St. Dorothy

Will the Roman Catholic Church confer sainthood on a Greenwich Village radical and activist who had an abortion, was divorced, and bore a lover’s child out of wedlock?

Surprising as it seems, Dorothy Day, the controversial founder of The Catholic Worker movement, anti-war demonstrator, and outspoken opponent of Sen. Joe McCarthy in his heyday, has been approved for the process of study that leads to canonization in the church.

Dorothy Day's influence was not just a positive factor in helping people better their own lives, but she inspired them to work for the betterment of others'. Perhaps most important of all, Dorothy did not simply espouse her faith but lived it by welcoming the winos and derelicts who came to her door, for her ideal was "to see Christ in every man."

In living their faith, saints sacrifice their own comfort, welfare, and safety for the benefit of others, as Dorothy did in going to jail, when she was well into her 70s, to protest the injustices against workers and minorities, and what she felt was the unjust war in Vietnam. She lived frugally among the poor she worked for, eschewing any luxuries.

"The influence of genuine saints is not limited to their own time and place but seems to go out in waves, not only to different places but different times."

The influence of genuine saints is not limited to their own time and place but seems to go out in waves, not only to different places but different times. The work of Dorothy Day, which began in a notorious slum more than half a century ago, has spread to cities throughout the country, such as Boston and Los Angeles, where Catholic Worker "Hospitality Houses" serve the poor today. Her message is carried in books about her and by her--like her spiritual autobiography, "The Long Loneliness"--that are read not only in English but in translations throughout the world.

Continued on page 2: At other mission houses in the Bowery, you had to save you were saved and join in a hymn... »