Excerpts from the Encyclical Rite Expiatis by Pope Pius XI The terrible conditions existing in the times when St. Francis lived are well known. Although the Catholic faith still lived in the hearts of men, the charity of Christ had become so weakened in human society as to appear to be almost extinct. To say… continue reading

We wish to arouse those indifferent Catholics to the crying need of the day–the need of a return to the spirit of Franciscan poverty and charity. Those comfortable people, too, who do not realize the unfairness of this existing order, need to be told of existing conditions. They are too apt to see things from… continue reading

This is the fourth article in the series on saints, philosophers and spiritual guides who influenced Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in their founding and creative living out of the Catholic Worker movement. Dorothy and Peter were inspired by the lives of the saints, by those disciples of Jesus who are models for the Christian… continue reading

To fight war we must fight conscription, the acceptance of conscription. To this fight THE CATHOLIC WORKER PLEDGES ITSELF AS LONG AS WE ARE PERMITTED TO EXIST. We must face the fact that conscription of the press and the radio, also is what we have to look forward to. If we oppose government measures our… continue reading

Introduction by Mark and Louise Zwick This is the third article in a series on the saints and philosophers who influenced Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day in developing the Catholic Worker. Nicholas Berdyaev (l874-l948) was one of the great personalists and a “particular prophet” in the life of the Catholic Worker movement, one who with… continue reading

Arranged by Peter Maurin A Spiritual State l. What does the word actually mean? 2. It has remained unexplained though it has been so much used and so often misapplied. 3. Even when superficially used it is a word with a magic power of its own and its depth has to be fathomed. 4. The word designates a spiritual state, a direction of… continue reading

February 14, 1934 Dear Miss Day: Father Busch recently told me of your request to have “Orate Frates” exchanged for “The Catholic Worker.” I have spoken to the present editor-in-chief of “Orate Fratres” and he is putting your name on the exchange list. I am sending you a new study club outline on the liturgy… continue reading

To us at the Catholic Worker, Father Virgil was a dear friend and adviser, bringing to us his tremendous strength and knowledge. He first came to visit us at our beginnings on East Fifteenth Street. he was like Peter Maurin in the friendly simple way he would come in and sit down, starting right in… continue reading

The supreme guiding motive of the bourgeois mind is precisely the personal gain or profit that the medieval idealist rejected as a final goal. The principle of gain for its own sake, of an endlessly increasing profit, is now set up as the one sensible goal of all human life and endeavor. All the aspects… continue reading

At the mention of the subject of this article one might be inclined to ask: What has the liturgy to do with social reconstruction or the social question? Can the liturgy help to give jobs or raise wages? Can there be any connection between the liturgy and the social problem? The moment we deal with… continue reading