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On Pilgrimage – September 1946

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day Reading Time: 7 minutes

Summary: Surveys the rural area around the Easton, PA, farm from “a distributist point of view” visiting a bookbinder’s shop and complaining about polluting factories. Laments that the Catholic Worker hasn’t produced more craftsmen. Enumerates all the work projects underway and the schedule of retreats. Joyfully announces the birth of her second grandchild, Susanna. (The Catholic Worker, September 1946, 1, 2, 6. DDLW #428).

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The Church and Work

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day Reading Time: 21 minutes

Summary: Discusses in length the modern industrial problem of the machine and its relation to factory, land and worker. Explains the C.W.’s attempt to gain the workers back to Christ, by explicating a philosophy of work that distinguishes between those machines that are the extended hand of man and those that make man the extended hand of the machine. Such a philosophy sees people as cooperating with their creator, and to labor is to pray. Criticizes American Catholics for not applying Papal teaching to the work area and shows a particular acrimony to a priest who tell workers to sanctify their surroundings instead of changing it. (DDLW #154). The Catholic Worker, September 1946, 1,3,7,8.