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Catholic Worker
In 1932 Dorothy Day met the French Catholic Peter Maurin, who had developed an idea for a “green revolution,” which combined rural farming with establishing houses of hospitality in cities on behalf of the poor. Out of this idea grew the Catholic Worker movement, aimed to unite workers and intellectuals in joint activities ranging from farming to educational discussions. The movement grew quickly. Within three years their monthly newspaper, The Catholic Worker, had a 150,000 subscribers, and houses of hospitality had sprang up in other cities outside of New York. The workers at these houses commit themselves to voluntary poverty and works of mercy.
Day and the Catholic Workers opposed all war, often at cost to themselves. When they protested WWII, many Catholics withdrew support from the Catholic Workers. Day was repeatedly arrested and jailed for protests against war and once while demonstrating in support of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. Today, the Catholic Worker movement continues to thrive internationally with over 200 farming and urban communities around the globe. |
Dorothy Day talks about voluntary poverty and anarchism. This clip is from a 1970′s television special, New Heaven/New Earth which interviewed Day. It is available for purchase at cost from the Marquette University Catholic Worker Archives.
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Day, Dorothy. Loaves and Fishes: The Inspiring Story of the Catholic Worker Movement. Orbis Books, 1997.
This book tells the history of the Catholic Worker movement, which began with anarchists Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day as a response to systemic injustice through personal social action, voluntary poverty, and the formation of houses of hospitality.
Riegle, Rosalie. Voices from the Catholic Worker. Temple University Press, 1993.
This Oral History of the Catholic Worker movement explores both the history of the movement and how it is lived by individual communities. In the words of the Workers themselves, it grapples with questions of hospitality, protest and resistance, communities (both rural and urban), and family life, all in the context of an anarchist Christianity.
———."The Catholic Worker in 2014: An Appreciaion." The Montreal Review. September 1, 2014.
Rosalie Riegle, the oral historian of the Catholic Worker, reminisces on her life in the Worker and gives her take on the state of the movement today.
———. Dorothy Day: Portraits by Those Who Knew Her. Orbis Books. 2003. Print.
An oral biography of Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day. These stories of Dorothy Day by those who knew her were collected in order to present a rounded picture of a woman who influenced the lives of so many. The Roman Catholic Church in its sainthood deliberations, seems intent on making her a plaster saint; this book presents her unadorned radical self.
This book tells the history of the Catholic Worker movement, which began with anarchists Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day as a response to systemic injustice through personal social action, voluntary poverty, and the formation of houses of hospitality.
Riegle, Rosalie. Voices from the Catholic Worker. Temple University Press, 1993.
This Oral History of the Catholic Worker movement explores both the history of the movement and how it is lived by individual communities. In the words of the Workers themselves, it grapples with questions of hospitality, protest and resistance, communities (both rural and urban), and family life, all in the context of an anarchist Christianity.
———."The Catholic Worker in 2014: An Appreciaion." The Montreal Review. September 1, 2014.
Rosalie Riegle, the oral historian of the Catholic Worker, reminisces on her life in the Worker and gives her take on the state of the movement today.
———. Dorothy Day: Portraits by Those Who Knew Her. Orbis Books. 2003. Print.
An oral biography of Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day. These stories of Dorothy Day by those who knew her were collected in order to present a rounded picture of a woman who influenced the lives of so many. The Roman Catholic Church in its sainthood deliberations, seems intent on making her a plaster saint; this book presents her unadorned radical self.
Websites
Catholic Worker
Catholic Worker