Certain recurring concerns wove through Dorothy Day’s writings. These are some of those themes.
On Aims and Purposes
Dorothy states and restates the core vision of the Catholic Worker Movement from its beginning in 1933 through its 40th anniversary.
On Conscience
Dorothy Day often wrote to promote the “arousal of conscience” and the “examination of conscience.” Some pieces explored the nature of conscience, especially as it applied to Catholicism. She also wrote to prick readers’ consciences on particular issues: war, peace, and anti-nuclear themes; on poverty; on race; and on the labor movement. Often touting the primacy of conscience.She believed that one of the chief objectives of The Catholic Worker was to raise Christians’ consciences on these and other matters.
On Peter Maurin
Dorothy maintained that without Peter Maurin there would be no Catholic Worker Movement. These articles outline his teachings and Dorothy’s deep admiration for him and the model he represented. She said he was a Saint Francis for our time. Includes biographical sketches, summaries of his principal ideas, and snippets of his wisdom.
On Hospitality
In this series Dorothy discusses the notion of Christian hospitality, central to the Catholic Worker vision and work.
On War and Peace
In these articles Dorothy explains her Christian pacifist stance. She covers all the wars of the middle decades of the 20th Century.
On Work
This series covers the period of rapid industrial expansion shortly after World War II.
On Poverty
The many faces of poverty and destitution, the works of mercy, voluntary poverty as a means, poverty and pacifism, poverty and personal responsibility, holy poverty, poverty and work…. This series of articles probe the many facets of poverty.