"I'’ve never been one for Dickens.
"There! I've admitted it!
"I feel more relieved than ashamed. Actually, I'm bewildered why
anyone likes his writing. And now that I've outed myself as a
philistine, I will however admit I enjoyed his A Christmas Carol.
It's a magnificent commentary on Victorian morals and the spirt of love
and compassion that, all too often, lies dormant in our hearts.
However, Dickens is pedantic and plodding and wordy and there's room for
only one author like that in my life and Charlie will have to go.
"Oh! I forgot. He also didn't like Catholics, as was the norm for the
majority of English Protestants of the Victorian Era. Hatred, of course,
is anti-Christian at any time but it's somehow worse when it's
considered fashionable as it is today in some strange, unthinking
climes. . . .
"Despite this, G. K. Chesterton claimed in his biography of Dickens that Dickens was at heart a Catholic.
"As Chesterton pointed out in his biography on Dickens, the author was
hostile to Catholicism and saw no worth in it whatsoever and thus was
intentionally ignorant of it, having little, if any, understanding of
how Protestantism came about. Chesterton wrote that Dickens 'supposed
the Middle Ages to have consisted of tournaments and torture-chambers,
he supposed himself to be a brisk man of the manufacturing age, almost a
Utilitarian. But for all that he defended the medieval feast which was
going out against the Utilitarianism which was coming in. He could only
see all that was bad in medievalism. But he fought for all that was good
in it.' . . .
"In Dickens' defense, I hasten to add that he hated anti-Catholicism
more than he hated the Catholic Church. He denounced the monstrous
anti-Catholic riots of his era. In 1841, he wrote Barnaby Rudge,
describing the hatred and foolishness common to that anti-Catholic
period and those who fanned the flames of hatred against Catholics."
In a recent commentary, writer Anthony Stagnaro reflected on Charles Dickens, his attitude toward Catholics, and an apparition he experienced.
To access Mr. Stagnaro's complete post, please visit:
National Catholic Register: Blogs: Anthony Stagnaro: When Charles Dickens Met the Blessed Virgin Mary (28 DEC 17)
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