Dorothy Day
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Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897 - November 29, 1980) was a journalist turned social activist and devout member of the Roman Catholic Church. She became known for her social justice campaigns in defense of the poor: forsaken, hungry and homeless. Alongside Peter Maurin, she founded the Catholic Worker Movement in 1933, espousing nonviolent action and hospitality for the impoverished and downtrodden.
The movement started with the Catholic Worker newspaper that she and Peter Maurin founded to stake out a neutral, pacifist position in the increasingly war-torn 1930s.
Day later opened a "house of hospitality" in the slums of New York City. The movement quickly spread to other cities in the US, and to Canada and England; more than 30 independent but affiliated CW communities had been founded by 1941. (Well over 100 communities exist today, including several in Australia, Great Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, and Sweden.)
By the 1960s Day was embraced by left-wing Catholics —although Day was opposed to the sexual revolution of that decade, saying she had seen the ill effects of a similar sexual revolution in the 1920s, when she had a then-illegal abortion.
There are numerous campaigns in favor of the beatification and canonization of Day into sainthood. Such campaigns have been challenged by opposition groups who think Day is undeserving due to evidence of acts of pre-marital sex and having aborted a child, even though Day herself later supported the Pro-Life movement. Nevertheless, Pope John Paul II officially bestowed upon Day the title of Servant of God, allowing for further scrutiny towards achieving the titles of Blessed and Saint.
Her autobiography The Long Loneliness was published in 1952. A popular movie called Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story was produced in 1996 about the life and struggles that Day endured. Day was portrayed by Moira Kelly and Maurin was portrayed by Martin Sheen, both known for their roles on The West Wing television series in the United States.
Awards and Recognition
1978: Pax Christi USA Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award
External links
- The Catholic Worker Movement (http://www.catholicworker.org/)
- Bruderhof Peacemakers Guide profile on Dorothy Day (http://www.peacemakersguide.org/peace/Peacemakers/Dorothy-Day.htm)
- Whole Earth: The Way of Love: Dorothy Day and the American Right (http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0GER/2000_Summer/63500751/p1/article.jhtml)
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- Biography at FemBio – Notable Women International (http://www.fembio.org/women/dorothy-day.shtml)
- Marquette University's Dorothy Day Collection (http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/day.html)