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On Pilgrimage (December 1971)

Summary: Excerpts from her letters while on an across country pilgrimage to Wheaton and Rock Island, Illinois, then Denver, Colorado. Reasserts the need to “go to the poor” and spread the good news by speaking and the works of mercy. Comments on a prison strike noting many are in jail for petty theft while “robber barons” get away with murder. Says “Property is theft.” (DDLW #516). The Catholic Worker, December 1971, 2.

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Fall Appeal – Oct/Nov 1971 

Summary: Tells of bare cupboards and comments on hunger in the world. Says the war in Laos and Cambodia is producing “a reflected violence at home.” Quotes St. Augustine on giving what is superfluous to the poor and that giving be combined with respect for others. (The Catholic Worker, October-November 1971, 2. DDLW #514).

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On Pilgrimage: First Visit to Soviet Russia

Summary: Describes her trip to Poland and the Russian cities of Leningrad and Moscow where she visits museums, Churches, and cemeteries. Visits the grave of Dostoevsky and debates with a group of Soviet writers about the works of Solzhenitisn. Notes his role in keeping faith in God alive in Russia through his writings. (The Catholic Worker, September 1971, 1, 7, 8. DDLW #513).

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Attica 

Summary: Reflects on the massacre of forty-two in the Attica prison uprising and sees new repression and brutality forthcoming. Asks us to reflect on Jesus who forgave his torturers. Suggests that no one would know the majority profess being Christians in this country. (The Catholic Worker, September 1971, 1. DDLW #512).

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On Pilgrimage – July/August 1971

Summary: Preparing to depart for a peacemaking pilgrimage of Eastern Europe and Russia, she recalls her early fascination with Russia and the role Russian novelists played in her religious conversion. Especially singles out Dostoevsky’s character Fr. Zossima. Apologizes for being behind in her correspondence and confesses to being fearful of take-offs and landings of planes. (The Catholic Worker, July-August 1971, 2, 8. DDLW #511).

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On Pilgrimage (February 1971)

Summary: A plea not to prejudge Angela Davis and Communists. Continues with many stories of interracial actions of Catholic Workers from the 30s onward, tying the horrible past and present war in Southeast Asia. Reminds us of the primarcy of the spiritual in the “little it is we do, or can do.” Yet we are bound together, “members one of another.” Even from evil God can bring great good. (DDLW #933: The Catholic Worker, Feb 1971, pp. 2, 6, 8).