09/05/2026
Christopher Check to speak about the historic
Battle of Lepanto
at St. Therese Church, Kenosha Tuesday Oct. 6, 7pm
Christopher Check, who since 2015 has served as President of Catholic Answers, the largest lay-run Catholic apologetics and evangelization organization America, will speak on the historic Battle of Lepanto, at St. Therese Church, 2020 91st St., Kenosha on Tuesday, October 6 at 7pm. This date is significant: it is the eve of the date of the actual battle. He will finish his talk with a recitation of G.K. Chesterton’s magnificent poem, Lepanto.
On October 7, 1571, the most important sea battle in history was fought near the mouth of what is today called the Gulf of Patras, then the Gulf of Lepanto (off the coast of Greece). The war galleys of the Catholic Holy League confronted those of the Ottoman Turks, rowed by tens of thousands of Christian galley slaves. Although the battle decided the future of Europe, few Europeans, and even fewer European Americans, know the story much less how close Western Europe came to suffering an Islamic conquest.
On October 7, 1911, the celebrated author G.K. Chesterton honored the battle with the greatest ballad of the 20th Century. He wrote it while the postman impatiently waited for the copy. It remained popular for years. John Buchan, wrote to Chesterton in 1915 from the trenches in France during World War I: “We shouted your Lepanto to one another today....” Little wonder the poem’s stirring images inspired soldiers locked in a struggle for the soul of Europe. The ballad is no less inspiring today and is more timely than ever as the West faces the growing threat of Islam.
Chesterton’s celebration of this signal moment in history is a needed reminder that Europe without Christ is emptied of meaning, and that Islam is an age-old enemy of the West. As the political and religious conflicts of 16th-Century Europe were imperiling civil harmony and national security, the Turk was threatening to devour Christendom. It took the daring leadership of Don Juan of Austria, the deep faith of Pope St. Pius V, and the intervention of the Blessed Virgin to save it.
Chris’ background: After graduating in 1987 with a degree in English Literature from Rice University, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps. After serving in various exercises and deployments throughout the world, he was promoted to Captain in March, 1992. His decorations include the Joint Service Commendation Medal, The Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Navy Unit Commendation, the Southwest Asia Service Medal, and The National Defense Medal.
Following service in the Marine Corps, Chris served for two decades as Executive Vice President of the Rockford Institute in Rockford, Illinois. Chris’s writings have appeared in, among others, Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, Catholic Answers Magazine, Touchstone, The Wanderer, Angelus, New Oxford Review, Gilbert, Culture Wars, and the Chicago Tribune. Since 2015 he has served as President of Catholic Answers.
