The Family Room (The Quest)
Dale Ahlquist, author, co-founder of the first Chesterton Academy
In his book, Localism: Coming Home to Catholic Social Teaching, Dale Ahlquist gathers 12 of the finest thinkers in Christianity today who offer concrete solutions to society’s ills, pointing to the success of localism through the family and local community as the cure.
Civilization starts with the family and thrives by investing in our community. Industrialization and technology have consolidated commerce so that today we shop globally from our phones. As a result, centralization has crippled small towns and businesses. We no longer know our neighbors. Dale Ahlquist set out to highlight the misunderstood Catholic social teaching of “subsidiarity,” renaming it “localism.” Basically, the concept means you should be in control of those things which most affect you rather than giving control to a centralized source.
Raised Baptist and the father of six children, Dale Ahlquist’s road to Catholicism was paved by G.K. Chesterton. Having authored or edited more than 20 books on the man, Ahlquist founded the Society of G.K. Chesterton and was invited by EWTN to host a series called The Apostle of Common Sense. Not content with writing and talking about Chesterton, Ahlquist wanted to teach this man’s common sense philosophy to our youth. He co-founded the first Chesterton Academy, capitalizing on the rigors of an integrated classical curriculum that teaches students how to be what Ahlquist calls “complete thinkers.” Chesterton Academy currently has more than 70 schools around the world, including one right here in Atlanta.
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