Changemaker name [38]: Dorothy Day [11]
Dates [15]: 1897–1980 [11]
Quote [200]:
We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each
other … We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that …
love comes with community. [177]
Quote credit [50]: Dorothy Day, 1980 [17]
Image credit [270]: Bettmann / Contributor via Getty Images
Subheader [40]: Inspired by Faith [17]
Synopsis copy [220]:
Dorothy Day was a journalist, social activist, and peace advocate who
cofounded the Catholic Worker Movement, a network of communities
dedicated to modeling the justice and charity of Jesus Christ. [198]
Image credit [270]: The Bob Fitch Photography Archive, Stanford Libraries
Subheader [40]: A Life of Faith [15]
Body copy [245]:
Motivated by faith, Dorothy Day dedicated her life to serving others. She
focused on corporal works of mercy, providing food, shelter, companionship,
and other services to those in need. [193]
Date [14]: Nov. 8, 1897 [12]
Title [83]: Born in Brooklyn, NY [20]
Description [311]:
Although her parents rarely attended church, growing up, Day frequently read
the Bible, learned biblical Greek, and was baptized and confirmed in the
Episcopal Church. [166]
Image caption [142]:
Young Dorothy Day [center] with her brothers Donald and Sam, ca. 1899 [69]
Image credit [278]: Marquette University Libraries
Date [14]: 1916 [4]
Title [83]: Moves to New York City [22]
Description [311]:
Concerned about the plight of the poor, Day was attracted to the radical
politics of poverty, including socialism and communism. She became an
activist journalist and lived a bohemian lifestyle. [191]
Image caption [142]:
Tenements on New York City’s Lower East Side, 1912 [45]
Image credit [278]: Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock Photo
Date [14]: March 4, 1926 [13]
Title [83]: Gives Birth to Her Daughter, Tamar [33]
Description [311]:
After failed love affairs and an abortion, Day gave birth to Tamar and was
drawn into Catholicism and a spiritual awakening through her daughter’s
baptism. [155]
Image caption [142]: Dorothy Day with her daughter, Tamar, 1932 [41]
Image credit [278]: Marquette University Libraries
Date [14]: 1933 [4]
Title [83]: Cofounds The Catholic Worker [30]
Description [311]:
Wanting to combat the injustices that led to poverty, Day and Peter Maurin
cofounded the Catholic Worker Movement and its newspaper, The Catholic
Worker. She edited the paper for the rest of her life. [176]
Image caption [142]:
People reading The Catholic Worker in Union Square, New York City, 1940 [71]
Image credit [278]: Marquette University Libraries
Date [14]: 1933 [4]
Title [83]:
Opens First House of Hospitality [32]
Description [311]:
During the Great Depression, the Catholic Worker Movement began opening
urban houses, and later rural farms, to provide food and shelter to those in
need. Today the movement has nearly 200 communities worldwide. [209]
Image caption [142]:
St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality in New York City, ca. 1939 [60]
Image credit [278]: Marquette University Libraries
Date [14]: Nov. 29, 1980 [13]
Title [83]: Dies in New York City [21]
Description [311]:
Dorothy Day died in Maryhouse, a women’s shelter run by the Catholic Worker
Movement. Her influence continues: the Catholic Church is considering her
potential canonization as a saint. [187]
Image caption [142]:
Stained glass window at Dorothy Day’s former church, Our Lady Help of
Christians, on Staten Island, NY [108]
Image credit [278]: Three Village Photo, LLC
Subheader [40]: The Catholic Worker [19]
Bubble copy [254, 180-200 w/source]:
In these 1948 issues of The Catholic Worker, Day advocates distributism, an
economic theory based on Catholic social teaching that values the freedom of
laborers to own land and investment capital, and to be entrepreneurs. [199]
Image credit [270]: The Catholic Worker, Volume XV, Number 4, 1 June 1948,
The Catholic News Archive
Bubble copy [254, 180-200 w/source]:
The aim of distributism is family ownership of land, workshops, stores,
transport, trades, professions, and so on. Family ownership in the means of
production. … It is also the world’s desire. [195]
Source [51]: N/A
Image credit [270]: The Catholic Worker, Volume XV, Number 4, 1 June 1948,
The Catholic News Archive
Bubble copy [254, 180-200 w/source]:
Property is proper to man. Man is born to work by the sweat of his brow
[Genesis 3:19], and he needs the tools, the land to work with. … To live, man
needs land. [165]
Source [51]: N/A
Image credit [270]: The Catholic Worker, Volume XV, Number 4, 1 June 1948,
The Catholic News Archive
Bubble copy [254, 180-200 w/source]:
We are not expecting utopia here on this earth. But God meant things to be
much easier than we have made them. … A family needs work as well as
bread. Property is proper to man. [179]
Source [51]: N/A
Image credit [270]: The Catholic Worker, Volume XV, Number 5, 1 July 1948,
The Catholic News Archive
Bubble copy [254, 180-200 w/source]:
The alternatives are not capitalism or socialism. … We must take into
consideration the nature of man and his needs, not just cash … but a home, a
bit of land, and the tools with which to work. [194]
Source [51]: N/A
Image credit [270]: The Catholic Worker, Volume XV, Number 5, 1 July 1948,
The Catholic News Archive
Subheader [40]: Faith in Action [15]
Body copy [220]:
After her arrest at a suffrage rally, Day turned to Psalm 86 for comfort: “Listen,
Lord, to my prayer; hear my cries for help. I call to you in times of trouble,
because you answer my prayers.” [193]
Image caption [144]:
Dorothy Day [center] at a protest, 1917 [39]
Image credit [60]: Bettmann / Contributor
Body copy [220]:
Day was a committed pacifist. “I do not see why we must accept the
inevitability of war … If we are working toward peace, we must look with
hope that in a future generation we will do away with war.” [200]
Image caption [144]:
Day and others protesting the civil defense drill, 1956 [55]
Image credit [60]: Robert Lax Literary Trust
Body copy [220]:
Day quotes Pope John XXIII: “Why should the resources of human genius and
the riches of the people turn more often to preparing arms … than to
increasing the welfare of all classes of citizens and particularly of the poor?”
[225]
Image caption [144]:
Dorothy Day picketing the civil defense drill, 1959 [51]
Image credit [60]: Marquette University Libraries
Body copy [220]:
Day worked in faith and hope: “If we had faith in what we were doing, making
our protest against brutality and injustice, then we were indeed casting our
seeds, and there was the promise of the harvest to come.” [212]
Image caption [144]:
Dorothy Day with Cesar Chavez and Coretta Scott King, New York City, 1973
[73]
Image credit [60]: Marquette University Libraries
Body copy [220]:
Day believed “… God did not intend that there be so many poor. The class
structure is of our making and our consent, not His … So we are urging
revolutionary change.” [169]
Image caption [144]:
A sheriff confronts Dorothy Day on the United Farm Workers picket line,
Lamont, California, 1973 [94]
Image credit [60]:
Bob Fitch photography archive, © Stanford University Libraries
Subheader [40]: Legacy of Liberty [17]
Question/alignment statement [179]:
Do you think that sincere faith demands radical actions for the sake of others?
[61]
Image credit [270]:
Bob Fitch photography archive, © Stanford University Libraries
Scripture [200]:
Give strength to hands that are tired and to knees that tremble with weakness.
Tell everyone who is discouraged, “Be strong and don’t be afraid! God is
coming to your rescue …” [184]
Scripture credit [50]: Isaiah 35:3, 4a [15]
Image credit [270]: Getty Images / Handout
