A Feast for Father Brown

I’ve just noticed that the Church of England observes today as feast, of sorts, for Gilbert Keith Chesterton, perhaps best known as G. K. Chesterton, critic, biographer, novelist & Christian apologist. According to Wikipedia his “friendly enemy” George Bernard Shaw spoke of Chesterton as “a man of colossal genius.” He certainly could write. Me, I liked his spiritual biographies more than his Orthodoxy, although many I know think it is best. But most of all I enjoyed his Father Brown novels and now the BBC adaptations of the snooping priest.

Chesterton’s spiritual journey took him from Anglicanism to Anglo Catholicism and eventually he crossed the Tiber to Rome. While he is said to have eschewed both right and left,”The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.” He always seemed pretty conservative to me.

Most of all, I like the fact the Anglican church, despite his eventual apostasy, honors their wayward son in their calendar…