By John Franko

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. (CNS) — When it came to championing the faith, G.K. Chesterton fought with “verve and passion, and panache” in his works, said Auxiliary Bishop Robert E. Barron of Los Angeles, Calif.

He reflected a deep attitude of love and joy, the bishop said. “Every page of Chesterton is like a bottle of champagne.”

Bishop Barron, an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, lauded the contributions of the English writer and journalist at the 35th annual Conference of the American Chesterton Society at Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pa., last month.

He addressed the audience of more than 300 via Skype in introducing his new series, “Catholicism: The Pivotal Players.” Chesterton is profiled in the series, and the gathering had the opportunity to view the episode featuring him.

Bishop Barron told the “Chestertonians” that he couldn’t imagine a better audience to premiere the episode, and he said their keeping the memory of Chesterton alive is a “tremendous” gift to the church.

The Aug. 4-6 conference drew participants from throughout the U.S. and several other countries. They heard a variety of speakers who detailed Chesterton’s relationships with other literary figures, and they had the opportunity to engage in fellowship and spiritual activities.

“There’s a real lack of clear voices in today’s society speaking about the issues Chesterton wrote about,” said Victoria Darkey, who serves as director of the Western Pennsylvania Chesterton Society. “People are hungry for that.”

It is a common experience, she noted, for people to read Chesterton and find his works to be profoundly relevant to today’s world.
In the early 20th century Chesterton wrote about various issues, including social injustice, the culture of death, statism, assaults on religion, and attacks on the family and on the dignity of the human person.