He was the founding Warden of the first Catholic conference centre in the United Kingdom, at Spode House, Staffordshire.
In 1916 the family moved to Ditchling in Sussex, where Hilary, Eric Gill and Desmond Chute set up the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic, a community of Catholic artist-craftsmen.
Stephen was received into the Catholic Church in 1916, and sent to the Dominican boarding school at Hawkesyard Priory, Staffordshire.
On leaving school he worked for his father in the printing shop until, in 1927, he entered the Dominican order, taking the name of Conrad.
On 10 May 1948, he spoke in Oxford, England, to the Socratic Club on "The Necessity of Christian Mysticism" with T. M. Parker also addressing the topic.