The Start of the Transition to Something New

I'm pleased to announce that we are beginning the transition to a new American Chesterton Society web site, one that will combine the best of the old site with the best of the Gilbert Magazine site, with an interactive component like a blog. So it will be the best of three worlds combined into one.

You'll be able to get more content, interact with Gilbert columnists and readers, and much, much more.

As soon as the new site is ready, you'll be the first to know. And thanks for 5 great years of blogging here.

Behold and See 5

New for homeschoolers, Science for grade 5, written by our own Gilbert columnist David Beresford.

Please Pray for Gilbert...

...the magazine, that is. See note from printers:

Dennis, how is 13.5 coming along?

It's printed and bound. We'll be mailing soon but I don't know exactly when. We are backed up in the mailing department a little.

Yesterday we had flooding to deal with so some things I had hoped to do did not get done. Today the water company is under water so we will be out of water soon. May have to send people home.

Podcast #14-Ready to talk about the latest Gilbert Magazine?

Interview with Master Blogger Mark Shea, aka Innocent Smith in the upcoming movie: Manalive. We discuss the latest Gilbert magazine, the "Conference" issue, 13.2

Feedback welcome mailto:uncommonsensepodcast@gmail.com

Websites:
http://chesterton.org
http://www.gilbertmagazine.com
http://markshea.blogspot.com/
http://manalivethemovie.com/
http://www.ignatius.com/viewproduct.aspx?SID=1&Product_ID=3678&
http://www.thewordinc.org/
http://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Well-Rounded-Life-Peter-Milward/dp/1555916511/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261012145&sr=8-1
http://www.catholic-convert.com
Twitter @amchestertonsoc
FaceBook Fan Page: The American Chesterton Society
http://music.mevio.com

The Portents of Doom

What are they? Chris Chan answers that in the latest Gilbert Magazine.

As you probably guessed, the portents of doom are today's media outlets, designed to upset you and let you know how environmentally irresponsible you probably are. Which links in nicely to the News with Views article about the secret (how secret could it be if we found out about it?) meeting between the US's richest people, gathering to pray at the altar of over-population, birth control and environmentalism where it concerns having fewer people around to breathe the rest of our oxygen.

This all ties back in nicely to Chesterton's "Social Reform Versus Birth Control" article in the early pages of the issue.

It's probably a coincidence, or do you think the editors actually planned all those neat connections? Huh, I just don't know. ;-)

The New Gilbert

The newest and hot off the pressest issue of Gilbert was showing its face at the conference. I only got a brief look at it, but it had something about jazz on the cover, and I noticed a huge number of letters to the Editor, at least FOUR of which were provoked by myself. Was I really that controversial? I don't know because I never got a chance to get back to the table and actually read those letters.

Here's hoping my copy is waiting for me back home. I hope yours has either arrived or will be soon.

The Gettysburg Address

In the latest Gilbert, the last essay is from The New York American, October 24, 1931. Isn't that amazing? Have you ever heard of The New York American magazine (newspaper?).Chesterton once again gets to the heart of the discussions regarding Lincoln's address. We need to consider that this great popular experiment of self-government may fail. In today's situation, with the current administration, with our states failing to retain state's rights, with federal encroachments everywhere, this is something indeed timely to consider.

Strong Pro-Life Editorial Noted in New Gilbert Magazine

Naturally, Gilbert is strongly pro-life, as he was alive during his lifetime. So naturally, most Chestertonians who are alive find themselves pro-life as well.

Lee Strong found our lead editorial to be very lively indeed. Thanks, Lee.

June Gilbert 2009

I just received my June Gilbert and was pleased to see a Letter to the Editor with regard to something I wrote. This is a first for me, if memory serves me (not that it will).

I found it interested to see that I said almost the same thing as the editorial writer in the column I wrote in the same issue, a column inspired by reading and interviewing Alice Von Hildebrand.

Dale's Tales of the Road

In the current issue of Gilbert, Dale Ahlquist tells of his journey to Nebraska to give a talk titled, "God is dead."

We heard a little bit about this at the time, about how some famous atheist was giving a talk the same night about 2 hours away, and how some folks from the campus where Dale was speaking actually snubbed his talk and traveled to the other guy's talk. Hmm. Some not so schmart folk there on that campus in Nebraska.

Anyway, Dale had coffee with the Philosopher's Club and sounds like he had a good time in Nebraska.

I noticed that after all the reported joy last month at the publishing (after years of begging) of Dale's speaking schedule, it was absent from this issue. I'm not sure what it means, but it has been noted.

The "Cow" issue

I think by now, most of you have received your April/May 2009 issues of Gilbert. The one with the photograph of the cow on the front of it.

If you follow the cover to the story of Winkie, on page 35, you discover how to make a cow do anything you want it to do, which could come in handy some day.

The Lunacy and Letters portion of the magazine is looking for some opinions on this issue. If you have any, please write in to the Editor. What you liked, what you didn't like, etc. We want to hear from you.

I thought the opening Editorial titled "Pacifism" was quite interesting. Especially in light of a conversation I just had with my neighbor, who works in a local high school. She said the teachers are no longer allowed to touch the students. If two boys get into a fight, the teacher must stand by, stating firmly, "Stop fighting," or. "Please stop fighting," and never try to physically pull them apart, else they may be sued. It seems to me some level of pacifism at work here.

Got Gilbert?

My new "Cow" Gilbert came today, so named because of Betsy's portrait on the front cover.

Busy reading...

Gilbert Columnist speaking in Chicago

Gilbert columnist David Fagerberg is participating in an upcoming conference in the Chicago Archdiocese:

The Liturgical Institute presents

Liturgy, Justice and Social Reconstruction
April 24, 2009

A one day conference restoring the link between the grace given in the Sacred Liturgy and the renewal of society. Find out more.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “…it is not easy for man, wounded by sin, to maintain moral balance.” Grace is therefore necessary to purify and elevate these human acts, and the surest font of grace is the sacred liturgy. Real societal reconstruction, often called “social justice,” is only possible when connected to the Church’s worship. More than secular social work or political activism alone, societal reconstruction grows from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to make human beings the “hands” of Christ so that in a life of virtue, we may love our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.

Please join the Liturgical Institute and the following speakers as we address this topic:
Dr. David Fagerberg, University of Notre Dame; Reverend Dennis Gill, Office of Worship, Archdiocese of Philadelphia; Dr. Elizabeth Nagel, Mundelein Seminary; Reverend Edward Oakes, SJ, Mundelein Seminary; Reverend Martin Zielinski, Mundelein Seminary

WHEN: April 24, 2009
WHERE: University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary
Conference Center, Mundelein, IL
REGISTRATION
FEE: $75.00
ADDITIONAL: www.liturgicalinstitute.org
INFORMATION: Barbara – 847.837.4542

A Very Clever Piece

One of the fiction stories I thought was very clever came from the talented James G. "Gerry" Bruen, Jr., titled "The Jackass".

The pun caught me off guard, and surprised me at the end of the story, and as I love surprises, I thought the story worked our quite well. Good work, Gerry!

March Gilbert Editorial

Dad49hobbits requested that this month's lead editorial be published on line so that he could send links to friends and family to read. His wish is our command. Here is the editorial in full (and here is the link):

Editorial 12.5

“Ideals,” says G.K. Chesterton, “are the most practical thing in the world.” This is why we still defend the family. This is why we insist on the ideal of marriage as a permanent union between... read more...one man and one woman that creates the only proper setting for bringing new souls into the world. Governments and other institutions outside the family must not interfere with this purely natural act.

In the last century, social trends have steadily moved in the opposite direction. Attacks upon marriage and the family are no longer a matter of a few loud critics getting testy at quaint ideas of morality; the ideal of traditional marriage has gone from being attacked to being brazenly ignored. But if society at large does not understand the moral arguments for the family, perhaps it will gain some appreciation for their practical application. And the recent bad news has been good news in this regard. Arguments in favor of marriage and the family have received a significant boost with the collapse of the world’s financial markets and the continuing economic fallout.

An economy built on massive lending and spending cannot be sustained. The reason it cannot be sustained is not merely economic, but moral. A purely consumer economy embraces material wealth as its ultimate goal, and regards people as a commodity to be bought and sold to achieve that goal. Such an economy is selfish and therefore self-destructive.

An economy based on the family is self-sustaining. Its focus is on the nurturing and training of children and not on the mere acquisition of goods. The family ideal as defended by Chesterton is something quite different from the industrialized consumer family, where family members leave the house each morning by the clock and on a strict schedule to pursue work and recreation and a life outside the home. Chesterton's ideal is the productive home with its creative kitchen, its busy workshop, its fruitful garden, and its central role in entertainment, education, and livelihood. Unlike the industrial home, life in a productive household is not amenable to scheduling. It is anything but predictable.

The only thing surprising about this ideal is that it was once shared by almost everyone. Children used to be considered an asset; at some point they began to be seen as a liability.

Chesterton saw the beginning of this problem when he noticed people preferring to buy amusements for their own enjoyment rather than to have children. He pointed out prophetically that children are a far better form of entertainment than electrical gadgets. The irony today is that the retailers that sell the electronic amusements are going out of business because there are not enough people to buy their merchandise.

But there is another reason why children are now considered a liability. The presence of children doesn’t merely make other material desires cost-prohibitive; they are cost-prohibitive in themselves. Children must be educated, and the costs of educating them have become crushing. A college education is the most overpriced product on the market, and the most over-rated as well. Many parents sacrifice nearly everything to send their children to college, where their heads are filled with doubts and destructive ideas that undermine all their parents have taught them.

But there are fewer parents because there are fewer children.

When social security was instituted, each retiree was supported by fifteen workers. Now each retiree is supported by three workers. Those of us who are still working spend fifteen percent of our income to support those who aren’t working.

The lack of domestic life in modern culture is reflected in the fact that its participants don’t have a domestic economy. We don’t produce anything. Workers are now experiencing massive layoffs, but the people losing their jobs (no offense to them) were not producing anything. They were selling things that other people made, or paid with borrowed money to sit at a desk and computer terminal, their wages calculated in such a way that they might also go into debt. Now the financial center of the country has moved from New York to Washington, DC, as Gudge has passed the baton to Hudge, who has promised that all the problems that were caused by too much borrowing will be solved by even more borrowing. Whom shall we borrow from? Our own grandchildren.

But the younger generation cannot pay the debts of the older generation because we have committed demographic suicide. We are paying a very high price, not only for slaughtering our unborn children but for preventing their conception in the first place. In fact, we have demonstrated that we cannot afford the high price.

We have seen the natural consequences of unnatural acts. We are witnessing a monumental economic disaster that is not the result of inflation or recession but of the devaluation of children.

Chesterton reminds us that every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things. The obvious things are the ordinary things, and we have forgotten them. The world we have created has brought about such great strain and stress that even the things that normal men have normally desired are no longer desirable: “marriage and fair ownership and worship and the mysterious worth of man.” Those are the normal and ordinary things. Those are the things we have lost, and we need to recover them.

“The disintegration of rational society,” adds Chesterton, “started in the drift from the hearth and the family; the solution must be a drift back.”

Gilbert Magazine March 2009

Trivia Question: What's funny about the illustration at the head of the Lunacy & Letters section of Gilbert?

Someone mentioned that for the first time ever, we had a listing of Dale's speaking engagements. Two people so far clapped heartily to see this, hoping to get to see Dale in person some day soon. How about you?

And speaking of people responding to the magazine, I am hoping to entice a few of you to take some time and write a letter to the editor. Praise, criticism, critique, horror, send it here.

Gilbert Magazine March 2009

If you like the cover, you can buy it here. And by doing that, you support our local Gilbert artist, illustrator and art director, Ted. Thank you.

Quiz question: What is the meaning of the cover? What article inside this issue of Gilbert is relevant to it?

New Gilbert races out to mailboxes

It feels like I just got an issue, and now I'm hearing that some people have a *new* issue of Gilbert!

Did you get yours yet?

I like the cover [click it to see it larger]...can't wait to see the inside.

Jill K. and the Midwest Atlantic Popular Culture Association

As reported here, Jill Kriegel from the Florida Atlantic University organized a Chesterton panel at the conference. Jill spoke brilliantly at a Chesterton Conference on her Masters Thesis which discussed a Chestertonian view of Dickens' work Dombey and Sons.

Jill's article reporting on this panel is in the latest Gilbert magazine, and we were mentioned as being helpful to her, which was pretty nice, since all I did was, well, mention it.

The very links.

Let's Talk Gilbert

By now, everyone should have their "Food" issue (Jan/Feb 2009) with the great art work which you can buy for your home or office (or even stationary) here.

If you are like me, you received your copy on Ash Wednesday, a day of fast and abstinence, and after suffering through various mouth-watering articles, had to set it aside and wait to read the remaining articles until Thursday.

What did you enjoy about this issue? Wasn't it fun to read the mini "food" articles by the various Gilbert writers? And I also enjoyed the Gilbert food quotes about breakfast (and how every meal, technically, could be called break-fast). Ted's graphics, once again, were terrific. What did you enjoy?