ByDorothy Day
Summary: Engaging vignettes about the daily work of the early depression era movement: helping the evicted, street corner speaking, the impersonal shelters run by the city, and the delightful conversation of children around the office. (DDLW #436).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Tales of hospitality, distributing the paper, and propaganda meetings. Affirms the primacy of performing the works of mercy over “talking and writing about the work.” Quotes from Frederick Ozanam on putting faith into action. Describes homey scenes at the beach house with Theresa and their beachcomber friend Smiddy. Tells of their poverty and their joy amid their city neighbors, a busy parish Church nearby, and Peter’s efforts in Harlem. (DDLW #438).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Describes the seemingly endless stream of donations, visitors, and people in need that fill the long winter days and make writing difficult. Points to bits of humor and scenes of natural beauty that refresh the soul. Notes their bittersweet good fortune in moving to a larger but less expensive house. (DDLW #440).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Struggles with discouragement and turns to prayer and spiritual reading for courage. Includes quotes from various spiritual writers. Tales from the farm and trips to the Home Relief Office, swims to escape the oppressive heat, and sweet smells. Rejects the notion that all are not called to perfection and sees true security in giving ones talents in the service of the poor. Details their debt and asserts their insecurity is good. (DDLW #441).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Fighting melancholy and overwork she wavers between justifying and blaming herself. Includes a mock dialogue with a “Critical Inquirer,” examples of their arguments and conflicts, and sustaining quotes from spiritual writers. Sets a rule of life for herself and affirms that “those circumstances which surround us are the very ones God wills for us.” (DDLW #442).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: A summer full of trips between the Easton farm and the city, she vividly chronicles the flurry of activity that seemingly accomplishes a great deal. Struggles with issues of freedom, personal responsibility, and her role in the movement. Feels “utterly lacking, ineffective.” (DDLW #444).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Bucolic description of the antics of Bessie the calf. Much of the chapter describes her visit to the sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan, against General Motors and their tactics. Says labor in the U.S. needs a long range program of education about cooperatives, credit unions, and a philosophy of labor. Quotes from a leaflet distributed to the men on the breadline inviting them to attend a parish mission. After a talk to a women’s club in Florida she observes that the rich who deny Christ in His poor “are atheists indeed.” (DDLW #446).
ByDorothy Day
In this introduction to “House of Hospitality,” Dorothy Day provides a detailed account of the beginnings of the Catholic Worker. As a journalist covering the Communist-led march on Washington in December 1932, Dorothy yearns and prays to find a way to work for the poor and oppressed. She meets Peter Maurin who “indoctrinates” her in Catholic social teaching and his program to change the social order: starting a newspaper, houses of hospitality, roundtable discussions and farming communes. Includes several of Peter’s essays and details about starting the newspaper and their first houses of hospitality. (DDLW #435).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: An account of the first five years of the Catholic Worker (C.W.). Describes the C.W. not simply as a newspaper but as a movement. Explicates its position on labor and unions through Peter Maurin’s ideas on personalism. Much of the book, however, is taken up with the day to day experiences of the C.W., describing the soup lines, publication of the paper, picketing, farm communes, and the finances of the C.W. (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1939. (out of print) DDLW #3).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: An account of struggling with agencies and suspicious police to find a room for a small child. A reflection of Christ’s sufferings, borne for all who suffer now, and the realization that “suffering and death can no longer be victorious.” Discusses the problem of dissension and self-criticism in the movement, reproaching herself and her own sinfulness. Notes how hard their work is and that change comes slowly. Asserts that “Love and ever more love is the only solution to every problem that comes up.” (DDLW #449).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Attends a dinner in honor of Raissa Maritain and takes her to a jazz club in Harlem. Compares the Mott Street neighborhood to a village with small shops, sweet smells, generosity, troubles, pets. Asks if someone can send a hedgehog to her daughter. (The Catholic Worker, December 1938, 1, 4. DDLW #338).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Collection of little stories: visitors, helping Tamar with homework, praying to St. Joseph for money, reading Pelle the Conqueror, and attending a CIO convention. Affirms her “faith in the tremendous spiritual capacities of man.” (The Catholic Worker, October 1938, 1, 4. DDLW #336).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Relishes the progress of the farm in Easton after two and a half years. Says they are applying “the principles of the personalist and communitarian revolution” and urges unused land owned by the Church be used in imitation of their efforts. (The Catholic Worker, October 1938, 8. DDLW #337).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Clarifies the Catholic Worker position regarding the war in Spain, opposing violence as a solution. Urges prayer for peace, love instead of violence, and preparation for martyrdom. (DDLW #216). The Catholic Worker, September 1938, 1, 4, 7.
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Describes her trip to Antigonish, Nova Scotia and her stay with the community. Discusses her meeting with the United Mine Workers and how cooperative stores there have built a spiritual foundation for their material needs distribution. Comments on the community’s independence and its inter-dependence on one other. (DDLW #146). The Catholic Worker, September 1938, 1,3,4.
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Reports on the current worsening employment conditions in the country, and the concomitant need to send out another appeal for funds, even though it is summer. Gives an account of the communal work on the farm, and the problems of bills and the need for help during the canning season. (DDLW #908). The Catholic Worker, July 1938, pp. 1,2
ByDorothy Day
Summary: A series of stories about the work of Catholic Worker groups she recently visited on a speaking trip: Portsmouth and Newport, RI; Boston and Worchester, MA; Milwaukee; Chicago; Rochester, NY; Detroit; and Pittsburgh. (The Catholic Worker, June 1938, 1, 2. DDLW #335).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Another appeal has gone out entrusting their needs to St. Joseph. Notes how busy everyone is at the office, on the breadline, and on the farm. (Someone had noted the hordes of young men around the CW and wondered what they do.) Mentions that public works such as bridge building can be considered works of mercy. (The Catholic Worker, April 1938, 1, 4. DDLW #333).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Admires the heroic sacrifice and hard work of Iola Ellis in helping her sister’s daughters get an education. Advocates educational rights for Negroes so they can become leaders. (The Catholic Worker, March 1938, 2. DDLW #332).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Calls for every parish to have a Works of Mercy Center and for courage in doing the little immediate jobs of feeding the hungry and giving out literature. (Notes St. Therese’s “little way.”) Encourages discussion groups and round table discussions for the clarification of thought. (The Catholic Worker, March 1938, 1, 4. DDLW #331).
