It's time for a June Meeting!

Greetings Fellow WPA Chestertonians!

I am happy to announce that we will meet in person on Friday June 19th. Since I received word this weekend that the Community Center is still closed, we will meet at my home, holding as much of the meeting as possible outside on our deck. Please email me if you need directions/address, or more information.

At our last meeting before the shut down, we started reading Chesterton's autobiography. We will pick up with discussion of chapter 4, "How to be a Lunatic" for this Friday. (Somehow, this chapter sounds especially appropriate for discussion upon coming out of quarantine!)

Also, with Father's Day coming this weekend, we will watch a portion of the video presentation called “Chesterton: Husband... and Father”, given by Mr. Brandon Vogt* at the national conference last summer in Kansas City. You may remember that we were planning to view the entire video at our March meeting. This week, we will watch the last 30 minute section where Brandon discusses G.K. Chesterton as "father".

*(Brandon is the Content Director for Bishop Baron's Word on Fire Ministries, and serves on the board of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Along with his wife and six children, he lives on Burrowshire, a small farm outside Orlando, FL, with chickens, goats, pigs, rabbits, and a garden.)

At the meeting we will determine the plans for readings and meetings for July and August.

Please feel free to arrive anytime after 7:00, for a potluck of snacks and drinks. We will start the video promptly at 7:30, followed by discussion of chapter 4 in the autobiography. We will try to finish up around 9:30.

For planning purposes, please let me know if you are able to come.

Hope to SEE you on Friday!

March Meeting

Greetings WPA Friends of GKC,

Our March meeting is CANCELED.

In light of developments in the progress of the Covid-19 virus, and in consultation with my family, I am canceling our Chesterton Society meeting tomorrow evening, Friday March 13.

Also, the Chesterton Conference in Steubenville next weekend, has been cancelled for now, as late last night the University administration cancelled all activities for the rest of the semester. It is yet unsure as to whether it will be re-scheduled for a date in the future.

From an infectious control standpoint, quarantines during the early days before an outbreak of any kind are the most effective in reducing overall infection rates. This is especially true if a virus with a long incubation period before symptoms present themselves. There are more than a few in our group who are considered high risk, and I think it prudent to be cautious.

I will keep everyone apprised by email as to April’s meeting status. 

Instead of our regular meeting on March 20, we will meet this Friday evening, March 13, at 7:30, for a viewing of a video recording of a presentation given by Mr. Brandon Vogt at the national conference last summer in Kansas City. The presentation is called “Chesterton: Husband and Father”.

PLEASE NOTE: This meeting will NOT be held at the Community Center, but will be at my home in Harmony. For planning purposes, please let me know if you plan to join us.If you need my address, please send me a message.
As is our Lenten tradition, there will not be any refreshments.

Our March meeting schedule has been amended to accommodate for attending the Chesterton Conference in Steubenville on March 20-21. Information about the Steubenville Conference is here.

Email/text me if you have any questions.

Blessings,
Vicki

Victoria Darkey, Coordinator of Local Chesterton Societies for the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton
wpachesterton@gmail.com

February 21 Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

Greetings Friends of G.K Chesterton,

At our February meeting we will begin a discussion of Chesterton's Autobiography. We will discuss the first four chapters.
Below is an excerpt from the bookstore page on the Society for GKC website, about the book:

Here is a special two-in-one book that is both by G.K. Chesterton and about Chesterton. This volume offers an irresistible opportunity to see who this remarkable man really was...

...Here is Chesterton in his own words, in a book he preferred not to write, but did so near the end of his life after much insistence by friends and admirers. Critic Sydney Dark wrote after Chesterton died that “perhaps the happiest thing that happened in Gilbert Chesterton’s extraordinarily happy life was that his autobiography was finished a few weeks before his death. It is a stimulating, exciting, tremendously interesting book. It is a draught—indeed, several draughts one after the other—of human and literary champagne.”  

Find yourself a copy of this book on the Society of GKC website, or any number of other sources on the internet, and start reading. On February 21, we will pop open the bubbly of the first four chapters! 

As usual our WPACS 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 7:00 pm for our usual potluck of refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting will wrap up sometime around 9:30 pm. 
Any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com

January 17, 2020 Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

Happy New Year, Friends of GKC in Western PA!

 This Friday, at our first meeting of 2020, we will complete our reading of The Four Faultless Felons with a discussion of the six chapters that comprise the section titled, "The Loyal Traitor". We will also discuss the "Epilogue of the Pressman".
Pre-reading the selections is warmly recommended.

This is an excerpt from the bookstore page on the Society for GKC website, about the book we will read next:

Here is a special two-in-one book that is both by G.K. Chesterton and about Chesterton. This volume offers an irresistible opportunity to see who this remarkable man really was...
...Here is Chesterton in his own words, in a book he preferred not to write, but did so near the end of his life after much insistence by friends and admirers. Critic Sydney Dark wrote after Chesterton died that “perhaps the happiest thing that happened in Gilbert Chesterton’s extraordinarily happy life was that his autobiography was finished a few weeks before his death. It is a stimulating, exciting, tremendously interesting book. It is a draught—indeed, several draughts one after the other—of human and literary champagne.”

 Find yourself a copy of this book on the Society of GKC website, or any number of other sources on the internet, and start reading. On February 21, we will pop open the bubbly of the first four chapters! 

As usual our WPACS 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 7:00 pm for our usual potluck of refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting will wrap up sometime around 9:30 pm. 
Any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com

December 20th Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

Greetings WPA Friends of G.K.Chesterton,

Please join us the month as we keep our December tradition of preparing for Christmas by reflecting on the birth if Christ through a Chestertonian lens.

Some of our group are planning to meet for dinner at a local restaurant before the meeting. We will then join with anyone who chooses to attend only the meeting at the Community center at 7:30 for a Chesterton sized portion of festivity.

The evening's agenda this year will include reading excerpts from Chesterton's writings reflecting on the person of the Virgin Mary and her role in the Incarnation, along with selections of Christmas poetry written by both Gilbert and Frances.

**I will bring a limited number of copies of the reading selections to the meeting, but would ask that if you know you will be attending, (and have access to a printer beforehand,) please email me a request for the pdf. documents so you can print them out for yourself ahead of time.**

Please bring contributions to the festivities. Any snacks, desserts, pastries, fruits, cheeses, charcuterie, savories, or festive beverage contributions will be greatly appreciated. Coffee, teas and paper products/tableware will be provided.

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

Please email me as soon as possible (wpachesterton@gmail.com) if you plan to come to the meeting only. This will allow me to forward you further pertinent details.
 
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. To enter an address into your GPS, plug in 113 Kings Alley, Harmony, PA 16037. 
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 15 Meeting

Greetings fellow WPA Friends of Chesterton,

The WPA Chesterton Society will meet this Friday evening, November 15 for our next installment of The Four Faultless Felons. We will discuss the six chapters that comprise the section titled, "The Ecstatic Thief".
Pre-reading the selection is warmly recommended.

Heading into the winter months, please note that weather related cancellations or location changes will be posted by 3:00PM on meeting days. Check your email inbox or this blogspot before leaving home during the winter months. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

As usual our WPACS 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 7:00 pm for our usual potluck of refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting will wrap up sometime around 9:30 pm. 
Any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com

October 18 Meeting of the WPA Chesterton Society

Greetings Fellow Chestertonians,

At our October meeting we will continue our Autumnal reading of The Four Faultless Felons. This book can be purchased from the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, and is available from a variety of internet sources, both new and used.
We’ll be discussing this book throughout the fall months. In September we discussed the sections “The Prologue of the Pressman” and the six chapters for “The Moderate Murderer”. 
For this Friday's meeting, we will discuss the next "felon", "The Honest Quack". Reading the selections ahead of the meeting is warmly recommended.

*For those who missed last month's meeting, please note: Recently, astute group member Grettelyn Darkey, pointed out that there were a large number of "spoilers" in the introduction of the particular edition of 4FF that she had purchased. I pass this information along to serve as an ALERT. You do not need to read the introduction... in fact, if you have the edition with a lengthy introduction by Martin Gardener, I would strongly recommend against reading the introduction! If you would like a warmup before jumping onto the stories, this short overview from Dale Ahlquist is a nice alternative, and it offers insights... certainly not anything that would spoil the reading of Chesterton. Otherwise, skip the intro and dive right into Chesterton's Prologue of the Pressman.

As usual our WPACS 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 7:00 pm for our usual potluck of refreshments, with the discussion beginning at 7:30. The meeting will wrap up sometime around 9:30 pm. 
Any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at wpachesterton@gmail.com