Kudos and little else to the fine chap or chapette who knows which famous convert said this quote:

The whole moral and artistic organization of Europe – has not in itself the power of survival. It came into being through Christianity, and without it has no significance or power to command allegiance. The loss of faith in Christianity and the consequential lack of confidence in moral and social standards have become embodied in the ideal of a materialistic, mechanized state . . . It is no longer possible . . . to accept the benefits of civilization and at the same time deny the supernatural basis upon which it rests.

Please don’t cheat. The CMR Detective Agency will be dispatched to find you and then the CMR Goon Squad will be alerted. And then…bad things, man. Bad things.

UPDATE:

Jenny wins!

The famous author Evelyn Waugh’s reception into the Church on September 29, 1930 prompted shocked bewilderment in the following morning’s edition of the Daily Express. It seemed incomprehensible to them that an author notorious for his “almost passionate adherence to the ultramodern” could have joined the Catholic Church. His novels had been dubbed “ultramodern” so they were perplexed how could the purveyor of all things modern have turned to the pillar of all things ancient?

The Express published two leading articles on Waugh’s decision. Finally, three weeks after Waugh’s controversial conversion, Waugh wrote “Converted to Rome: Why It Has Happened to Me,” for the newspaper. It was given a full-page spread.

Waugh’s article dismissed the very suggestion that he had been “captivated by the ritual” of the Church, or that he wanted to have his mind made up for him. Instead, he insisted that the “essential issue” that had led to his conversion was a belief that the modern world was facing a choice between “Christianity and Chaos”:

“Today we can see it on all sides as the active negation of all that Western culture has stood for. Civilization – and by this I do not mean talking cinemas and tinned food, nor even surgery and hygienic houses, but the whole moral and artistic organization of Europe – has not in itself the power of survival. It came into being through Christianity, and without it has no significance or power to command allegiance. The loss of faith in Christianity and the consequential lack of confidence in moral and social standards have become embodied in the ideal of a materialistic, mechanized state . . . It is no longer possible . . . to accept the benefits of civilization and at the same time deny the supernatural basis upon which it rests.”

Waugh concluded by stating his belief that Catholicism was the “most complete and vital form” of Christianity.

If you haven’t read “Brideshead Revisited,” shame on you and get thee to a library.