Dorothy Day

This is the fourth article in my series on Famous Progressive Women.

Dorothy Day was the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement.

Day embraced the concept of a more peaceful society and wanted to communicate that to the world. She was first inspired to speak out after she witnessed a parade in D.C. and saw people carrying signs calling for jobs, unemployment insurance, pensions, benefits for families, health care and housing. She was encouraged by a colleague (and ultimately the co-founder of the Catholic Worker with Day) to start publishing a paper.
This is just what Day wanted to hear so she began right away. It was only a matter of months before over 100,000 copies were being printed each month.
It expressed dissatisfaction with the social order and took the side of labor unions, but its vision of the ideal future challenged both urbanization and industrialism. It wasn’t only radical but religious. The paper didn’t merely complain but called on its readers to make personal responses.

As a result of Day’s work the Catholic Worker became a movement and spread across the U.S. with Catholic Worker houses springing up everywhere.

Day was a pacifist to the day she died, despite criticism during times of war. She was considered by many a religious radical and was also revered as a saint, an acclaim she quickly dispelled.

Just before she died, Day stated:
“If I have achieved anything in my life,” she once remarked, “it is because I have not been embarrassed to talk about God.”

A complete biography can be found on Dorothy Day at Peacemakers and The Catholic Worker.