Dale Ahlquist
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{{Short description|American author (born 1958)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dale Ahlquist
| image = Dale Ahlquist.jpg
| caption = Ahlquist in May 2012
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1958|06|14|mf=yes}}
| birth_place =St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
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| occupation = Author
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Dale Ahlquist (born June 14, 1958) is an American author and advocate of the thought of G. K. Chesterton. Ahlquist is the president and a co-founder of the American Chesterton Society and the publisher of its magazine, Gilbert. He is also a co-founder of Chesterton Academy, a Catholic high school in Minneapolis.{{cite web |url=http://www.catholichonorroll.org/roll/2012/top50.php |title=2012 Catholic High School Honor Roll Top 50 |publisher=Catholichonorroll.org |date= |access-date=2013-09-05 |archive-date=2012-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923003208/http://www.catholichonorroll.org/roll/2012/top50.php |url-status=dead }}
Background and education
Ahlquist received his B.A. from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota,Carleton College, [http://apps.carleton.edu/news/carleton_in_the_media/?story_id=124122 Dale Ahlquist '80 interviewed] in Star Tribune and a M.A. from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Ahlquist received an honorary doctorate from the University of Mary in 2024.{{cite web |last1=University of Mary |title=History of Honorary Degrees |url=https://www.umary.edu/about/history-mary/honorary-degrees |website=University of Mary |access-date=24 March 2025}}
Conversion to Catholicism
Dale Ahlquist was raised in a Baptist household observing the developing fragmentation of Protestant denominations. Reading G. K. Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man during his honeymoon in Rome led to research into the Early Church Fathers and the history of the Catholic Church. Ahlquist saw his objections to Catholicism on matters of the papacy, the sacraments of the Catholic Church, and the Blessed Virgin Mary be refuted.{{cite web|url=http://chnetwork.org/2012/10/upon-this-rock-that-doesnt-roll-conversion-story-of-dale-ahlquist/ |title=Upon This Rock — That Doesn't Roll – Conversion Story of Dale Ahlquist | The Coming Home Network |publisher=Chnetwork.org |date=2012-10-31 |access-date=2013-09-05}} In 1996 he founded the American Chesterton Society. He converted to Catholicism in 1997, along with his two oldest children Julian and Ashley. His wife, Laura, who had not been a practicing Catholic when they met, also returned to the church.
American Chesterton Society
The American Chesterton Society (ACS) is a non-profit organization co-founded by Dale Ahlquist in 1996 with the mission of promoting interest in English author, G. K. Chesterton.{{cite web|url=http://www.chesterton.org |title=American Chesterton Society | G.K. Chesterton for the 21st Century |publisher=Chesterton.org |date=2013-08-06 |access-date=2013-09-05}} The ACS supports scholarly research on Chesterton, hosts annual conferences across the United States and abroad, international pilgrimages, and offers guidance to more than 60 local societies dedicated to Chesterton around the world.{{cite web|url=http://www.chesterton.org/explore-the-acs/local-societies/ |title=Local Societies |publisher=Chesterton.org |date= |access-date=2013-09-05}} In 2000, Ahlquist quit his job as a political lobbyist to run the American Chesterton Society full-time.Katherine Kersten [https://web.archive.org/web/20140610052404/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-133058439.html At home with British mastermind's legacy]. Minneapolis Star-Tribune, June 6, 2005
Chesterton Academy
In 2008, Dale Ahlquist and Tom Bengtson founded the Chesterton Academy, a high school in Hopkins, Minnesota, based on G. K. Chesterton’s ideas of integrated learning.{{cite web|url=http://www.chestertonacademy.org/about/board-of-directors/ |title=Board of Directors |publisher=Chesterton Academy |date= |access-date=2013-09-05}}
References
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Category:21st-century American male writers
Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers
Category:21st-century Roman Catholics
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:American religious writers
Category:American Roman Catholic writers
Category:Carleton College alumni
Category:Catholics from Minnesota
Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Baptist denominations
Category:Hamline University alumni