1950s

Summary: Decries the religious attitude that neglects the needs of this world in anticipation of “a fuller life” hereafter. Views this life as a “practice ground,” an opportunity to use our talents to bring about justice and peace. Cites Ammon Hennacy and Peter Maurin as men who showed personal responsibility in this life. Everyone has the choice to bring about a better world aware that we are members of one family. We will be satisfied at death in God’s rich mercy. (The Catholic Worker, November 1959, 1, 6. DDLW #193).

Summary: After visiting her daughter Tamar in Vermont to help with sick grandchildren, she visits a nearby Carthusian monastery. Mentions a pamphlet on the Eastern churches and urges us to pray for peace between the churches if we want world peace. (The Catholic Worker, November 1959, 8. DDLW #758).

Summary: Reminisces about her love of cars, describing all the old cars and trucks that have been a part of her and Catholic Worker life. Then explains why they are getting rid of their two cars at Peter Maurin farm. (The Catholic Worker, October 1959, 2, 7. DDLW #757).

Summary: Meandering account of the past month–the beauty of nature, visitors, and conferences. Highlights Ammon Hennacy’s fasting in repentance for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Meditates on how the poor are treated by people in bureaucracies and on the core of voluntary poverty. (The Catholic Worker, September 1959, 2, 6, 7. DDLW #756).

Summary: Tells of their efforts to help the poor as best they can without a house of their own saying it reveals their faults. Recalls how their breadlines started in 1936. “We live in no ivory tower.” (The Catholic Worker, August 1959, 1, 6, 8. DDLW #754).

Summary: Recounts the life and vocation of Charles de Foucauld who inspired the foundation of the Little Brothers and Little Sisters of Jesus. She is especially attracted to their living with the poor in poverty and their devotion to manual labor. (The Catholic Worker, August 1959, 2, 7, 8. DDLW #755).

Summary: Vivid description of being transported in vans to court after arrest for civil disobedience. Deplores the conditions at the women’s house of detention. Notes similar conditions for migrant workers. Delights in visitors, guests and her reading. Keywords: jail, prison (The Catholic Worker, July 1959, 1, 2, 6. DDLW #753).

Summary: Struggles with “the dumps”, finding new quarters and car troubles oin her way to Vermont to visit Tamar and her family. Graphic description of life at their farm. Ponders how to promote religious expression in a busy family. (The Catholic Worker, June 1959, 1, 6. DDLW #752).

Summary: Reports on her trip to Georgia for the first Mass of Jack English, now Fr. Charles, in the Trappists. Chronicles his life with the Catholic Worker, war years, and vocation. Then travels to Florida and reflects on the harsh conditions of migrant labor. Keyword: anarchism (The Catholic Worker, March 1959, 1, 7, 8. DDLW #750).

Summary: Argues from the principle of subsidiarity that to replace personal responsibility with the state’s is a grave injustice. Criticizes the state’s inefficiency in alleviating suffering; in its guest to regulate justice it causes more injustice. Associates a close bond between poverty and love and blames industrialism for the increasing practice of carting the aged off to institutions. (The Catholic Worker, January 1959, 1,2,7. DDLW #178).

Summary: A month of travelling and giving talks in Massachusetts, New York, and Indiana. Visits Tamar and the grand children in Vermont. Discusses farming communes and complains about the encroaching State. Admires the Shakers and Hutterites and advocates a personalist and communitarian society. (The Catholic Worker, December 1958, 1, 7. DDLW #748).

Summary: Comments on a new translation of St. Therese’s autobiography and the controversy over certain passages. Shays she has had a “constant reading about and thinking about Therese these last ten years.” (The Catholic Worker, September 1958, 4. DDLW #743).

Summary: A homey atmosphere prevails on a rainy Sunday although they are about to be evicted with no replacement house in sight. Mulls over reports of increased use of processed food and scavenging food on Staten Island. (The Catholic Worker, November 1958, 1, 2, 6. DDLW #746).

Summary: Expresses dismay at their difficulty in finding a new house of hospitality and is upset at the process of urban destruction instead of restoration. But says their uncertainty is that of all poor people. Mentions visitors and books to read. (The Catholic Worker, October 1958, 1, 7. DDLW #744).