Peter Maurin, G. K. Chesterton, and Hilaire Belloc

Peter Maurin was a social activist and theologian, and a co-founder (with Dorothy Day) of the Catholic Worker movement. In his thinking he was influenced by Chesterton and Belloc, particularly when it came to economics. He specifically cited the distributism espoused by Chesterton and Belloc as part of the antidote to communism. 

Maurin, who was born in France and moved to the United States, summed up his thinking in poems called "Easy Essays." In those essays he cited Chesterton multiple times, and especially Chesterton's observation, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” He sometimes quoted this observation directly, but more often paraphrased it. 

Over the years the Easy Essays were printed in the Catholic Worker newspaper. He used many of the essays repeatedly, changing them slightly, or adding or removing portions of them. Here is a version of one known as "Not Practical." 

1. Chesterton says

     "The Christian ideal 

     has not been tried 

     and found wanting. 

2. It has been found difficult 

     and left untried." 

3. Christianity has not been tried 

     because people thought 

     it was impractical. 

4. And men have tried everything 

     except Christianity. 

5. And everything 

     that men have tried 

     has failed.
6. And to fail
     in everything
     that one tries
     is not to be practical
7. Men will be practical
     when they try to practice
     the Christianity
     they profess
     to believe in.

When he recommended books to read he included two by Chesterton: The Outline of Sanity and St. Francis of Assisi.

He cited Belloc less often, but he is there. He also liked his book The Servile State. 

One Easy Essay where Belloc appears is called "The Trouble Has Been."

Hilaire Belloc says:

1. The modern proletarian

     works less hours

     and does far less

     than his father.

2. He is not even

     primarily in revolt

     against insecurity.

3. The trouble has been 

     that the masses

     of our town

     lived under

     unbearable conditions.

4. The contracts

     they were asked to fulfill

     were not contracts

     that were suitable

     to the dignity of man.

5. There was no personal relation

     between the man

     who  was exploited

     and the man

     who exploited him.

6. Wealth has lost

     its sense of responsibility.

Given his appreciation of Chesterton and Belloc, and of distributism, I think it's safe to say Maurin could be counted as a "Friend."