The IN OUR TIME Guild Newsletter of the Dorothy Day Guild A Woman of Conscience Volume 5, Issue 1 Fall 2019 A for Our Time

Dear Friends, Greetings this beautiful Fall from the Guild! Dorothy always rejoiced at nature’s miracles. How she loved the ailanthus tree that stubbornly insisted on surviving in the broken cracks of urban sidewalks. She saw it outside her window at Maryhouse (where she died among the poor and homeless almost forty years ago this November). Like her, it seemed to defy reason. Hers was a no-nonsense reason. A reason that insisted on the logic of its conclusions. The logic of ? Sainthood. Often she would quote Leon Bloy on how the only tragedy in life is not to become a saint. It wasn’t canonization she had in mind, of course. Rather the journey in faith to holiness: the path extended before us all. Virtues and their practice insure firm footing—and accordingly are one of the traditional “proofs” of sanctity. Recent issues of this newsletter have explored the great theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity; last quarter’s issue focused on justice, one of the four “cardinal” virtues. This issue, we’re looking at prudence, perhaps the least under- stood. The prudent person, the Catechism tells us, looks where he is going. And, as James Keenan points out in “Good Talk” (please see p. 2), prudence is always in pursuit of justice. Holding up Lady Prudence’s mirror, Dorothy, as evidenced in her many autobiographical writings, always looked first to see where she had been. She harbored painfully few illusions about her sins and failings. Like the fall tree brilliant with foliage one month and barren and drab the next, the saint and the sinner, Dorothy knew well, were one and the same. Part of her practical, prudent course of action was to look to the , not to revere them as much as to emulate them (see “Saintly Matters,” p.6). She looked similarly to who lived what he taught (see “Eyes to See, Ears to Hear,” p. 9); he almost could have stepped out of Dostoevsky, whom Dorothy read voraciously. And in Kateri Boucher’s “Breaking Bread” (p. 12), she would have seen the same searching for the abundant life she sought genera- tions ago. We look now to Dorothy’s life for guidance. The Guild continues—with your faithful help—to make great strides toward completing the diocesan phase of the inquiry, the first lap of the long trek toward canonization (see “Dispatches,” p. 5). The start of the Roman phase, the second and final lap, appears closer and closer. Together, we will continue to run the good race, daring prudence, assured of the finish line: Dorothy Day is a saint for our time! P.S. You know without our having to say it (but we will!), how much we count on your support. If you’re not yet a Guild member, won’t you join us? Is it time to renew? Would you like to gift someone? Or even make a donation? (See p. 15). And if you’re in the New York area, please don’t miss a very special presentation, “Dorothy Day: an Undivided Heart,” with Kate Hennessy, Robert Ellsberg, and Pat and Kathleen DeSutter Jordan (p. 14 for details). Many thanks and all blessings.

*The “Ichthus” image (“the sign of the fish”) was used by the early Christians as an easily recognizable symbol for Jesus. Dorothy Day’s saintliness, we pray, will become increasingly recognizable—easy for all to see. GOOD TALK with James Keenan, S.J.

(It is a pleasure to share “good talk” with from Birmingham City Jail.” It’s reach their goal. The white pastors Fr, James Keenan, awarded the 2019 one of the great American works of acted as if they cared but were offering John Courtney Murray Award by the writing. In it, King is responding to little more than a “delaying” tactic. Theological Society of America white Christian pastors who insisted Indeed, they were like the white police for a lifetime of distinguished theologi- that African Americans’ fight for civil who would block the marchers, or cal achievement. Currently the Canisius rights—and worse, attack Professor at Boston College, Jim is a Jesuit their marches for Prudence is mainly about them, as at the priest, moral theologian, bioethicist, prolific freedom—were two things: getting to the Edmund Pettus writer and author. His many books include asking too much Bridge where Virtues for Ordinary Christians too soon. MLK’s end, in the name of justice. the marchers [a Church Book, National Pastoral Life reply is about tim- were beaten. The Center] and A History of Catholic ing, a reply often echoed in the famous police were trying to stop the march- Moral Theology in the Twentieth phrase “Why we can’t wait.” I love ers. But so were the white pastors. Century: From Confessing Sins to teaching this because it corrects our In fact, their tactics were worse; they Liberating Consciences [The Catholic idea of prudence as simply meaning were using what Augustine would call University of America Press].) “caution.” “resemblance vices,” vices that look In past issues we’ve explored the Too many people think of pru- like a virtue but are false. theological virtues (faith, hope, dence that way. Caution is a charity)—since their practice is worthy part of prudence but is part of the “proof ” of holiness— only one of its many elements. and recently we have begun to In fact, caution is not the basic explore the cardinal virtues thrust of prudence. Prudence (prudence, justice, fortitude, is mainly about two things: temperance). I admit that I’ve getting to the end, in the name been somewhat dubious about of justice. So first, prudence is examining prudence, since I’ve about determining the means always thought of it as a “bland” to get to the end. That’s why little virtue, a kind of “yellow King told the white pastors: light” that serves only to slow you are slowing us down; you things down. are our obstacle. Their appeal Keenan: When I teach the virtue to “moderation” was not a 2 of prudence in my courses, I assign healthy appeal. In following Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1963 “Letter the white man’s moderation, African Americans would never Familiar signage in the South of Jim Crow Whose “moderation” were the pas- tors that King was addressing talking about? That’s what he wanted to know. Did these whites understand how awful the lives of African Americans were, how wrong it would be to move toward equality at the white man’s pace? They used “moderation” as if to suggest prudence, but that was not true prudence. It was nothing more than an insidious delaying tactic that could undermine the civil-rights project. Prudence, on the other hand, is the measure of the mean between too much and too little. The pace of Prudence, holding a mirror to herself the white pastors was too little. They “used” the word “moderation,” but of justice. As the proud son of him that Dorothy Day was coming they didn’t mean moderation. Nor a bricklayer, he’s long held an to my college, LeMoyne. He called prudence. Nor virtue. appreciation for a strong foun- her, “Moscow Mary.” I asked him why. Second, prudence is about pursuing dation! I wonder how being the “She’s a commie.” A few weeks later, justice! Prudence is always in the proud son of a he contacted me. “I asked around,” he pursuit of justice, that is, to give each policeman may have added to said, “and all the cops who know her his or her due. King’s letter is about your appreciation of prudence? say, ‘She’s the real thing.’ Sorry, I called the fact that the African American In the 1950s and ‘60s, my Dad was a her that name.” It’s prudent to admit was not living in a just world. The police officer in NYC. In fact, the last when you are wrong, especially when “laws” themselves were meant to deny position he held was as a commanding you were, as in his original comment, African Americans equity and jus- officer of Manhattan South Homicide, unjust. tice. Jim Crow and other laws which the same position as Kojak! I grew He taught me many other ways to codified and solidified racism were up as the son of a man not “true” laws because they were not who knew the truth just laws, a point that King made in his about N.Y. I remember letter, quoting Aquinas. The once we walked past a “prudence” of the Jim Crow laws was few women who were a “prudence” that kept telling African sex workers. He said, Americans they were NOT equal to “You know, you can- the white man, that they were not to not judge a book by its be in his place or walking at his time cover, because these or speaking with his freedom. But women, who are often these were not “true” laws because forced to do this work they were not “just” laws. A law that in these conditions, are is not fair is no law at all, for all laws really very honest and must be just. King’s prudence, then, very helpful to the most Martin Luther King, Birmingham city jail, 1963, holding a was a just prudence, a true prudence, needy in the city.” Then mirror to his fellow Christians a virtuous prudence. he added that those who traffic them, understand how to see the true and You’ve proposed that there their pimps, were the worst. He was the false. should be only two cardinal vir- teaching me how to prudently under- Five years passed between tues: justice and prudence. Last stand and distinguish the true from the Dorothy Day’s conversion and issue, Stanley Hauerwas talked false. her founding of the Catholic 3 about the foundational quality When I entered the Jesuits, I told (Good Talk, cont’d on p. 4) (Good Talk, cont’d from p. 3) You’ve pointed out that as we develop the virtues, we will form Worker. She lost many of her our conscience. What contri- old radical friends and found bution does prudence make in no new Catholic ones with the shaping conscience? How did it same commitment to the poor. effect Dorothy, do you think? We’re told she prayed often for the grace of “discernment.” Is In the mother church of the Jesuits in discernment another facet of Rome, the Gesu, the very first image prudence’s practice? And what you see as you enter is an enormous might it look like? statue of Prudence in the cupola (inner dome) of the church. She is holding I think discernment is a form of her chief icon, a mirror. Prudence prudence. A lot of people, when they My image of Dorothy sitting in the holds a mirror because she needs to read Amoris Laetitia, the Apostolic middle of a park whenever there were look to and learn from the past. Only Exhortation of Francis on mar- nuclear-attack drills is telling. She by reviewing what she has done and riage, think “discernment” is new. But would simply go and sit on a bench— learned as the result of her decisions in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts of making it perfectly clear that she had can she learn how to make better deci- the Apostles, Peter and James hold a discerned the need to protest this sions for the future. Prudence depends Council to determine what precepts preparation for war that was being on a person reflecting on what he or of the Jewish law need to be a part of masked as a public-safety event. she has done and whether the deci- the journey to become Christian. The You’ve written about how vir- sions proved to be right or wrong. That Council had to discern where the Holy tues in practice can conflict with is why we are always called to examine Spirit was leading the new commu- one another. I think of all the our consciences as to whether what nity of the followers of Jesus. And competing loyalties in Dorothy’s we did turned out to be for the good they made a very significant judgment life. Her multiple talents and or not. The reflective life is a condition about dropping circumcision and other roles: a writer and an activist, for the prudent life. Jewish rules, meaning that Gentiles the founder of a growing move- didn’t have to effectively become Jews ment, a single mom of a young But the mirror is also a way of not first in order to become Christians. So, daughter and then the grand- only seeing what’s behind you: it also we have been practicing discernment mother of a big family, to whom lets you see yourself. And so Prudence for a long time. a whole generation of American needs you to examine not only what you decided to do and what you did, Real discernment has a visceral side Catholics looked for leadership. but why you decided on this course as well. The discernment of spirits So many different demands! Is rather than another. In other words, requires that one listen in a variety of part of prudence’s task simply to prudence lets you examine not only ways: to your heart, your mind, your sort them all out? your actions but also your motiva- sentiments, your feelings. I tell stu- In a word, yes. Prudence requires tions. This is the true examination of dents that discernment works on three one to descend into the details, and conscience. levels. First, you search your mind— in the details are found a variety of you list your thoughts about trying to multiple roles that one has. Conflict is Finally, the mirror is also to make sure make a decision. Then you search your inevitable. That’s why discernment is you know yourself. Not only your heart—to figure out what’s right or so necessary. Always, always, always. moral strengths and your limitations, wrong, what’s truly good and loving Think of the Father of the Prodigal but everything about yourself. Are and what is not. Finally, you search Son. We need to realize that as soon as you quick on your feet? Do you need your guts. What do your guts tell you? the father went running to welcome more time to decide than others? I think when you get to your guts, you back his long-lost son, he knew he Are you afraid of the dark? Knowing are really into discernment. would trigger the resentment of his your specific qualities help in making good actual decisions. In fact, know- Discernment takes time. It’s not righteous elder son. How could he not? His decision to embrace the one ing yourself is the key to becoming a 4 known for quickness. It’s where you moral person. settle down into a deciding mode. will mean risking the indignation of the other. Conflict: it’s unavoidable. (Good Talk, cont’d on p. 8) DISPATCHES! We are pleased to announce that our team of 108 volunteer transcribers has completed initial transcriptions of Dorothy Day’s 6,800-page set of diaries! The first step—and a major milestone—in what is a rigorous, demanding, multi-step process. The second step is for each page to be read by a five-person team of veteran transcribers who review for errors and apply a second set of eyes to those pesky “indecipherables.” Then, transcription coordinator, Dr. Joe Sclafani, re-checks the reviewers’ work. Two-thirds of this work has been completed. VOX POP The third and final step is to copy every page onto A4 paper and place, in turn, into special, acid-free boxes (after all this, you can appreciate why!). Prayer — in its original form All will be stored in a set of locked cabinets specially designated for the a petition — is the voicing of Dorothy Day inquiry. hope. “The people” continue to sign the petition (available on back cover of this newsletter Cause postulator in Rome, Dr. Waldery Hilgeman, pronounced the or at www.dorothydayguild. transcriptions “perfect!” on his recent visit to New York. Dr. Hilgeman org), asking that Dorothy Day was impressed with progress in collecting evidence, but noted several be named a saint — and to hope areas that need attention, due to evolving Vatican regulations on causes for they will be heard. sainthood. These include: Dorothy Day is a prime example of what • Having one of the theological experts (censors) read the original doc- the common man/woman can do to “love uments we have collected—the actual diaries and letters—as opposed their neighbor”. By action and not just to their copies. The latter are anthologized in two highly recommended prayer. collections, edited by Robert Ellsberg (published by Marquette Harvey Blair, Oro Valley, AZ University Press and in paperback from Image Books). She has inspired me in so many ways to be • Obtaining all law enforcement records regarding Dorothy’s eight aware of the poor. lifetime arrests. Apparently, it is unusual for a candidate for sainthood Patricia Miller, Spokane, WA to have such a rap sheet! Each arrest will need explanation and con- text, especially the one for her being swept up in a raid, charged as a Dorothy led a simple, prayerful life and prostitute, in what was deemed a “disorderly house.” (It was, in fact, an was devoted to helping the poor. She as a IWW [Industrial Workers of the World] “flophouse” in Chicago—cheap layperson is a shining example of how to lodgings—that was the target of the infamous Palmer raids aimed at live by putting her trust in God. political radicals when Dorothy unfortunately was staying there). Patricia Busch, Tarrytown, NY • Taking testimony from about twenty “expert witnesses.” Unlike the She lived the gospel. “eyewitnesses” who are people who knew Dorothy Day well, the expert Damian Barta, Skoki, IL witnesses are Church officials who will be asked to reflect on Dorothy She is a woman for our time -- single, Day’s sanctity in light of her practice of “heroic” virtue and her reputa- Catholic, committed woman for our day. tion for holiness. Dorothy Dwight, Chicago, IL Dorothy Day has so inspired me. I cannot The Dorothy Day Guild Advisory Committee is happy to announce the stop reading her books! addition of six new members. Created in 2005 to help guide the can- Donna Zalewski, Strasburg, PA (Dispatches cont’d on p. 7) 5

(“The Vine and the Branches”—a metaphor for Christian discipleship and an apt image for the growing Guild—inspired the iconography in this column by Catholic Worker artist, Ade Bethune.) SAINTLY MATTERS s she crisscrossed the country by Greyhound bus, visiting one Catholic At Root… Worker house after another, Dorothy Day was perennially asked to define Dorothy drew freely from the movement. She proffered many explications but seemed to have a the saints, Scripture, and Aspecial preference for saying it was a school. A school for learning, in the words of Church teaching and tradi- St. Paul, how to put off the old man and put on the new. A school for asking what tion, excerpting quotations it might look like if we took the Gospel seriously and attempted to apply it both for The Catholic Worker in our daily lives and to the world around us. newspaper, like these on prudence and virtue: Dorothy looked to the saints as her teachers since they after all had asked the same question. Who better to go to for help in responding, here and now, to the singular Find your delight in the Lord who will call that binds together all Christians: the call to be holy. give you your heart’s desire. Psalm 37: 4 The help she sought was not academic. The learning she wanted was the wisdom of the saints’ lived experience. Likely she knew from her schoolgirl love of the classics The words of the wise: incline your that the Greeks associated the great virtue of wisdom with the “feminine.” (And one ear, and hear my words, and let your can only surmise, based on her own lived experience, her nodding appreciation!). mind attend to my teaching. For it will But the perception of prudence (the focus of this be well if you hold them within you, if current newsletter) as being a kind of poor second they all are ready on your lips. cousin, only a “practical” wisdom, would probably Proverbs 22: 17-18 rankle her. All your ways may be straight in your Certainly, at least when it applied to her faith, prac- own eyes, but it is the Lord who weighs tical was the point. Her struggles, once she settled hearts. To do what is right and just on her vocation at the Catholic Worker, was not with is more acceptable to the Lord than her mission but with how to carry it out. So it’s not sacrifice. surprising that she would turn for guidance in a very Proverbs 21: 2-3 St. Theresa of Lisieux special way to two women saints, Teresa of Avila and The just care for the cause of the poor; Theresa of Lisieux. Though both were steeped in the Carmelite tradition, conven- the wicked do not understand such tional thought (wisdom?) saw them as quite apart from one another. For Dorothy, care. they formed a dyptich that framed her spirituality. Proverbs 29: 7 She first learned of 16th century Teresa of Avila from a pre-conversion reading of Happy the one who listens to me, William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience. Teresa complained of suffering attending daily at my gates, keeping from a half-heartedness in her first 20 years as a that had deadened her life watch at my doorposts. and spirit. Dorothy identified with her desire to break free of what Teresa deemed Proverbs 8: 34 her spiritual “mediocrity.” Break free she did. She became a tireless administrator They (the commandments) are not and reformer (founding 14 monasteries), traveling days on end between them heavy to the man that loves whereas (her “greyhound” was a donkey). Dorothy wrote of her shortly before the Catholic they are a burden to him that does not Worker’s founding in 1933: love. I had read the life of St. Teresa of Avila and fallen in love with her. She was a mystic St. Augustine and a practical woman, a recluse and a traveler, a cloistered nun and yet most active. To not progress on the way of life is to Teresa became for Dorothy a model of the synthesis she sought between prayer and regress. action. One of her favorite Teresian passages, found in Interior Castle, is arguably the St. Bernard of Clairvaux ultimate “practical” insight: we can only demonstrate our love of God by our love of Man is perfected by virtue. our brothers and sisters: St. Thomas Acquinas The surest sign that we are keeping these two [great] commandments is, I think, As face mirrors face in water, so the we should really be loving our neighbor: for we cannot be sure if we are loving heart reflects the person. 6 God, although we may have good reasons for believing that we are, but we can Proverbs 27: 19 know quite well if we are loving our neighbour. of growing our capacity to love. The We should look to St. Therese, the “little” but not easy way of practic- Little Flower, to walk her little way, ing forgiveness, charity, and patience her way of love. We should look to St. among those nearest to us. No term Teresa of Avila who was … greatly came closer, in Dorothy’s mind, to daring in what she wished to do for describing the ideal Christian way of God. doing things—simply, immediately, And she added her own emi- directly—trusting to their lasting nently practical, prudential twist: effect. Do what comes to hand. Whatsoever In House of Hospitality, her first full thy hand finds to do, do it with all thy account of life at the Catholic Worker, might. After all, God is with us. Dorothy reflects that “we are not con- tented with little achievements, with And so, she knew, are the saints. small beginnings.” And seemingly to — C.Z. remind herself more than anyone else, St. Teresa of Avila she writes: From its very beginning, the Catholic Worker attempted to embody this insight by reviving the daily practice (Dispatches, cont’d from p. 5) of the works of mercy: to feed the onization project—and to insure that her legacy be fully recognized and hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter transmitted—the Committee’s founding members knew Dorothy personally. the homeless. And in its earliest years, Many had worked with her at the Catholic Worker, and some were present at to forge the practice of the works of the exploratory meetings convened by Cardinal John O’Connor on whether mercy and the practice of non-violence, the New York Archdiocese should promote her cause. rendering them inseparable. Until her death in 1980, Dorothy lived out this But new needs have emerged—in anticipation of the completion of the initial fusion—on soup lines and picket lines, diocesan phase of the Archdiocesan Inquiry and the start of the final Roman in demonstrations and jail cells—par- phase—and so many more talented, committed people want to help. They may ticipating in the great social movements not have known Dorothy personally (some were not even born at the time of of her day. her death), but they all have been personally impacted by her life and witness. But Dorothy was always aware of the An enthusiastic, grateful, and warm welcome go to these new members: smallness of human efforts: our cumu- Kevin Ahearn, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College, lative actions like those few loaves and former president of the International Movement of Catholic Students; Elias fishes needing to be multiplied. Over Bahou, Director of Business Development for St. Peter’s Way Tours; James the years, she increasingly stressed the Boyle, retired businessman, catalyst for annual Dorothy Day lecture at need for great faith in God, looking to Manhattan College, his alma mater; Carmina Chapp, Catholic theologian, that other great Carmelite, Theresa of educator, and founder with her husband, Larry, of the Dorothy Day Catholic Lisieux, only a few decades her junior, Worker Farm in Harveys Lake, PA; Deirdre Cornell, author, former for encouragement. Unlike the Spanish Maryknoll lay missioner, long active in migrant ministry; Colleen Dulle, Teresa, this French saint never left her journalist and producer of podcasts and videos at America magazine; Blanche cloister. Her engagement with the Johnson, social worker and board president, Bigs and Littles NYC, a youth world came through her receptivity to mentoring program; Luis Pena, Hispanic Outreach Coordinator for the Office God’s love, her willingness to be just a of Hispanic Ministry, Archdiocese of NY; Joseph Sclafani, retired physician “little grain of sand” allowing the power who coordinates the cause’s transcription process, and Gabriella Wilke, of God’s love to work through her. Marketing Coordinator for Commonweal magazine. D 7 Theresa counseled the “Little Way” (Good Talk, cont’d from p. 4)

One of the things you stress astute awareness of the negative at International House, a student-led concerning the virtues is that effect such a decision would Social Justice Community that Daniel they must always relate to con- have on the Church. She was Berrigan had founded. Dorothy spoke crete situations, to real life. This apparently so convincing that on “Saints and Heroes of Our Day,” and makes me think of the famous the issue was never brought up specifically on Cesar Chavez, Julius again. Prudence Nyerere, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. in action? I remember the evening, fifty-eight A historian recently years ago, as if it was yesterday. argued that if you The day after the lecture, International really knew saintly House was having a lunch in Dorothy’s persons, you would honor. In planning it, the students realize that they decided that she was most likely a were too danger- vegetarian, because, as they explained, ous to be models “she was a saint.” (The decision to be a for children. If you vegetarian was not made as frequently really knew what in 1971 as today.) I simply asked what they were like, you they were serving. Tofu sandwiches, knew how extreme they said. I asked, quite apart from her

ROBERT LAX ROBERT they were. Think of being a saint or not, “Do you know if Day (far right, sitting on bench) and other Catholic Workers, Francis of Assisi or she has eaten tofu?” “She’s a saint, she Washington Square Park, NYC, July 20, 1956, in protest of more extraordinarily must be a vegetarian; what else would “Operation Alert” civil defense drill that led to her arrest. Catherine of Siena she eat?” who hardly ate any- At lunch, I got to sit next to Dorothy. story in 1951 when Dorothy was thing in the last years of her life. asked by Msgr. Edward Gaffney She asked who I was, and I explained of the Archdiocese to consider Thomas Aquinas says that all virtues that I was a Jesuit novice. She was dropping the word “Catholic” but one should observe the mean, that happy to hear that. When she bit into from the paper’s title (All the Way is, aim for the point between an excess her sandwich she said, “What’s this?” to Heaven, pp. 190-193). Dorothy of too much or a deficit of too little; She opened it and looked at me. “It’s begins her response by assur- all virtues except charity. Charity, he tofu,” I said. “They said that since you ing Msgr. Gaffney of her “love said, does not observe the mean. You are a saint, you must be a vegetarian, and respectful obedience to the can never love God enough. Charity and so figured you’d like tofu.” “I hate Church, and our gratitude to knows no limits. Think for instance of when they call me a saint AND when this Archdiocese….” She then how alike Mother Teresa of Calcutta they do things like this,” she said. recounts that she did consider was to Dorothy in being known for “Dorothy,” I asked, “would you want “that we could change the name outdistancing us on the way of the to come to the Jesuit , and rather than cease publication of Lord. Their passage of following in the I could make you a ham and cheese The Catholic Worker.” But on fur- footsteps of Christ shows excesses that sandwich?” “That would be delightful,” ther reflection, she wrote Msgr. prudence might not allow us to follow she responded. So, I drove her to the Gaffney, to do so would likely in our daily lives. In some ways we other side of campus, to where our cause scandal and “put into the can follow them, but in other ways we novitiate was. hands of our enemies, the ene- can’t—their charity is just so strong. So let me ask. Where is the prudence mies of the Church, a formidable Anything you’d like to add? in this little story, and where is the D weapon.” Somehow in her letter I met Dorothy once. In the spring of lack of it? And why? to Msgr. Gaffney she managed to 8 1971, I was eighteen years old, a fresh- communicate not only her love, man at LeMoyne College and a Jesuit prayers, and obedience, but her novice. I was friends with the people Eyes to See, Ears to Hear Perhaps Prudence’s mirror is two-sided: reflecting our true selves and revealing the true light of others. Clearly, looking from both sides, Dorothy’s meeting Peter Maurin can be construed as one of the most prudential encounters in contemporary Christian history. Prudential and providential. For Dorothy always said that without Peter there would be no Catholic Worker (and many would argue the converse is at least equally true). What Dorothy saw in Peter others freely admit they likely would have missed. Maybe it was his that opened her to his wisdom. Or maybe, simply, his holiness. In any case, Peter, this poor man, this itinerant worker and scholar, gave Dorothy the riches of , of the saints and writers of history, of the traditions of Catholic belief and practice over time. And she recognized its treasure, determining not to bury it. She who wanted the abundant life discovered its contours in the movement they co-founded. Dorothy wrote about Peter’s inspiration—and the remarkably consistent shape and steady direction of the movement—in the many articles that appeared in The Catholic Worker throughout the years. Here are some highlights:

hen I first saw Peter I had prayed at the Shrine of the Maurin my impres- , that I might sion was of a short, find something to do in the social Wbroad-shouldered workingman with a order besides reporting conditions. high, broad head covered with graying I wanted to change them, not just hair. His face was weather-beaten, he report them, but I had lost faith in rev- had warm grey eyes and a wide, pleas- olution, I wanted to love my enemy, ant mouth. The collar of his shirt was whether capitalist or Communist. dirty. But he had tried to dress up by I certainly did not realize at first that wearing a tie and a suit which looked I had my answer in Peter Maurin. I as though he had slept in it (As I found was thirty-five years old, and I had out afterward, indeed he had.) met plenty of radicals in my time and What struck me first about him was plenty of crackpots too; people who that he was one of those people who had blueprints to change the social Peter Maurin and Dorothy, circa 1933 talked you deaf, dumb and blind, order were a dime a dozen around who each time he saw you began his Union Square. I get out a paper to reach the man in conversation just where he had left At that time Peter Maurin was fifty- the street, started right in on my edu- off at the previous meeting, and never seven, had never married, had been cation; he was a born teacher, and any stopped unless you begged for rest, “away from the Church” in his youth, park bench, coffee shop counter, bus and that was not for long. He was had worked with Sangnier and his or lodging house was a place to teach. irrepressible and he was incapable of social studies group in Paris, and had He believed in starting on a program taking offense. sold its paper, Le Sillon. He believed at once, without waiting to acquire The night I met Peter I had come in going to the people in town and classroom or office or meeting hall. To from an assignment for The countryside, because first of all he was reach the man in the street, you went Commonweal, covering the of the people himself…. to the street. Peter was literal. Communist-inspired “hunger march” I had been a Catholic only about four 9 of the unemployed to Washington. years, and Peter, having suggested that (Eyea to See, cont’d on p. 10) (Eyes to See, cont’d from p. 9)

The Catholic Worker was financed each month half a dozen “easy essays,” canon law called for the establishment like the publications of any radi- many of which he insisted that we of hospices in every bishopric. When cal “splinter group.”If we had had a repeat over and over again. He was the a reader who had been sleeping in mimeograph machine, it would have kind of teacher who believed in repe- the subway came into The Catholic been a mimeographed paper. But we tition, restatement, and the continual Worker office one day and disclosed had nothing but my typewriter, so we return to first principles. her need (the apartment and the office were already full), Peter’s literal acceptance of “If thy needs “People are just food or drink, feed him, and if he beginning to needs shelter, feed him” meant that realize how deep- we rented a large apartment a block seated the evil is,” away which became the first House of Peter said soberly. Hospitality for women. Now we have “That is why we two houses, on First St., and Third must be Catholic St. Here the works of mercy are still radicals, we must being practiced by the group who gets get down to the out The Catholic Worker, living roots. That is what without salaries, in voluntary poverty. radicalism is— “Feeding thy brother” started with the word means feeding a few poor men. It became a Peter, the worker/scholar getting down to daily breadline in 1936, and the line the roots.”…. still forms every day outside the door. What he wanted took our writing to a printer, found was to instill in all, worker or scholar, out it would cost $57 to get out 2,500 a philosophy of poverty and a philoso- Once, when I looked around our copies of a small, eight-page sheet… phy of work. crowded house of hospitality and and boldly had it set up. There was He was the layman always. I mean that asked Peter if this is what he meant no office, no staff, no mailing list. I he never preached, he taught. While when he talked about houses of hospi- had a small pay-check coming in for decrying secularism, the separation tality where the works of mercy could a research job which was just finish- of the material from the spiritual, be performed at a personal sacrifice, ing; two checks were due for articles his emphasis as a layman, was on our by practicing voluntary poverty, which I had written, but these were needed material needs, our need for work. meant in turn stripping one’s self to pay overdue rent and light bills. food, clothing, and shelter, Though of the “old man” and putting on the Father Joseph McSorley, the Paulist, Peter went weekly to confession “new,” which meant Christ, so that we paid me generously for a small job of and daily to Communion and spent could be other Christs to our brothers, bibliography which I did for him; the an hour a day in the presence of the in whom we were also to see Christ, late Father Ahearn, pastor of a black Blessed Sacrament, his study was of Peter sighed and said, [that at least] “It church in Newark, gave me ten dol- the material order around him…. arouses the conscience.”… lars; Sister Peter Claver gave me one He constantly urged individuals to He had invitations to speak at colleges, dollar which someone had just given practice the corporal and spiritual seminaries and groups throughout the her. These were our finances. We took works of mercy; he urged bishops country. Through the houses of hos- that first issue of the paper into Union to establish Houses of Hospitality. pitality which have been established, Square that and sold it for Somehow the two planks of the pro- he has built up groups for round table one penny a copy to Communists and gram got mixed up. I can remember discussions. Through the farming trade unionists…. well enough how it happened. He had , he has directed attention 10 Peter never took part in any of the written a series of essays addressed to to fundamental economic ideas. work of the paper, except to turn in the bishops, pointing out to them that To him there is a synthesis about all his ideas—they fit together; as blueprints the social ideas, not only of the New the correlation of the soul and body, for a new world they are unsurpassed, Testament, but of the Old. Unless we we are using religion as an insurance idyllic. But, when it comes to working try to put these ideas into practice, policy, as a prop, as a comfort in afflic- them out, given the human material, we are guilty of secularism…. Unless tion, and not only is religion then truly the lack of equipment, the vagaries of we are trying to put the social ideas an opiate of the people, but we are human nature—there is the rub! Do of the Gospel into practice, we are like men who “beholding our face in they work? Does Christianity work?... not showing our love for our neigh- a glass, go away, not mindful of what D Peter does not find it at all extraordi- bor…. Unless we are putting these manner of men we are.” nary to expect people to try to begin social ideas into practice, recognizing now to put into practice some of

“But God hath chosenConfounding the foolish things of the world stantly overlookingthe evil.”Wise to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the Writing late in her life on May Day of 1976, weak things of the world to confound the things Dorothy reflected on the beginnings of the Catholic which are mighty,” so St. Paul declares. Prudent is Worker movement and life lived among “the lame, hardly the descriptor that leaps to mind when trying the halt, and the blind.” Again, she brought in her to understand the work Dorothy and Peter started. beloved Dostoevsky, Foolish is more likely. As late as 1974, Dorothy this time, the wrote in the paper that “many of us are viewed as famous phrase from holy fools in the eyes of our friends and readers The Brothers because we try to share the suffering of the poor.” Karamazov: As a passionate lover of Russian literature, Dorothy “Sometimes life is so knew well the meaning of holy fool. The character hard, we foolishly of Prince Myshkin in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot had look upon ourselves long captured her imagination. Myshkin is por- as martyrs, because trayed as a childlike, it is almost as though pure character who we were literally sharing in the sufferings of those wins all hearts by we serve. It is good to remember—to clutch to our his very simplicity. aching hearts those sayings of Fr. Zossima—‘Love As Dorothy writes in practice is a harsh and dreadful thing compared admiringly, he to love in dreams.’” “willingly accepts suffering, is easily If the genius of Dostoevsky helped Dorothy arrive put upon, answers at the mystery of God’s presence in the poor, it was offense by begging her genius that refused to unravel it, sentimentalize forgiveness, and it, or idealize it. Only to live out its implications. She exaggerates the good never turned back. A confounding foolishness—and a holy one. in others while con- 11 now am I beginning to get to know her as more than just a name. In the past year, especially, her presence in my life has become more explicit. In September 2018, I moved to Detroit without any real job or plan. I had spent a summer there a couple years , and fallen so in love with the city and the Catholic Worker community there that I decided to move back for good. As I packed up my car in Rochester, one of the items I happened to grab was an old framed icon of Dorothy Day my mom had given me. I still didn’t know much about Dorothy—just enough to know that I admired her—but I decided to pack the icon anyway. Part of my intention for the year was to learn more about the Catholic Worker tradition, which was so central to many of my friends and by Kateri Boucher mentors in Detroit, including Lydia Wylie-Kellermann, (Kateri Boucher, twenty-four, lives at Detroit’s Catholic Worker who had been born in Detroit’s then-CW house. I hung the house, where she became its newest community member only a few frame in my new bedroom, where I could look at it daily months ago. She is also the associate editor of Geez, a print maga- and (hopefully) soak up some of Dorothy’s influence. zine for social justice, art, and activism aimed at “the over-churched, out-churched, un-churched, and Within a few weeks of moving, a job and a plan seemed maybe even the unchurchable” to find me. I was offered an Geez in both the U.S. and . unexpected position with magazine, a quarterly print Geez includes a dedicated section on the Catholic Worker and has publication on art and activism won frequent accolades for its for people “on the fringes of spiritual coverage at the UTNE faith.” And a few weeks later, Independent Press Awards.) I found out that Detroit’s Catholic Worker house (Day Growing up as I did in House) was in need of some- Rochester, New York, long the one to move in and help during home of a Catholic Worker a time of transition. For forty community, Dorothy Day years, Day House has provided was a familiar name. I don’t hospitality for women expe- remember how old I was riencing housing instability, when I first heard about her, as well as a space of gathering but I definitely knew she was for weekly Mass, open pot- “up there” with other people luck, and community events. like Martin Luther King, Jr., Although I wasn’t sure what I Mahatma Gandhi, and maybe was doing, I decided to say yes. even people in the Bible. But So, suddenly, without planning whenever I heard people talk Simple beauty, Day House kitchen it, I found myself beginning about her and the Catholic work with a radical Christian Worker movement, I never print publication and preparing to move into a Catholic understood what the whole thing was about. (Is Catholic the Worker house of hospitality. I remember thinking, “Well, it same as Christian? Was Dorothy still alive? Who was orga- might be time to finally read some Dorothy Day.” nizing all of this?). I do remember bagging sandwiches at St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality in Rochester, however, and Luckily, I didn’t have to look far. Last winter, in preparation knowing that, somehow, Dorothy Day had something to do for moving into Day House, my friend and I embarked on 12 with it. a road trip to visit other Midwest Catholic Worker houses and farms. Wherever we went, I made a point to pick up Despite being introduced to Dorothy at a young age, only whatever Dorothy book I found lying around. In Milwaukee In the spirit of Dorothy sharing her personal writing, I’d like I started reading Kate Hennessy’s Dorothy Day: The World Will to offer a brief reflection I wrote in my journal at the end Be Saved by Beauty (and I was so enthralled that they were of our travels, including a quote from Dorothy that I found kind enough to let me borrow it). In Chicago’s Emmaus particularly moving. House I flipped through the pages of The Long Loneliness. At “Have we failed? Dorothy asked. Yes, and on every front. (...) I must St. Isidore Farm in Cuba City, Wisconsin, it was Dorothy’s say that I am not much concerned. Failures are inseparable to work diaries, The Duty of Delight, edited by Robert Ellsberg. of this kind, and necessary for our growth in holiness.” (The World As the trip went on, I felt I was getting to know Dorothy. Will Be Saved by Beauty, p. 85) Her presence seemed palpable at all the houses and farms All the Dorothy this week has been so healing and relieving, and we visited, each of them giving me greater insight into her I’m learning a lot about myself in the process. How I feel so lib- life and legacy as it lives on today. erated reading about all the mistakes and missteps and beautiful By the end of our travels, I was deeply inspired by the humanity in her life and the movement. It’s like I didn’t know that beauty and richness of the movement, and amazed at how I was so desperately seeking permission to be a messy human as I it has grown and shifted over space and time. But perhaps step into this tradition. Grace has been rolling over in waves. I wish what moved me most was finally learning more about the we had the diaries of all the prophets and saints, and accounts from sheer messiness of it those who knew them and/or had to experience (endure?) their all. How so much leadership. I am comforted by the questions, uncertainties, discord, of the movement actually. Dorothy is both so good and so deeply human. had happened not In the past few months, Dorothy’s life has continued to according to plan, feel like an inspiration and a comfort. In a society that is and also how much obsessed with perfection, success, and image, it is unbe- had occurred with- lievably refreshing to step into a tradition that announces out prior planning at its (apparent) failures and does not run from the tensions, all—as Dorothy said, paradoxes, and messiness of life. Dorothy’s ability to be “It just came about. It honest in her humanity has made me feel more accepting just happened.” of my own. I feel genuinely welcomed into this movement, Before that road trip, this tradition, with hands extended from the past: “Come in, I’d fallen into the trap come in. You don’t have to be perfect, or even good. There’s of romanticizing and room in this for all of us.” idealizing Dorothy As I settle into life at Day House and my work with Geez, and the CW move- Dorothy’s presence felt: Kateri’s I have already been drawing from Dorothy’s imperfections ment—which, I’ll bookshelf with icon [failures?], grace, and honesty to get through the moments admit, only inten- I find most challenging. Bed bugs and overgrown gardens? sified when I heard that Dorothy was being considered for Sounds about right. Nearly running out of money before sainthood. And in the icon (still hanging above my bed), putting the issue to print? Just following in Dorothy’s foot- Dorothy’s stoic, haloed face seemed to me the very picture steps. Conflict in the community? All part of the tradition! of clarity, integrity, and purpose. Dorothy’s influence in my life is still in-process, still unfold- But when I actually began to read Dorothy’s writings and ing. But as I accept this invitation into the complexity of the to learn more about her, it felt as if I was swinging open Catholic Worker movement, I also feel Dorothy inviting me the icon and discovering what lay behind it. And, indeed, into deeper spiritual practice and grounding, deeper social I did find immense depths of clarity, integrity, and pur- analysis, and deeper solidarity with the most marginalized. pose. But I also found a record of missteps, frustrations, Looking ahead in my own life, I know I will continue to worry, disagreements, disorder, strained relationships, and draw inspiration and witness from looking back at hers. uncertainty. In other words: I found a real human being and community, something I hadn’t been expecting. Rather “Have we failed?” Dorothy asked. “Yes, and on every front.” Every than detracting from my view of Dorothy and the Catholic front! And what a life she lived. If failures are necessary for growth, I can only hope to make as many mistakes as she Worker movement, however, reading about their imperfec- 13 tions only drew me closer in. did—and to do so with as much passion, reflection, dedica- tion, and overwhelming love. D MARYKNOLL AFFILIATES DOROTHY DAY

MARYKNOLL SISTERS An Undivided Heart

MARYKNOLL FATHERS & BROTHERS MARYKNOLL SYMPOSIUM

SATURDAY, NOV. 16 8:30 a.m. TO 4 p.m. MARYKNOLL SOCIETY, ASIA ROOM 55 Ryder Rd. Ossining, NY 10545 LUNCH INCLUDED

SPACE IS LIMITED — RSVP REQUIRED: [email protected] or 914-236-3454 November is the month Dorothy Day was born (Nov. 8, 1887) and the month she entered eternal life (Nov. 29, 1980). Please join us for a day of reflection on Dorothy’s example and prophetic witness — their blessings and challenges for us today — with people who knew, loved and worked closely with her.

“Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart.” (Psalm 86:11)

PRESENTERS: Kate Hennessy Robert Ellsberg Patrick & Kathleen DeSutter Jordan is the youngest of nine grandchildren is the long-time editor-in-chief and were members of the New York Catholic of Dorothy Day. She is the author of The publisher of Orbis Books. He worked with Worker from 1968 to 1975 and later World Will Be Saved By Beauty: An Intimate Dorothy Day at the New York Catholic assisted Dorothy at Spanish Camp on Staten Portrait of My Grandmother (Scribner) and, Worker, incl. as managing editor of the Island. Both served as editors of the in collaboration with the photographer Catholic Worker newspaper. Robert edited Catholic Worker newspaper. Kathleen is a Vivian Cherry, Dorothy Day and the Catholic Dorothy Day’s diaries, letters and selected registered nurse, and Pat was an editor at Worker: The writings, incl. The Commonweal. He is Miracle of our Duty of Delight: The the author of Dorothy Continuance Diaries of Dorothy Day: Love in Action (Empire State). Day (Image). (Liturgical Press) and Kate divides her He serves on edited a collection time between the Historical of her Commonweal Ireland and Commission writings under the Vermont. preparing title Hold Nothing Dorothy Day’s Back (Liturgical cause for Press). canonization. 14 WANT TO HELP ?

JOIN The DOROTHY DAY GUILD The Dorothy Day Guild is the official body charged with forwarding her cause. In turn, the steady growth of Guild membership points to the vitality

of grassroots support essential to canonization. ADE BETHUNE Members make an annual offering of dues (amounts noted on membership form below) and receive hard copies of the quarterly newsletter, In Our Time. If you’re not yet a member, please, won’t you consider joining? And if you are, please do help spread the word and invite your family members, colleagues, and friends, in the pew and out! RENEW YOUR GUILD MEMBERSHIP Memberships are for one-year, subject to renewal. But admittedly, with our modest staff, we’re not In Our Time able to keep track of technically “lapsed” mem- Editor, Carolyn Zablotny berships. Nor are we particularly inclined to do Copy Editor, so, being much more “spirit of the law” than Graphic Designer, Rose Tannenbaum, “letter of the law” types. Berkshire TypeGraphic, Great Barrington, MA Instead we’re trusting to your help. Would you kindly look into when you Lettering, Linda Henry Orell last paid your dues and, if it’s time, renew your membership? Thank Photographs, Courtesy of the Department you so much. Even more importantly, thank you for all your generous and of Special Collections and University faithful support — past, present, and future! Archives, Marquette University Archives Back issues available online: www.dorothydayguild.org Part of the Dorothy Day inquiry calls for evidence of Seeking icons! To Contact: Dorothy’s “reputation for holiness” as demonstrated by popular, visual c/o Dorothy Day Guild devotions. These include icons created by known and lesser known artists. 1011 First Avenue, Room 787 The historical commission has begun to locate and collect these works. If New York, NY 10022 you have a Dorothy Day icon that you would like to share, please send the e-mail: [email protected] image, along with artist information, to [email protected]. We so www.dorothydayguild.org appreciate your help.

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ADVISORY COMMITTEE Kevin Ahearn PETITION Alex Avitabile Ask that Dorothy Day be named a Saint Elias Bahou The life of Dorothy Day (1887-1980) embodies the powerful message of Pope James Boyle Francis’s first encyclical, Lumen Fidei — “the light of faith is concretely placed at the Carmina Chapp service of justice…and peace.” Sr. Mary Donald Corcoran, O.S.B. Deirdre Cornell We believe she is a saint for our time. Monica Cornell Please sign this petition to advance her cause not because she needs it, but Tom Cornell because we today need her witness and model of holiness. Colleen Dulle Mail to: Robert Ellsberg The Dorothy Day Guild, 1011 First Avenue, Room 787, New York, NY 10022. Robert Gilliam Petitions also available online: www.dorothydayguild.org. Thank you! Geoffrey B. Gneuhs Martha Hennessy Name______Blanche Johnson Print above and sign here ______Kathleen DeSutter Jordan David Mueller E-mail______Luis Pena Phillip Runkel Country ______Street Address ______Joseph Sclafani City/State/Zip______Most Rev. Dennis Sullivan Rev. Msgr. Kevin Sullivan Comments (optional): Gabriella Wilke Louise Zwick ——— Msgr. Gregory Mustaciuolo Vice-Postulator George B. Horton Vice-Postulator Fr. Richard Welch, C.Ss.R. Cardinal’s Delegate ——— Jeffrey Korgen Guild Coordinator Anthony Santella Web/Social Media Director