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(marquette u archives)

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.

The push for Dorothy Day's canonization has recently become big news. What are the supporters saying? Is anyone against it? Read Let's canonize Dorothy Day in Salt of the Earth online magazine to find out. Read the newspaper article and New York Archdiocese announcement detailing the Pope's approval of the late Cardinal O'Connor's request to open her beatification cause. Complications? You bet. Read all about them...

 

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 as a religious cause today; please be aware of it.

              

• Official Catholic Worker Home Page The official place to go! Extensive essays, Worker community information, bibliography and research resources, as well as newspaper articles and features.
• Houston Catholic Worker  A brilliant resource with extensive articles on not only the Catholic Worker and the great Personalists, Mounier and Maritain, but also many social justice issues and a fantastic glimpse of living out the Catholic Worker philosophies. A wonderful resource!
• Catholic Worker Home Page An unofficial, but very useful CW site.

 

• Biography of Dorothy Day a good introduction by a past editor of the Catholic Worker newspaper, Jim Forest.
• Remembering Dorothy Day another fine introduction from the Catholic Worker website
• A Personal Remembrance of Dorothy Day
• Illuminating Lives- Dorothy Day
• Driven By Love - A sermon by Fr. John Hugo following the death of Dorothy Day
• Memories of Dorothy Day
• The living legacy of Dorothy Day by Jim Forest
• What I learned about justice from Dorothy Day
• Dorothy Day - Profile Webzine
• Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Social Justice
• Dorothy Day—a saint for our times - Salt of the Earth
• Mystery and Myth- Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker, and the Peace Movement
• Fellowship Magazine
• Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker, and American Pacifism
• Love Is the Measure
• The Postscript from "The Long Loneliness"
• The trouble with Saint Dorothy
• The Amazing Grace of Dorothy Day
• Catholic Digest- Dorothy Day, Unvarnished

 

• Access to Catholic Social Justice Teachings  Taking Social Justice from a Catholic point of view; many Papal encyclicals and articles detailing various aspects of social morality and responsibility.
• Unofficial Catholic Worker Homepage
• Catholic Social Teaching Bibliography an extensive list of research materials relating to social justice
• Olympic Living Wages Project 

books      Catholic Worker Movement  Dorothy Day   The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day A compelling autobiographical testament to the spiritual pilgrimage of Dorothy Day, who, in her own words, dedicated herself "to bring[ing] about the kind of society where it is easier to be good.'' Loaves and Fishes Dorothy Day - Selected Writings Dorothy Day - A Radical Devotion (Radcliffe Biography Series) Dorothy Day - Friend to the Forgotten Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker A Penny a Copy - Readings from the Catholic Worker Word Made Flesh - The Chicago Catholic Worker and the Emergence of Lay Activism in the Church Finding My Way - A Journey Along the Rim of the Catholic Worker Movement Voices from the Catholic Worker

(from fellowship magazine)