Dorothy Day wrote these reflections on the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego after a pilgrimage to the Basilica in Mexico City. It was in 1531 that Our Lady appeared to the Indian Juan Diego (his Spanish name given him at his baptism.) There were not many Catholics then among the Indians,… continue reading
A Call to Change America: How would Dorothy Day Respond to an Attack such as September 11?
February 1, 2002 by
The tragedy of September 11 has given us the opportunity to re-evaluate how we live and how we relate to other countries. We don’t want this to be a lost opportunity. Those who take the spiritual life seriously have to ask the question, not only why did this happen, but what is God asking of… continue reading
John Paul II Calls for End to Usury: Support for Peter Maurin, Catholic Worker Theme
June 1, 1999 by
On April 14, 1999, Pope John Paul II addressed the members of the National Council of Anti-Usury Foundations and their regional delegations. The Holy Father gave a special welcome to about one thousand volunteers “who came to call the public’s attention to the worrisome and, unfor-tunately, widespread phenomena of usury, which often brings with it… continue reading
“Blowing the Dynamite of the Church”: Catholic Radicalism from a Catholic Radicalist Perspective
April 1, 1999 by
In the wake of their momentous encounter in December 1932, Peter Maurin subjected Dorothy Day to a pedagogical program that he dubbed “indoctrination,” which, from Day’s account, consisted of Maurin coming over to her apartment and expounding to her on God, the Church, the Church Fathers, the saints, the poor, hospitality, liberalism, capitalism, fascism, communism,… continue reading
Dorothy Day, a Catholic for All Americans
February 1, 1999 by
Why would a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church recommend for sainthood a woman who was a radical socialist and pacifist, a divorcee who had had an abortion? Why would he recommend for sainthood a woman who had had affairs and spent her nights in bars drinking and reading poetry with the likes of Eugene… continue reading
Dorothy declared Peter Maurin Saint of the CW Movement
December 1, 1998 by
Dorothy Day credited Peter Maurin as being the heart and soul of the Catholic Worker movement. She would be the first to proclaim him the saint of the movement. Peter was filled with the history and tradition of Catholicism, as well as an extensive knowledge of papal encyclicals. This was Peter’s common ground. He was… continue reading
Baroness calls Dorothy Day a Saint
October 1, 1998 by
Catherine de Hueck Doherty, a refugee of the Russian Revolution, began working with the poor during the Great Depression, opening Catholic Friendship Houses in Toronto, Harlem and later Chicago. She went on to establish the Madonna House Lay Apostolate in 1947, which is based in Combermere, Ontario, Canada. Since her death in 1985, her lay… continue reading
The Roots of Dorothy Day’s Pacifism:Solidarity, Compassion and a Stubborn Hold on Truth
October 1, 1997 by
There has been one systematic study of Dorothy Day’s pacifism and that of the Catholic Worker movement, Robert Gilliam’s “Put Up Your Sword: the Pacifism of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker,” an excellent unpublished 180 page manuscript. It would be folly for me to trace the development of Dorothy Day’s thinking on war and… continue reading
Dorothy Day, Prophet of Pacifism for the Catholic Church
October 1, 1997 by
One of Dorothy Day’s great gifts to the Catholic Church and to the United States was her drawing together of Catholic biblical and theological resources to establish pacifism and conscientious objection as a legitimate stance for Catholics and for Americans. Today this is not just a teaching of Dorothy Day. The U. S. Catholic Bishops… continue reading
Peter Maurin, Saint and Scholar of the Catholic Worker
August 1, 1996 by
This “interview” is what might taken place in such an interview, presenting Peter Maurin’s ideas. Houston Catholic Worker: What do you call your approach? Peter Maurin: Christian personalism, which makes each person responsible for the suffering Christ who stands before him in the person of the poor. It differs dramatically from an economic order characterized… continue reading
