Chesterton Knew The Importance of Ecumenical Dialogue

Chesterton Knew The Importance of Ecumenical Dialogue

Monday 2 August 2010

Letter to the Catholic Herald


The editor of the Catholic Herald has every right not to publish my letter, but with this Internet thing I have every right to bore you with it! Why I have not received a free copy of the book to review is also beyond me. I've ordered it from the local library, if it ever shows up I will let you know what I think of it.

Dear Sir
I read with great interest your review of The Essential Belloc (Catholic Herald 9th July). I 'blame' him and Chesterton for my conversion to the one True Faith (that is Catholic Faith for the information of any fool who does not know it). I went so far as to walk to Rome 10 years ago following in his footsteps (do see his book, The Path to Rome), as a pilgrimage of thanks. [Three youngsters from Blackfen, have just done Blackfen to Rome by bike]Whilst I agree partly with Robin Harris, your reviewer that Belloc's "refusal to engage in the customary ecumenical pieties [could] cause an involuntary shock." One should look beyond what he said and see the results. I have started my own blog; http://ecumenicaldiablog.blogspot.com/ to engage in ecumenical dialogue 'a la Belloc'.
For example it may seem to some that Belloc was a bit harsh to Maurice Baring at their first meeting in what he said. Belloc told Maurice Baring (a non-Catholic son of one of Europe's most celebrated banking houses) that he would certainly go to hell. What Baring wrote to Belloc many years later, in 1934 needs to be remembered if we are to engage in fruitful ecumenical dialogue.
“I realise and give thanks for the privilege of having known you; and be sure of this, but for you I should never have come into the Church: you were the lighthouse that showed me the way, the beacon; and once I was there you remained a tower of strength in times or moments of difficulty, and we both agree that that is the only thing that matters.” So let us not be too harsh on our prophet.
God bless
Stuart McCullough

6 comments:

me said...

"(that is Catholic Faith for the information of any fool who does not know it)"

Is that the type of language the Holy Spirit used to draw you towards the one true church? Would it have worked if He had?

Ecumenical Diablogger said...

Yes, and yes it did.

me said...

I don't accept it was the Holy Spirit speaking. He doesn't use language like that, and neither should you. So stop.

Ecumenical Diablogger said...

I don’t believe that you and you alone can discern when it is or is not the Holy Ghost speaking. We know that the Bible is the Word of God & would love atheists to read it, but what happens when God calls them fools in Psalm 14? I do not believe that God speaks to us all in the same way, if he did we would only need to read one conversion story!
And as for ‘Stop it’, you sound as ‘harsh’ as I do.

me said...

'And as for ‘Stop it’, you sound as ‘harsh’ as I do.'

I know. I forgot to say, I suffer from hypocrisy sometimes. It's one of my defects of character. I can always see other people's faults more easily than my own. It doesn't mean they haven't got them though, just that I might, (emphasis might) have a similar fault, but less so than you, as is obvious ofcourse and goes without saying. ;)

I like the description in your latest posts, 'priests for the ticketless' That sounds less harsh, much more compassionate. See, if I had read that first, we wouldn't have got off to this bad start.

Ecumenical Diablogger said...

Oh no, someone said that the Catholic Herald said something nice about my blog on line. Not that I can find it or anything.