Gilbert Keith Chesterton is one of the most sparkling and effervescent figures in the great Catholic tradition. A physically large man with an even larger intellect and imagination, he embodied the wealth and capaciousness of Catholicism. If one is ever tempted to see Catholic Christianity as something cramped, crabby, and puritanical, he should read even one paragraph of Chesterton. Reading Chesterton is a bit like opening a bottle of champagne: intoxicating, sparkling, rare. Which words can best describe Chesterton’s take on the world? Joyful, playful, rambunctious, joking, realist, traditionalist, balanced, and sane. He felt that something had gone dreadfully wrong with the modern world and that classical Christianity would set it right.

• Bishop Robert E. Barron