Year: 1943

Summary: Alone in the country, she reflects on all the “absent brethren” in New York, soldiers, prisoners, conscientious objectors, refugees–the lonely multitudes in war time. Describes her daily prayer routine. Lauds the State School of Applied Agriculture where her daughter Tamar attends. (The Catholic Worker, November 1943, 2, 3. DDLW #397).

Summary: Exuberant description of a month spent at a Grail folk school where work, crafts, prayer, meditation, liturgies, lectures, and fasting intermingled. Includes her notes of presentations on the Mass, liturgical singing, and the psalms. (The Catholic Worker, October 1943, 1, 2. DDLW #396).

Summary: Explains why she is leaving The Catholic Worker for a year of “solitude and silence” to practice the “weapons of the Spirit.” Notes all those who will carry on the work and says she will continue to write and says her Christian pacifist stance hasn’t changed. (The Catholic Worker, September 1943, 1, 2, 6. DDLW #395).

Summary: Summarizes the first day’s conferences of a weeklong silent retreat. Emphasis is on learning to increase our love of God through the right ordering of our desires in every day actions. Comments on the surroundings. (The Catholic Worker, July-August 1943, 2, 3. DDLW #393).

Summary: Notes from her date book about visitors, talks attended and given, meetings, and visits to friends. (The Catholic Worker, July August 1943, 1, 3. DDLW #394).

Summary: Dorothy meditates on the importance of books to her, Peter Maurin, and to the Catholic Worker tradition. Mentions many titles and relates reading to prayer and joy. (The Catholic Worker, June 1943, 4, 5. DDLW #392).

Summary: She is appalled that some don’t believe the killing of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. Cites documented incidents of mass killings. Lists twelve recommendations for rescue, among them a change in immigration laws in the United States. Keywords: anti-semitism (The Catholic Worker, June 1943, 1, 9. DDLW #391).

Summary: Description of their Mott Street neighborhood where in the midst of poverty there is real joy. Recalls the beauty of Holy Week services and the Catholic Worker’s international network of friends and correspondents. Appeals for sheets and household items. (The Catholic Worker, May 1943, 4. DDLW #389).

Summary: Mediates on the Catholic Worker’s mission to all the poor–including those who are deemed unworthy of assistance by some who blame the poor for their condition. Concludes the story of her Southern travels with observations on Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Updates readers on the status of the women’s Bayard Street shelter and the history behind Ade Bethune’s illustrated Stations of the Cross. (The Catholic Worker, April 1943 DDLW #388).

Summary: Describes her tour of the South in prose which evokes the rigors of travelling by bus in wartime and her reactions to the people she meets in Florida and Alabama. Praises the work of priests and religious in Alabama. Describes the hard work and poor housing for Negroes, Southern land ownership patterns, and race relations. (The Catholic Worker, March 1943, 1, 4. DDLW #387).

Summary: A general summary of the Catholic Worker after 10 years–list of houses and farms (open and closed), marriages, births, deaths; whereabouts of workers; her travels. Notes they making an attempt at applying a personalist, communitarian philosophy, and quotes Eric Gill’s notion of “a cell of good living.” Keywords: philosophy of the Catholic Worker, conscientious objection. (The Catholic Worker, January 1943, 4, 6. DDLW #221).

Summary: Asserts she would not register for the draft because it is the first step toward war and answers common objections to her stance. Cites the Holy Father, Thoreau, and E. I. Watkin, founder of the PAX movement in England. Keywords: pacifism, conscientious objection, taxes. (The Catholic Worker, January 1943, 1, 4. DDLW #222).