WHEN Mr Chesterton made his submission to the Roman see we expressed the opinion* that it was not from the Church of Herrick or Pusey, but from the Church typified by the theology of Dr Henson and the ritual judgment of Chancellor Charles that the Chesterton brothers had revolted; and that while Dr Henson’s teaching had not attracted one educated man to the Church, it had, we believed, robbed the Church of the genius of Mr Chesterton and of lesser men who are not content with cold negations. We were then reproved by a correspondent, but we are now supported by no less an authority than Mr Chesterton himself. Speaking to a representative of the Toronto Daily Star, he said that among the people who had most helped him to answer the question whether the Church of England is Catholic, and to whom he was most indebted, were the chief Protestant leaders in the Church of England, such as the Dean of St Paul’s and Bishop Hensley Henson. We are not surprised to find that we had hit the mark, the bow was not drawn quite at a venture. It is a matter of experience and observation that fewer men are attracted to the Roman Church by her special presentation of Catholicism than are repelled from the English Church by ecclesiastics in high places who deny her doctrines, and who make it possible for men like Mr Chesterton to say that she does not speak clearly and can take no united action.

* “Mr Chesterton and the Church of England”, 18 August 1922

The Church Times digital archive is available free to subscribers