Fall Appeal (October 1969)
Summary: An appeal for funds. She says they have enough for a month or two and reminds us that we will receive as we measure our gifts. (DDLW #904).The Catholic Worker, October 1969, p. 2
Dear Fellow Workers in Christ:
When we look around at our crowded households in city and country, on First Street and at Tivoli, and wonder how we keep going, we end by making an act of faith. Our Father is a millionaire, one of our group said once. He is a foolish Father, as Jesus our brother depicted Him, who is always willing to take us back when we go wandering, and rejoices at our return. It is never a question of our just deserts. Deserving or undeserving poor that we are, He listens to us, and help comes from His hand, and through our readers’ generosity. “Ask and you will receive.”
We are not mailing out an appeal this month for two reasons. One is the mailing costs have increased and it costs so much to do this mailing, even though our letters go at bulk rate. Second, because we have enough to keep us going another few months.
It is a startling fact that whenever we have a crisis, like a need to raise money to repair the old Chrystie St. house which was taken away from us afterwards by the City, or to make our present building conform to the standards set by our affluent society’s building code, the help has come, what we needed and no more. Right now, we are not down to rock bottom, and have enough to pay our bills this month and next, money comes in by trickles. When I open my mail, and Walter opens the Catholic Worker mail each morning and there are a few one dollar bills and we look around and see our Bowery and Eastside neighbors trickling in and filling up the place until the walls bulge, we panic and think, “Is there enough to go around?” “Is there enough to keep up with those bills?” And there always is. Ed, who writes out the checks to creditors, most methodically each Saturday, and always with most cheerful mien, said today – Maybe perhaps, after all, do you mind writing an appeal to be printed in this issue? So I am doing it. And I am thanking you for your answers too, beforehand. Just to make by that thank-you an act of Faith in God our Father and you our brother.
In a way, it is a loan and it will most surely be returned to you “heaped up, pressed down, and running over.” This is a promise.
Gratefully; and with love,
Dorothy Day
P.S. – “Give and there will be gifts for you; a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.” Jesus’ word – from The Jerusalem Bible.
