 

In light of the Easter Season (and the end of Lent), we will resume our regular refreshment table. Please consider bringing a contribution to the festivities! 

As usual. our meeting will be held in the Village of Middle Lancaster, at the Lancaster Township Community Center located on Kings Alley and Community Center Drive, in Butler County PA. Kings Ally is a right turn off of Rt. 19N, approx. 4.5 miles north of Zelienople, just past the Zion Lutheran Church. (The Community Center is a former one room school house, adjacent to the ball fields at Bauder Park.)  The doors will open at 7:00pm for a pot luck of refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting will wrap up around 9:30pm.

Looking ahead, please mark your calendar for the  35th Annual American Chesterton Society Conference on August 4-6, 2016. This year's conference will be in our own area, on the campus of Slippery Rock University. Registration and complete conference schedule is now available under the "events"  tab on the ACS webpage, www.chesterton.org.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com

...in Western PA !!