The Absolute Uniqueness of Monsignor Alfred Gilbey: The Final Interview

The celebrated priest Monsignor Alfred Gilbey (1901–98) was Chaplain to the (male) Catholic undergraduates of Cambridge from 1933 to 1965, and from some time in 1965 to 1997 the sole resident member of the Travellers Club, Pall Mall, from where he pursued a unique apostolate. His book We Believe, a commentary on the penny catechism, which had sold more than 15,000 copies before his death, had by then inspired more than forty vocations to the priesthood and religious life. It has no doubt inspired many more since. As Chaplain he received unusually large numbers into the Church. His charismatic personality and extraordinary charm, combined with his elegance of dress and manners, enabled him to attract many to the Faith who might have been put off by a more active evangelical approach. In him devotion fused with culture in a peculiarly harmonious way. This book is the product of a series of interviews with Monsignor Gilbey in which, after expounding with his unique vividness and clarity the essential truths of the Faith, he ranges widely over a series of topics of a largely controversial nature. To all his answers Gilbey brings the wit and wisdom of his long experience as a priest and chaplain and the perspective of someone who has met and gotten to know a huge variety of people, along with his passionate love of Christ and His Holy Church. 

Catholics will be grateful for this reminder of the astounding figure of Mgr Alfred Gilbey, who is in danger of being forgotten, which brings out so vividly, in his own words, his wit, his steadfastness, and his kindness to others. Alexander Haydon has done us a great service in drawing out this fascinating figure, an active ingredient in English Catholic life from the age of Ronnie Knox to the time of Tony Blair. —Dr Joseph Shaw, ed., The Latin Mass and the Intellectuals

I am happy to see that this appreciation of Monsignor Gilbey has been written. I hope a new generation will continue to learn about this remarkable priest. —Fr Ronald Creighton-Jobe, C.O. (London Oratory)

For the best part of the twentieth century Mgr Alfred Gilbey appeared the Bertie Wooster of English Catholicism. More accurately, he was its Lord Peter Wimsey, conducting a highly successful private practice in drawing enquirers to the Faith. This book can be described as some of the leaves from his casebook. —Henry Sire, author of Father Martin D'Arcy: Philosopher of Christian Love