Category: Media

“This is an historic opportunity for the CHC. Strat is an incredibly important figure in the history of contemporary Catholicism in the UK (and beyond) and contributed to the kinds of initiatives so dear to the CHC,” says Dr Rebekah Lamb, a Trustee of the charity. Rebekah was greatly influenced by Stratford, having attended his Second Spring summer school, and she now lectures in Theology, Imagination and the Arts at St Andrews.

“Buried a stone’s throw from his beloved Tolkien, Strat was crucial to helping direct (if not inaugurate) substantive scholarship on the positive influence Catholicism had on the literary greats of modernity and is responsible for collecting and, for a time, housing the Chesterton archive which is now under the curatorship of the University of Notre Dame (at its London Global Gateway). 

He was a deep reader, thinker, and committed Catholic as passionate about Catholic Social Teaching as he was about formation, the gift of the Eucharist, and authentic inter-religious dialogue.

When he passed away seven years ago, he left behind countless friends and fellow scholars from around the globe who saw in him not only a thinker of penetrating insights informed by a deep life of prayer but also a mentor and friend.”

Housing his personal collection will not only serve as a benefit for those who take part in events with the CHC. It will also provide insight for scholars who wish to gain a deeper insight into Strat as thinker–after all, you can judge a scholar by his bookshelves!

Stratford’s library includes not only a breadth of important philosophical and theological volumes stretching from the Fathers of the Church to the 20^th century, but also a collection of important writings from the Eastern Orthodox tradition, as well as a library of writings by Lewis, Tolkien and other of the Inklings. A complete set of the Chesterton Review is also present.