Look Upon The Face of Christ
Summary: An unusual midsummer appeal for help. Notes the destitution around them and hopes the “importunity” of their request will be heard. (The Catholic Worker, July-August 1947, 2. DDLW #457).
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On Pilgrimage – July/August 1947
Summary: Mentions the many parish churches in the neighborhood, the lengthening food line, a grand Italian wedding, and the books she is reading. (The Catholic Worker, July-August 1947, 1, 2. DDLW #458).
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What Dream Did They Dream? Utopia or Suffering?
Summary: A self-critical appraisal of the Catholic Worker movement’s first fifteen years. Readily accepts criticism of their ideals of voluntary poverty and pacifism, failure to implement Peter Maurin’s vision, of rigorous and demanding retreats, of internal dissent, and of their approach to helping the poor. Says they have not been good servants nor recognized the failure of the cross and the need to die to self. Says they are in a time of transition with only ten houses remaining. (DDLW #456). The Catholic Worker, July-August 1947, 1, 4, 6, 8.
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Look Upon The Face of Christ
Summary: An unusual midsummer appeal for help. Notes the destitution around them and hopes the “importunity” of their request will be heard. (DDLW #457) The Catholic Worker, July-August 1947, 2.
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On Pilgrimage – June 1947
Summary: Travels by train to the Grail in Ohio, then to the Midwest praising a variety of works of mercy on the land. “A pilgrimage indeed, and a most encouraging one, visiting readers of the paper, families and cells which are growing up everywhere, grappling all of them with the spiritual weapons of hard work, poverty, and prayer.” (The Catholic Worker, June 1947, 2, 8. DDLW #454).
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Letter To Our Readers at the Beginning of Our Fifteenth Year
Summary: Outlines P. Maurin’s program for social action as the instituting of Houses of Hospitality, Clarification of Thought and Farming Communes, and explains where the C.W. has gone with each program. Reveals Maurin’s sources of thought and the need to find lay apostolates. Traces personal sacrifices to Jesus’ command in the gospels and asserts that the state cannot take over this duty. (DDLW #155). The Catholic Worker, May 1947, 1-3.
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On Pilgrimage – April 1947
Summary: The story of Peter Maurin’s mysterious four-day disappearance and return from the Worker in New York in the late winter/early spring of 1947. (The Catholic Worker, April 1947, 1, 3. DDLW #453).
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Reflections On Work – March 1947
Summary: Focuses on worker ownership and calls for workers to fight for the means of production, to shun working for the war effort, for priests to come out of their rectories to help the poor, and for all to start the struggle for reform of the social order and against charity growing cold. Repeats the need to be one with the poor and to resist the present social order. (DDLW #452). The Catholic Worker, March 1947, 2, 4.
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On Pilgrimage – February 1947
Summary: Attends the wedding of Catholic Workers in Detroit. Visits the widow of Paul St. Marie and recounts his union organizing at Ford Motor Company. Sees Fr. Pacifique Roy, suffering in the hospital, and recalls all his help to the Catholic Worker. Meets Fr. Lacourture whose retreats for priests are the basis of their retreat work. (The Catholic Worker, February 1947, 2. DDLW #451).
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Reflections On Work January 1947
Summary: Quotes Peter Maurin’s account of the work of Leon Harmel whose exemplary industrial organization inspired Pope Leo XIII. Praises the Quebec governments homesteading policies. Repeats the need for a philosophy of work and the ideal of the village community. Keywords: distributism, industrialism. (DDLW #431). The Catholic Worker, January 1947, 1, 2.
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Untitled Review of
Summary: Heartily recommends reading Theology and Sanity* by Frank Sheed–to study about God, “this is happiness and joy.” Notes that it is theology written by a layman, and the importance of their retreat work in learning to know and love and serve God. (The Catholic Worker, January 1947, 1, 2. DDLW #430).*
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On Pilgrimage – January 1947
Summary: The story of a poor family–a pregnant wife and her drug addicted husband–that elicits the prayer “Dear God, help us to increase in holy hope.” Reports that Peter Maurin will spend the winter well cared for by friends in Rochester, NY. (The Catholic Worker, January 1947, 1, 2, 4. DDLW #432).
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Reflections on Work (December 1946)
Summary: Reports on the hard life and work of the coal miners of Western Pennsylvania and the strike demands of John L. Lewis. “We want to change man’s work; we want to make people question their work; is it on the way to heaven or hell?” Emphasizes the holiness of work and the sacramental quality of property. Titled “Blood on Our Coal” on the second page of the article. (DDLW #229). The Catholic Worker, December 1946, 1, 4.
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On Pilgrimage – December 1946
Summary: Describes a visit to Martin de Porres house of hospitality in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Reflects on the seeming futility of the work and how “it is undoubtedly a manifestation of love, of God’s love.” (The Catholic Worker, December 1946, 1, 8. DDLW #228).
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Reflections on Work (November 1946)
Summary: Emphasizes learning to work with crafts and trades to counter the evils of industrialism–to acquire a philosophy of work. Complains that clergy are too easily “bribed” by business and lauds the work of the French worker priests. (DDLW #227). The Catholic Worker, November 1946, 1, 4.
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For These Dear Dead
Summary: Six tender obituaries of Workers who had died the past year, each highlighting the person’s special qualities. Comments that since “There is no time with God” our prayers for the dead are as if said before their death. (The Catholic Worker, November 1946, 1, 2, 6. DDLW #225).
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On Pilgrimage (November 1946)
Summary: Reflects that the burdens of CW work require that one “go away once in a while,” via retreats or pilgrimage, to guard one’s serenity. Gives account of her pilgrimage to other CW groups. Extols efforts at rural self-sufficiency (e.g. wool making) in St. Joseph, Minnesota, and visits friends in Minneapolis and Chicago. (DDLW #226) The Catholic Worker, Nov 1946, pp. 1, 7, 8
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On Pilgrimage – October 1946
Summary: Rambling reflections on workers, the need for saint-revolutionists, monasticism, shared work, living on the land, and Catholic Workers leaving to become priests. (The Catholic Worker, October 1946, 1, 6, 8. DDLW #429).
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On Pilgrimage – September 1946
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
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.