Dorothy Day

Who is Dorothy Day?

Dorothy Day took seriously Christ's command to be responsible for our neighbor. She was a fool for Christ's sake: her boss was the individual on the street who was forgotten by society, the one we see each day, the one on the park bench who smells of alcohol and urine. Young Marxist journalist in Chicago, she became a beacon to both the poorest of the poor and the Christian community: we are called by Christ to respond passionately, Day understood the urgency of His call. Inspired by an itinerant French philosopher and farmer named Peter Maurin, Day set up Houses of Hospitality to help feed, clothe, and comfort the poor - the very basis of Christianity, lived through the Beatitudes.

A good starting point to start exploring Dorothy Day's life is to read a brief biography.  More in-depth information on Day can be found at the Dorothy Day Library on the Web. I have links to many more resources below as well.  Do not pass up a chance to read her autobiography, explained below. Also, a recent (1996) movie portraying the life of Dorothy Day is  Entertaining Angels - The Dorothy Day Story. It can be found at most all video rental stores; read a review of it as well. Be careful while you watch it, however - it does indeed portray Dorothy's missionary zeal, but neglects to make note of the profound spirituality that drove her work (and must drive ours!). This is perhaps a common problem with social justice viewed from a religious perspective.

(Photo Credits: Marquette U and Fellowship Magazine)

Peter Maurin

Anyone interested in Dorothy Day should also be interested in Peter Maurin. They met through a mutual contact who believed their ideas were very similar. They completed each other, Day putting into practical action the ideals that had been circulating in Maurin's mind as he traveled from France through Canada and finally to the US.

Read "Peter Maurin: Gay Believer", by Arthur Sheehan, one of the few books available on Maurin.

Maurin was a powerful thinker who spoke and taught very simply. His life was prophetic - he not only ministered to the widow, orphan, and stranger, but also lived as one (and not simply "like" one!). The force of his writing comes from the holiness of his life. Day herself says it: "It was the sanctity of the man that made [his writings] dynamic."

Some "Easy Essays"

"Easy Essays" is the only collection of Maurins small pieces that were published throughout his life in the Catholic Worker newspaper. You can find a copy through Franciscan Herald Press, which republishes them occasionally.

Two representative pieces:

WORKS OF MERCY

The best kind of apologetics
is the kind of apologetics
people do not have
to apologize for.
in the first centuries
of Christianity
pagans said about Christians:
"See how they love each other."
The love for God and neighbor
was the characteristic
of the first Christians.
This love was expressed
through the daily practice
of the Works of Mercy.
To feed the hungry,
to clothe the naked,
to shelter the homeless,
to instruct the ignorant
at a personal sacrifice
was considered
by the first Christians
as the right thing to do.
Surplus goods
were considered
to be superfluous,
and therefore
to be used
to help the needy members
of the Mystical Body.

OR:

The world would be better off
if people tried
to become better.

And people would
become better
if they stopped trying
to be better off.

For when everybody tries
to become better off,
nobody is better off.

But when everybody tries
to become better,
everybody is better off.

Everybody would be rich
if nobody tried
to become richer

And nobody would be poor
if everybody tried
to be the poorest

And everybody would be
what he ought to be
if everybody tried to be
what he wants
the other fellow to be.