Pearced by a Swordstick

This is from a recent article about author Joseph Pearce. He will be speaking at a CSL conference in Lakeland, Florida this weekend. His talks for the conference are titled "Race with the Devil: My Journey from Racism to Faith," "Narnia & Middle Earth: When Two Worlds Collude," and "The Tolkien Code: Unlocking The Lord of the Rings."

[Joseph] Pearce was twice imprisoned in his native England for editing extreme right-wing magazines, according to a biography on the Web site of his publisher, Ignatius Press.

"I was involved in the Protestant paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. As a young man, I was very bigoted toward nonwhites," Pearce said.

He began reading the works of G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), an English journalist and Catholic apologist. Initially attracted by Chesterton's political and economic views, he was later persuaded by Chesterton's defense of the Catholic faith. He converted while in prison.

(Lakeland Ledger, 11/26/05)