The Contemporary Words of Dorothy Day

For those who may not be aware, Dorothy Day (1897-1980) was an activist, a journalist and an editor, who worked for social causes that included women's suffrage, pacifism, peace and economic justice. Intrigued by the Catholic faith, she converted in 1927. In 1933, she co-founded The Catholic Worker with Peter Maurin, a French peasant and Christian Brother, who preached brotherhood and personal responsibility on the streets of NYC. Initially the Worker was a newspaper promoting social and economic justice based on Christian principles and teachings. It evolved into a movement of Houses of Hospitality around the world where the poor, the impoverished and the hungry could find some needed support without question.

I spent time at The Catholic Worker and with Dorothy in the mid 60's. Dorothy was very active during that period as she was through most of her life. She was involved in the Second Vatican Council and meetings in Rome, anti-war demonstrations in NYC and around the country, fighting for farm workers in California and so many other things that were going on in the world related to social justice. That period of time and Dorothy herself had a great influence on my life. 

Recently, I've found myself revisiting many of Dorothy's writings and audio tapes of some of her talks. Mostly this was the result of my recent marriage and wedding. When Jeannette and I met with Father Michael Hartney who officiated at our wedding, he asked us about our vision for the celebration. We told him we wanted it to say something about our lives and beliefs, about peace, justice and vulnerable people. A few readings from Dorothy made some sense. The witnesses to our marriage and our friends, Kay and Henry Thomas, agreed to read some words of Dorothy that we would find. In addition, Father Hartney presented quotes from Dorothy as his homily.

As I searched for appropriate words, I rediscovered a number of resources on my shelves that I hadn't looked at recently. Those included All The Way To Heaven and Duty of Delight writings by Dorothy edited by Robert Ellsberg. Also All Is Grace Jim Forest's Biography of Day. I also found myself searching back through Jim & Nancy Forest's online site (Click Here) that has sections about Dorothy, Dorothy and Thomas Merton and organized quotes of Dorothy's. Of course The Catholic Worker itself (Click Here) and the Dorothy Day Guild (Click Here) were also full of information.

But the goldmine was when I found a site called American Voices. American Voices is housed at Michigan State University and it includes audio tapes of many important American Voices, including Dorothy Day. These are tapes of Dorothy and her talks from the 50's, 60's and 70's that were presented to a variety of audiences. Some are of a better quality than others but they are all interesting. (Click here for American Voices - Dorothy Day Tapes)

In listening to these tapes I'm struck by a couple of things. Obviously, Dorothy uses language and colloquialisms of the time. A few may make you wince especially relative to racial terms. But those were the words of the times. More importantly, what strikes me is how contemporary her words really are for the times we are living in today. War and peace, struggles with leadership in the church and in government, poverty, inequality all continue to face us. To me it seems like I'm listening to a contemporary talk on where we are at today. Dorothy is consistent and repetitious as she describes the founding and early days of The Catholic Worker. She's consistent and repetitious as she discusses the Works of Mercy vs the Works of War.

Dorothy's world and time consisted of men, usually white men in power. They controlled property, banks, the law and the church (as they still do), as well as other institutions that Dorothy had to interact with at times. To me, Dorothy was the epitome of a strong woman. Her voice was always strong but soft. She would make her point without the complexity of long arguments. She would never back down on a belief. All of this made many a man uncomfortable and yes, back down. I think there are examples of this in the voice that I hear in those tapes. 

In many of her talks, Dorothy loved to point out the contradictions between The Works of Mercy as described in Matthew 25: 31-46 and what she described, vividly, as The Works of War as described by mankind. Sometime in '65 or '66 I wrote an article for The Catholic Worker about this topic. Dorothy loved the article and suggested that I continue writing about issues of the day. Soon after that, Dorothy named me as an Associate Editor of the paper.  It seems appropriate that I end this piece with artwork created by Rita Corbin. It is also as contemporary as so many of Dorothy's words.